5 Tips for Getting the Best From Your Henna Tattoos

At some point, most henna lovers will find themselves wondering how to get the best from their henna tattoos.When you go to the effort of creating your own henna art – or the cost of having a henna artist do it for you – you naturally want to make sure you get the richest, deepest color possible, and that it stays on as long as possible.

You probably know by now that walking around with an eye-catching henna design on your body is a great feeling. Everybody loves to feel beautiful and henna tattoos are super for that! Obviously all non-permanent dye is going to fade away eventually, but there are ways that you can get the best of your designs; it helps to have some insider tips in your artistic armory:

1. Leave your henna on for an extended period

Henna generally dries in around ten to thirty minutes, leaving a crust on top of the skin that flakes off over the next few hours. If you can manage to hold onto that for at least seven or eight hours, you’ll have a deeper, darker design.

A good tactic would be to do your tattoo on a day where you don’t have any pressing activities. The dried henna is easily knocked or rubbed off on clothes and surfaces, especially if it’s on your hands. If you have the time and patience to sit still for an extended period before scraping it off, you’ll reap the rewards.

You would ideally leave it on for as long as you can manage – lots of people like to leave their henna on for around twelve hours. Remember also that it is better to brush it off with your other hand – washing it off is not advised. In fact water should be avoided for as long as possible (but a minimum of six hours). The color will gradually deepen over several hours.

2. Apply a balm or essential oil to your henna design

Balms or essential oils are often used with henna to darken and prolong the designs. This isn’t always necessary –it depends on the quality of your henna – but if your tattoos aren’t coming out dark enough for your liking or sticking around, it won’t hurt to have a couple of these products to hand.

It is popular in the application of Indian bridal henna to seal the design with a balm, such as Tiger Balm or Vicks. This should only be applied once all of the dried henna has flaked off or been scrubbed off. The reason for this tradition is the stimulation of the color development. The balms are also thought to help the color penetrate the skin more deeply.

With essential oils, be careful to choose oils that are safe for topical use. Certain essential oils work well because their solvent properties (terpines) react with henna, so if you can pick up some tea tree, lavender, neroli, cajeput, or ravensara oil, these are your best bet; they have the strongest terpines.

If you are concerned with the smell, ravensera, neroli or lavender are ideal choices as they smell much more pleasant than some of the other options.

3. Wrap your henna tattoo

It is quite a common practice to wrap your finished tattoo to enhance the color and protect the design. Make sure the henna past is dry enough to touch and be careful when you do so as it is easy to smudge your design. It might be an idea to have someone there to help you, or to ask your henna artist to do it for you. If you want to do so, you can wrap it with some kind of medical paper tape, like flexible gauze tape.

4. Choose your henna carefully

The kind of henna you use can make all the difference if you are keen to make sure your tattoos have maximum impact and stick around for the longest time. The best way to get control of this is to get familiar with doing the henna tattoos yourself, as it isn’t always easy to know the quality of the henna your artist will be using.

If you’re just starting out with henna, simplicity is key; you would be forgiven for wanting to take the easiest route possible to your stunning designs. Likewise, if you’re a busy henna artist, you could be aiming for convenience as well as quality.

A time-tested reliable henna product that gives excellent results every time is a wise move if you want consistently long lasting and richly colored tattoos. If the product is made up for you and ready to go, that’s one thing less likely to go awry. Henna City’s tattoo kits contain the highest quality organic powder and a ready-made mixing solution; it’s a one step, foolproof process and the paste will adhere perfectly to the skin for the deepest color and longest lasting tattoos.

5. Try jagua gel tattoos

If you love strong, dark colors and definition, you could consider trying jagua gel instead of henna. An edible fruit from the Amazon rain forest, the gel produced from jagua is completely safe and can temporarily dye the skin with a blue/black color that lasts up to two weeks. You can get high quality tattoos out of this gel and it’s very difficult to tell the difference between a jagua tattoo and permanent ink.

Henna and jagua application is a fun process, so enjoy it… and whichever methods you choose to get the desired effects, we wish you the best of luck, the loveliest looks, and maximum longevity for your designs!