Henna

Beauty care in India is incomplete without the inclusion of henna, especially during marriage season.

The best henna is that which turns the hands red. The best of all is the Rajasthani henna.

Henna or mehendi is a tradition for the weddings as it denotes fertility. This is the initiation to womanhood.

Henna denotes love between the couple. The intricate patterns have attraction and have unique properties.

It is used as it is the best coolant during hot summers and also has a succulent aroma. Earlier mehendi was popular for its medicinal qualities. Henna application for few hours allows the skin to become cool.

Beauty of henna is apparent when the fresh leaves are mixed with vinegar or lime juice and are applied on burns. The churned leaves of henna applied on sore joints make a wonderful treatment for rheumatism. The henna leaves are useful in curing headaches as well as in inducing sleep.

Henna oil prevents hair graying and the leaves of mehendi stops bleeding and also averts skin diseases. Nowadays, it is available in powder forms that can be made into paste by adding lemon juice and eucalyptus oil.

This is added to enhance viscosity and smoothness. Adding coffee or tea powder gives darker color to the henna paste and after rinsing, applying mustard; eucalyptus or coconut oil ensures best results.

Henna is essential for beauty care and is also used as medicinal value. Henna seed is mixed with ghee and is had with lukewarm water. The bark is useful in treating jaundice. The bark is crushed and used for skin diseases such as eczema, scabies, fungal infections and burns.

People having hair problems can also find applying henna as the best treatment. Fresh henna leaves should be boiled in mustard oil. This should then be applied over the scalp for shiny and healthy growing hair. The ground henna leaves are ideal to relieve prickly heat and the decoction of mehendi leaves is appropriate for clearing the soreness in the throat by gargling.

Henna leaves can be directly plucked fresh and ground. They can be used directly or to have better color the henna can be blend with tea or coffee decoction, eucalyptus oil and lime water. This gives good luster and also a very cool effect. As it is now available in powder forms applying it has become easy. However, mixing it and keeping it in an iron urn for few hours and then applying it gives a dark color.