Double your joys during festivals with these easy steps to darken the color of henna.
Somebody had said that the bride’s mehendi colour is a direct reflection of her husband’s love for her. But let’s not make your husband or boyfriend be tested by fire.
Actual Significance of Mehndi in Indian Culture:
Well, yes, it is said that Mehndi is a symbol of fertility and hence is used in wedding ceremonies. However, there is another significant reason as to why Mehndi has been used in our Indian weddings since centuries!
Mehndi is a medicinal herb, and is great in destressing a person. While wedding is a happy occasion for the families involved, it can get a little hectic. Mehndi application helps in calming the nerves and also, prevents headaches and fever.
It is also usually mixed with eucalyptus oil and lemon, which help in darkening the colour of the henna, but, are again great medicinal powerhouses!
Its application has been known since ancient times and hence it is always an integral part of most Indian festivals!
But as mentioned earlier, the dark colour also represents the love your new family would have for you. We obviously don’t the truth of this matter, and this is just an age old belief, and hence the struggle to get really deep colour! However, lets not make them jump hoops for us, instead lets try to get deep dark clour of henna naturally. There are simple ways to make your mehndi colour deeper and darker.
10 Tips for Darker Mehndi Colour
#1 Washing before applying
Wash your palms thoroughly with soap before you sit down to apply mehndi. Make sure you don’t apply any creams or lotions. By eliminating any possible layers on your skin, mehendi will be completely absorbed and you will naturally get a darker shade.
#2 Apply eucalyptus oil
Make an exception with eucalyptus oil. After washing your hands apply this essential oil to your hands and feet. Not only does it smell good, but the oil actually helps darken the colour of mehendi.
#3 Let your mehendi dry naturally
Allow the mehendi on your hands to dry naturally. Don’t shake your hands or use a blow dryer. The movement or the blowing air can smudge the design and waste all the time you spent in getting it applied.
#4 Invest the hours
Keep the mehendi on your palms as long as you can, preferably overnight, if possible. Once it’s dried, you can ask someone to gently bandage your hands so the mehendi stays on and doesn’t leave crumbs in bed.
#5 Smoke it
It is believed that the smoke from heated cloves helps darken mehendi. Place some cloves in an iron pan and turn on the heat. Let the smoke coming from the cloves come in contact with your mehendi. Hold your hands out for as long as you can bear the heat and stop only when they start to hurt a bit.
#6 Lemon and sugar
Apply a mixture of sugar and lemon juice to your hands after your mehendi has dried completely. Dab it on gently using a cotton ball. Don’t go overboard with it as the juice might end up lightening the colour.
#7 Vicks to the rescue
After you’ve kept the mehendi overnight it’s time to remove it. Gently rub your hands together until all the mehendi has been scrapped off. Apply Vicks or some pickle oil to your hands. This has been known to give you a dark mehendi shade.
#8 Stay away from water
Ideally, allow 24 hours to lapse before you expose your mehendi to water. Water will wash away the top layer of the mehendi and not allow the colour to really penetrate deep within your skin.
#9 No beauty treatments
Keep all waxing, pedicure and manicure appointments before the mehendi. If you must do it later, allow at least 2-3 days to go by. Else you will end up scraping the top layer of the mehendi away and not get the desired result. Or else, if you really need to get rid of your body hair, you can shave your hair using Gillette Venus razors that are specially designed for women! But this is in a case of extreme necessity.
#10 Apply well in advance
Make sure there’s a gap of 1 or 2 days between applying the mehendi and your function. Mehendi usually gives its darkest shade after a few days. Plan your mehendi session accordingly and you will have the best colour possible.
These 10 simple mehendi tips will get your man off the hook and let you take complete ownership of your own mehendi colour.
Some Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Mehndi Application:
How long should I keep mehndi on hands?
You need to keep it at least till it dries; however, this will give you a light orange shade of mehendi. For darker colour, you need to keep it at least for 8 hours and if possible, even overnight, so that the colour is absorbed and you get a deep brown colour.
Oops! I have washed my hands! How to darken mehndi after washing now?
Well, as suggested earlier, there isn’t much you can do after washing away the top layer of henna. But you can try and combine all the methods suggested above to get a deeper colour. Yes, try putting eucalyptus oil or Vicks for 3-4 hours (can be put overnight as well, but ensure it is well bandages, so that it doesn’t irritate you).
Then in the morning you can try and roast cloves in a pan, and put your hands over the pan, so that the cloves smoke tries and strengthen the colour of your mehndi. Please be careful, and don’t keep your hands very close to the hot pan.
Does lemon and sugar really work in darkening the colour of henna?
Yes, it does! You need to apply this concoction when the henna paste is completely dry. Once you apply this sticky solution on the mehndi, the sugar will help in sticking of lemon juice, which in turn will darken the colour. You can do this, only when the henna paste is there on the hands!
How can I remove Mehendi from hand?
Post wedding, if you really don’t like the faint stains that mehndi leaves mehndi, you can use lemon juice to remove the stain colour. Lemon juice is a bleaching agent, and can help in lightening the colour. However, lemons are harsh on the skin, and hence it is advisable to moisturize post this!