Do you really know your henna?

Have you ever thought twice about what ‘henna’ someone is putting on you? No? That is okay, but I can assure you that once you read this article you will be very cautious of which henna you buy or put on. It is unfortunate that a mass number of people who get henna done, in Canada, have little to no knowledge that there are in fact harmful kinds of henna. Applying the wrong kind can cause severe burns on the skin and cause bad effects on a person’s health. “Many think ‘it’s henna and I have seen it on people.’ But the thing is the severity of it is understated that nobody really realizes,” Hamnah Nabeel said. Nabeel is a 28-year-old henna artist based in Toronto and she explains the four types of henna sold in markets.

The first type is the natural henna gotten from the plant Lawsonia Inermis. The leaves gotten from the plant are dried, crushed, grinded and sifted to make a fine dry powder. After this process, it is then packaged and bought by customers. When applied, this henna has a burgundy, reddish-brown stain. This kind of henna is the safest out of all four.

The second is Jagua. Unlike henna, which is a paste, Jagua is a gel dye. It is gotten from a fruit-bearing the same name called Jagua fruit. It can be found in places like the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Mexico and South America. The fruit is also called Huito in other regions where it grows. Jagua is also natural and safe for people to put on their skin. “Henna is a powder where you add the liquid to get the paste, while jagua is a gel, which is pasteurized. It is also completely safe to put our skin, the only thing you have to watch out for are allergies to it,” Nabeel said. She said that some people do get allergic reactions from both henna and jagua. With henna, it is rare but still possible for allergic reactions to appear, while with jaguar more frequent.

Jagua has a dark blue stain. Nabeel said that some henna artists mix the two together as it produces a colour close to black. “Jagua has a cold tone while henna has a warmer tone, if you mix them you get a nice and rich almost black colour. Once again, absolutely safe for people to use and mix.”

The third is black henna. It is toxic and unsafe. “Black henna is a terrible thing to use, you should not be using it. Don’t go anywhere near it! it is derived from coal tar dye,” Nabeel said. It is a chemical that has the same properties found in hair dye which is para-phenylenediamine or PPD. “It causes chemical burns at the very least and other times severe reactions that are life- threatening, there are various reports about it,” Nabeel said. She also explained that there are cases where a person who used black henna and reacted to it begins to also have new allergic reactions to other things they never had. “To be honest, I don’t like calling it henna because it isn’t henna. It is out there and sometimes people don’t know, so I believe it’s a big part of my job is to advocate and keep posting on social media for people to stay away from it.”

The fourth is henna found in some stores. If you walk into a store and see henna sitting on a counter, there is a high possibility that it has chemicals. “Henna has to be frozen. It is perishable, it will last a day on the counter, 3 to 4 days in a fridge, and 6 months in a freezer,” Nabeel said.

She also explains how one can know if they have used henna with chemicals. “What happens is that once it gets on the skin it stains that red-brown colour that natural henna produces.” Nabeel calls this an immediate sign that it is unsafe henna because it is supposed to start off orange or yellow, depending on the skin tone, and then gets darker over the next two days after application. She said another sign is that the henna will peel off. She considers this the biggest sign. “Natural henna rubs off much like how normal skin exfoliates. On the other hand, the unsafe ones will peel off. Unknowingly to people, this is actually your skin peeling off,” Nabeel said.

And there you have it, the four types of henna. Now go out there and get your temporary tattoos with a clear mind knowing that you have knowledge of which are natural and safe, and which aren’t. Don’t forget being cautious about this isn’t a crime, it’s protecting your health.