
Coats hair and gives shine
Mentioned in the Bible and used by the ancient Egyptians as a decorative cosmetic, henna is enjoying renewed popularity as an alternative to synthetic hair dyes. There have been tomb findings of henna markings on mummies and some evidence of Bronze Age ritual use exists.
Description
Made from the dried and powdered leaves of the Lawsonia inermis shrub, henna starts out as green, but imparts a warm reddish-brown colour. The active colouring ingredient is called lawsone. Henna can be mixed with coffee, indigo and other natural dyes to manipulate the final shade.
Henna is also hair conditioning in its own right and sometimes used for this purpose in hair moisturisers and other products. It coats the hair with a fine film and adds body, shine and brilliant highlights. Henna is also used in many traditional body adornments and is particularly important in religious wedding rituals. It was believed to have healing and spiritual properties and henna body painting is considered an important art form even today.
We make our own infusion by steeping dried henna in boiled water. This is then added to our products to enhance highlights and shine. We use Iranian red henna because it is considered to be the best quality and the most vibrant red colour.