I bought Henna at an Iran shop. It was a cotton bag with plastic bag on the outside. Do you know this henna? Is it good? I like what it did and it was easy to use and rinse out

Is cheap henna good enough? I would like to buy in my town.. The shipping to Norway is crazy expensive :rolleyes:

It was like this iran one http://www.mehndiskinart.com/henna_powder.htm

It's hard to know. I've had some luck with inexpensive henna but you can't take anything for granted.

There are a few things that could be wrong with it:

1. May not be well sifted, and have twigs and leaves in it.
2. May not have been stored appropriately, and has lost freshness and quality of colour
3. May contain additives, including mineral salts, that can really mess with your hair, especially if it's been coloured by non-plant dyes.

Do a strand test! Also, check out THE Henna thread, as Nightshade recently posted some instructions on how to check if your henna contains nasty mineral salts.

Start keeping your shed hair so you can do some tests before applying to your head.

Good luck!

-- Natalie

It's hard to know. I've had some luck with inexpensive henna but you can't take anything for granted.

There are a few things that could be wrong with it:

1. May not be well sifted, and have twigs and leaves in it.
2. May not have been stored appropriately, and has lost freshness and quality of colour
3. May contain additives, including mineral salts, that can really mess with your hair, especially if it's been coloured by non-plant dyes.

Do a strand test! Also, check out THE Henna thread, as Nightshade recently posted some instructions on how to check if your henna contains nasty mineral salts.

Start keeping your shed hair so you can do some tests before applying to your head.

Good luck!

-- Natalie

Thank you. I have been reading and reading, but it`s a bit hard to get all the english info. And I see some like the cheap and some only use the expensive.

Ok, I will keep my shed hair, this is so much fun :D

I use Masria henna from Hennedrog, it's with sodium picramata.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/555Nikita/henna-1.jpg
It's 1,5 - 1.75 euro per package like 90 grams. Once I had a nice deal for 1 euro a package, I bought 22.

Henna does not have to be expensive. Around here excellent quality henna from a reputable store is very cheep. I guess the shipping to far areas that makes expensive there.

However do check for quality before using.

It's hard to know. I've had some luck with inexpensive henna but you can't take anything for granted.

There are a few things that could be wrong with it:

1. May not be well sifted, and have twigs and leaves in it.
2. May not have been stored appropriately, and has lost freshness and quality of colour
3. May contain additives, including mineral salts, that can really mess with your hair, especially if it's been coloured by non-plant dyes.

Do a strand test! Also, check out THE Henna thread, as Nightshade recently posted some instructions on how to check if your henna contains nasty mineral salts.

Start keeping your shed hair so you can do some tests before applying to your head.

Good luck!

-- Natalie

Exactly! Here are those instructions so you don't have to go looking for them :)

How can you find out if the henna hair dye you've been using has toxic metallic salts?
Harvest some of your hair.
Mix one ounce (30 ml) of 20-volume peroxide and 20 drops of 28% ammonia.
Put your harvested hair in the peroxide-ammonia mix (this is in synthetic hair dye).
If there's lead in the henna you've used, your hair will change color immediately.
If there's silver nitrate in the henna you've been using, there will be no change in hair color, because silver is coating the hair. However, silver nitrate leaves a greenish cast to your hair, so you can tell by that.
If there's copper in the henna you've used, your hair will start to boil, the hair will be hot and smell horrible, and the hair will disintegrate.
With all that crap, frequently unlisted, in some henna products, no wonder henna's gotten a bad rap!

I use henna from my local indian store,I can't buy online and my results are just as good and just have to rinse alittle longer.Like the others say do a strand test to make sure it comes out ok.

Well, Snowflower already said that she did her whole head, that it was easy to apply and rinse, and that she's happy with the results.
From the link she posted, it looks like that henna was sold for body art.

Hi, I like your color :)

I saw that one in a local shop, but the sodium picramata scared me. What is that?

I use Masria henna from Hennedrog, it's with sodium picramata.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/555Nikita/henna-1.jpg
It's 1,5 - 1.75 euro per package like 90 grams. Once I had a nice deal for 1 euro a package, I bought 22.

Well, Snowflower already said that she did her whole head, that it was easy to apply and rinse, and that she's happy with the results.
From the link she posted, it looks like that henna was sold for body art.

Yes, thats right. It`s a bit orange, but I hope it`s because it was my first henna (and I have a lot of new hair in the front).

I`m not sure if it was body art or not

Henna does not have to be expensive, it depends on who you buy from, how much their cost is, and how much their shipping and/or your shipping is.

I purchase Jamila henna from the local East Indian store in town, I pay $1.69 for 100 grams.

I saw that one in a local shop, but the sodium picramata scared me. What is that?

Not sure, but I did find this (http://www.hennaforhair.com/forum/messages/994.html#followups).

Not sure, but I did find this (http://www.hennaforhair.com/forum/messages/994.html#followups).

I found something on the German "lhc" and it looks like it is dangerous, found words like explosive and cancer-trigger. My german is bad, but that words scares me :rolleyes:

Guess I should find a safe henna to play with :luke:

Henna does not have to be expensive. Around here excellent quality henna from a reputable store is very cheep. I guess the shipping to far areas that makes expensive there.


I agree ,I live in Turkey and I can find very good quality henna for a reasonable price.Converting to $ the most expensive one I buy is 5$ per kg.

Snowflower, would it be easier for you to order from the UK? Here in England we have several reputable suppliers. Try www.renaissancehenna.com and also www.hennaboy.co.uk

Here is a kg of henna for 10$ plus shipping http://stores.ebay.com/IndianEthnicHouse_Indian-100-Pure-Henna-Powder_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ18330849QQftidZ2Q QtZkm

And I just bought 2 kg for 13$ per kg from this seller http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZpuddletown_alchemical_laboratory his name is Emmanuel and he is really nice. I havent tried it yet but it says triple sifted.

The henna I used before was from Black Cat / Red Cat and it cost me 60$ a kg with shipping (maybe it was 55$) Either way, I got the 2 KG for 26$ and shipping was 11$

I forgot to add, he always has henna for sale for 13$ and you dont have to put in a higher bid, he has multiples and you can even contact him directly instead of ebay.

If you want his email pm me and you can do a direct sale and not have to wait on the auction to end.

Snowflower....as soon as I saw that cloth bag with the design on it (in the link you posted) I thought I remembered reading about Iranian henna in a bag like that, and that it was supposed to be VERY high quality. It has been nagging at me, especially with everyone seemingly determined to get you to spend more money.

So i did a search on the H4H forum, and sure enough, that henna is discussed in a thread titled "Henna in Iran". And it's very high quality, even Catherine C. Jones agrees.

I got some Iranian henna in a cloth bag hoping to use it for body art. It was VERY sandy/filled with clay, and the color was weird...almost as if dye had been added. I ended up chucking it. What was funny was the guy in the store claimed up and down that his wife uses it for body art and so on and so forth...yeah, what a load of crock.

www.hennatribe.com is a nonprofit henna community with a list of reputable body-art-quality henna suppliers, many of whom henna their hair, too.

Well, I very much prefer to buy inexpensive henna from a local shop than order expensive stuff online... You can easily find just as good stuff in local ethnic shops (well, at least here) as online (I do get the feeling that these "reputable suppliers" are just kind of a money-making ploy, to be honest...) Of course you have to check for anything strange and do a strand test, but I've never had problems with them.

I'm not saying all stuff you can get in shops is good quality, far from it, but many are; in general, "offline henna" not as bad as it's made out to be (mostly by these online "reputable suppliers", wonder why? ;))