Henna for Mehandi vs Henna for Hair

I discovered a link to Halalco in another thread, which sells very cheap Jamila henna. I did a little searching around the board for more info (as well as inquired about it in another thread). The best answer I could find is that Halalco's Jamila is henna for hair, while Mehandi.com's henna is henna for mehandi, which from what I understand is a name for the body art with henna.

So my question is, what is the difference between henna for hair and henna for mehandi? The price difference between the two is huge ($1.49 on Halalco and $7.50 on Mehandi.com), which leads me to believe that the henna for hair is of lesser quality. I would be willing to use it if the stain wasn't as good as the mehandi stuff, because I can get five times as much for the same price, and at this point, my hair is pretty red.

However, I am concerned that the cheaper henna might not be safe for chemically dyed hair. Then again, when I purchased Yemen henna from Mehandi, it came in a green package labeled "Henna for Hair," not the foil pack that Punjabi Prime and Jamila comes in. So perhaps the only difference is the staining power.

I'd also like to know if anyone tried Afshan henna or Mumtaz henna and how it compares to Jamila.

ETA: the prices I listed are for 100 grams

I would like to know as well. That is dang cheap henna. :)

From what I understand, the Jamila henna for hair is not super sifted and is comprised of leaves with lesser dye content. It's still excellent quality henna. I believe it is about the same as the BAQ2 from mehandi.com and comes in a cellophane pack rather than foil.

I've experimented with Afshan a bit. It looked pure and stained well in my opinion, but oxidized fairly burgundy on my hair, which is not my goal. The other Indian grocer has Mumtaz Al-Aroosa, but I haven't tried it out.

Henna for Mehandi (or also known as BAQ (Body Art Quality)) should be very finely sifted and doesn't contain anything else other than the Henna. The main advantage for the fine sift when using it on your hair, is that it doesn't contain bits of stem, and should rinse out a lot easier.

If you're happy to use the cheaper Henna for Hair, but you want the finer sift, you can always do that yourself, either whilst still in powder form (take a container with a lid, cut off the toe part (including some leg length) of a pair of pantyhose (tights in the UK), stretch the open end over the open container, place a coin in the toe, put the henna powder in, put the top of the container back on, then shake until all the powder that can go through the pantyhose has done so), or once you have mixed it up (again, take a pair of pantyhose, cut off the toe (include some leg length!), spoon the henna paste into the toe, and then squeeze it through the pantyhose into another bowl). I've sifted the paste once before, it's not too difficult to do, just a bit messy :)

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Originally Posted by girloctopus

From what I understand, the Jamila henna for hair is not super sifted and is comprised of leaves with lesser dye content. It's still excellent quality henna. I believe it is about the same as the BAQ2 from mehandi.com and comes in a cellophane pack rather than foil.

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Exactly right - Catherine used to sell Jamila for hair as her BAQ2 - now her BAQ2 is something else. I have used both the one for hair and the one for body art and agree with girloctopus' assessment. Jamila for hair is pure, with no additives and will give decent color. I haven't ordered from the supplier mentioned but the product itself is fine.

Thank you for all of your responses!

girloctopus - I've used BAQ2 before and didn't have any issues with the sift, so perhaps Jamila for hair wouldn't be too bad. It's also good to know that Afshan goes burgundy. My hair got a bit darker than I wanted from two applications of Yemen, so I really don't want to use anymore henna that will darken my hair.

Stormsong - Thanks for the sifting instructions. They would have been very helpful the two times I used Yemen henna... it was grittier than Punjabi Prime and harder to wash out and probably would have benefited from sifting. It was also labeled "henna for hair" and came in a green platic bag... perhaps the Jamila will behave in a similar way?

caribou - As I mentioned above, I've used the BAQ2. I originally used it for glosses, then used what I had left for my first henna. I didn't have any issues with the sift, in fact I had bigger issues with the sift of the Yemem henna. So I think I will be ordering myself some Jamila from this supplier.

Thanks again!