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Mehendi Colour

For any Indian bride approaching her big W-day(W for wedding), one of a thousand thoughts on her mind is surely how to make her mehendi or henna colour darker than usual, and how fast that can be achieved. Her friends on her behalf or she herself would definitely do quick online research and search for ‘10 Easy Tips for Darker Mehendi Colour’ or ‘How to Quickly Darken Mehendi Colour for Weddings’.

No matter what you are looking or searching for, the fact is that, surprisingly, most brides or their families do not really know the reason from where this persistent demand to have darker mehendi colour, especially for wedding occasions, springs from.

In the Indian realm, there are several legends and folklore that surround tales of mehendi and henna, and each tale, one must concede, is unique and interesting in its own way. You need to take a few minutes to know at least some of those interesting legends around mehendi before you dive right in to find out ways to darken your mehendi colour.

Weddings: The Significance of Darker Mehendi Colour

Legends around mehendi are many, varied and interesting. Let’s explore some of them:

  • Lucky Offspring: One view is that mehendi is traditionally associated with fertility and pregnancy and hence the direct connection with marriages–the darker the mehendi colour, the luckier will be the offspring from unions. In any case, for ages, mehendi has been known to be associated with most Indian festivals.
  • Stress Buster: Another legend has it that mehendi, a medicinal herb, is thought to soothe and calm the nerves and provide relief from the hassles and sheer stress normally associated with various wedding ceremonies and rituals, no matter which set of Indian rituals you are following. Darker the mehendi colour, the easier the relief from stress.
  • Depth of Love: This is really easy to understand. The darker the colour of mehendi you can ensure, the greater the love and affection you, as the bride, can expect from your new family.

All these traditional Indian legends and folklores now make it clear why there is a never-ending craze to find at least 10 Easy Tips for Darker Mehendi Colour and the craze never seems to die, especially when it comes to weddings and marriages.

In Search of a Darker Stain, Are You Compromising on Your Mehendi Quality?

It is clear that you are in a hurry to achieve the darker stain for your mehendi. No matter how much hurry you may be in, just remember to go for the best brand and quality of mehendi and not compromise, for use of inferior quality of mehendi may be harmful for your skin.

Mehendi or henna is one of the oldest colouring products that has been used for decades for various purposes, including the use of mehendi powder for beautifying your hands and fingers and strengthening hair and maintaining a healthy glow.

There are some main qualities and characteristics you should look out for in the best mehendi for your hands and these are:

  • Natural Colour: When you remove mehendi paste for the first time, it should show a bright orange stain, provided it is natural and organic. Natural henna or organic mehendi should only contain Lawsonia inermis, while contaminated henna may have harmful PPD or other chemical additives.
  • 100% Pure: Natural mehendi is a medicinal herb. The best organic mehendi powder brand should be 100% natural, and contain no chemicals, and have no side effects on your hands or hair.
  • No Para-Phenylenediamine (PPD) or Ammonia: PPD is a chemical compound traditionally used in many mehendi powder dyes. Natural mehendi powder should be PPD-free, as PPD is thought to be harmful medically with carcinogenicity and genotoxicity attributes.
  • No Side Effects: When henna or mehendi does not contain any harmful chemicals or PPD, it is not expected to have any side effects on your hands and fingers.

Always ensure that your mehendi is 100% natural and organic so that you don’t suffer any side effects to your skin health no matter how hard-pressed you are for time as your big wedding day nears!

So, How Do I Darken My Mehendi Real Fast?

Well, we don’t don’t know about that ‘real fast’ part, but now that you have ensured that your mehendi is 100% pure, organic and natural, you have already passed the first vital quality test. Surely, the above tips would have helped you in your search for top quality mehendi for use in your wedding rituals.

Let us now explore 10 Easy Tips for Darker Mehendi Colour in the most natural and organic fashion possible, some methods faster than the others:

  1. Wait to Get That Dark Brown or Deep Burgundy Stain: Just letting the mehendi dry on your hands will result in, at best, a pale orange stain. Provided your mehendi or henna is natural and organic, when you remove the mehendi paste for the first time, it should show a bright orange stain. For a darker hue, that is to get that dark brown or deep burgundy stain, you need to go beyond just the normal waiting period and leave it as it is for at least 8 hours, and, if possible, overnight, so that colour get absorbed and you end up with a deeper shade of mehendi. But, this involves a long wait; is there a slightly faster way? Yes, there is. Read on….
  2. Go the Clove Way: This is another traditional method. Gentle heat is thought to enhance and darken mehendi colour. You can gently warm a few cloves on a traditional Indian tawa, then hold your hands above the fumes. Gradually, you will see the mehendi colour intensifying, leaving a rich, dark stain.
  3. Use Pure Eucalyptus Oil and Lemon: Mehendi itself is known for its cooling medicinal properties. When you combine mehendi with such useful powerhouses as eucalyptus oil and lemon, which themselves have good medicinal properties, you not only ensure a darker strain of mehendi, but ensure your health as well.
  4. Does Hot, Humid Weather Help? Though there does not seem to be any conclusive scientific evidence to prove it, it has been generally observed that a hot and humid weather helps make mehendi darker. Maybe, scheduling your wedding during the summer months may be a natural way to get a darker stain of mehendi.
  5. And What About Using Vaseline? This is another traditional, desi method. Once your mehendi dries, you can apply vaseline on those painstaking and intricate mehendi designs to keep them darker and, hopefully, longer. 
  6. Rub Your Way to Darker Mehendi Colour: There is another version of the above-mentioned traditional vaseline method. Rubbing of balms and Vicks Vapourub, combined with some or all of the methods mentioned above, may just generate the heat needed to darken your fantastic mehendi designs.
  7. Before Applying Mehendi, Cleanse Hands Properly: This is a good practice often given the go-by or completely overlooked due to lack of knowledge. But now that you know it, start doing it as it will help cleanse your hands of dirt, sweat and, yes, bacteria too!
  8. Stop! Don’t Touch Water After Applying Mehendi: Once you have applied mehendi, it is human nature to touch water with your hands in a hurry. If you can resist that natural tendency and allow more than 24 hours to lapse, it will prevent water from washing away the top mehendi layer, and hence you will get the time for the colour to penetrate inside your skin and stay there, thus ensuring a darker mehendi colour!
  9. Stay Away From All Beauty Treatments: Stop Waxing or Shaving; Not just these, even avoid body polishing, before applying mehendi as this may peel off the topmost layer of your mehendi, thus spoiling the whole thing and resulting in a faded appearance.
  10. Use Good Mehendi Brand for Darker Stains: It stands to logic that if you use inferior quality of mehendi, it might not just be harmful for your skin health, but also may lead to other undesirable reactions in your efforts to achieve a darker stain of mehendi. Thus, ultimately, quality matters.

Following the 10 Easy Tips for Darker Mehendi Colour above, you should be well-equipped to go about your mehendi darkening mission with confidence. You can also make your intricate mehendi designs last longer with the above simple techniques. Way to go!

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