Are you a bride-to-be approaching your big wedding day and have Mehendi designs on your mind? If yes, you may also be secretly wondering how to achieve super dark Mehendi designs for your hands and hide your groom’s name–yes, your future husband’s name–in them, a common fun ritual in Indian weddings!
In this day and age of technology and the internet, you would surely have gone online to take the help of Google to search “How To Make Mehendi Darker And Last Longer” or some such related queries.
And Google, as it always does, would have thrown up thousands of search results related to your ‘dark Mehendi’ concerns in a fraction of a second, and right now, you, the bride-to-be approaching your life’s big W-day, would be having a tough time and be hard at work trying to figure out how to make sense of the mind-boggling number of search results and zero in on the perfect option/s to make your Mehendi darker and last longer.
- Element of Patience: Though Google would have taken a fraction of a second to throw up many search results and make your search tougher and more confusing, the fact is that just as with all good things in life, getting a darker Mehendi colour that also lasts longer involves an element of patient waiting, sometimes extending up to hours [we would discuss this further down]. And patience is perhaps not a virtue of this things-should-happen-instantly generation.
Anyway, you are at the right place here where we will discuss in detail the many issues involved and how you can navigate your way and implement concrete ways to make your Mehendi darker and last longer. Let’s dive right in.
Ensure that You Don’t Compromise with Your Mehendi Quality
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:
- 100% Pure & Natural: 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.
- Natural Colour: Natural henna or organic Mehendi should only contain Lawsonia inermis, while black henna may have harmful PPD or other chemical additives.
Quality Ensured, How Do You Make Your Mehendi Darker?
Now that you have followed the above steps and ensured that your Mehendi is of top quality, how do you go about making it darker? Traditional wisdom says, just wait. Wait till the Mehendi dries on your hands. However, this will result in, at best, a pale orange hue of Mehendi. So, for a darker stain, wait more, as they say. How long? So you have what we call the:
- Traditional Waiting Game: Just letting the Mehendi dry on your hands will result in, at best, a pale hue of orange. For a darker hue, you need to go beyond just the waiting period and leave it as it is for at least 8 hours, and, if possible, overnight. Didn’t we talk of good old patience? Yes, let your Mehendi dry naturally and don’t use a blow dryer to expedite the drying process. The long wait will make the colour get absorbed and you end up with a deep brown colour. That is one way, but there are others. Read on….
- Gentle Heat Treatment: 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. And Voila! Slowly, you will see the Mehendi colour intensifying, leaving a rich, dark stain.
- Hot, Humid Weather: Didn’t we just talk about heat treatment? 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. Just a thought: How about getting married in the hot, summer months?
- 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.
- How about a bit of Vicks Vapourub? Well, you can try this method as you are fixated on getting results: that is, making your Mehendi darker. 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.
A Few Additional, Useful Tips
All the while you have been fixated on how to darken your Mehendi to perfection and to your desired degree. But even before you apply the Mehendi or henna, there are certain best practices you need to follow and here are a few of them:
- Cleanse your hands properly before you apply Mehendi: 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!
- Oil’s Well: Use only top quality Eucalyptus oil to massage your hands before you apply Mehendi; that way, your hands will be well lubricated even before you apply Mehendi on them.
- Stop Waxing or Shaving: Not just shaving, and waxing, 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.
- Before the Big Event: Assuming that you are not using Mehendi laced with any harmful chemicals or ingredients, and also assuming you are using natural and 100% pure Mehendi, it is advisable to get your Mehendi done at least two days prior to your big event as Mehendi, freshly applied, initially tends to produce a pale orange colour which is seen to darken only after a day or two. So it is always good to act in advance.
You are now good to go! The tips above should now stand you in good stead and you should be able to go ahead with Mehendi darkening with confidence. Now you know the exact henna hacks to make your Mehendi darker and last longer!
