What's in MY Henna?

I already talked about what goes in a basic henna paste so I might as well share mine.  Here's my newly developed recipe.  I'm quite proud of it.  Nifty for me since I never seem to have lemons or prepared lemon juice, nor do I enjoy the extra hassle of buying/keeping it.

Instead, I boil chunks of pineapple, which I always have frozen for the best smoothies in the world made by moi.  That I simmer for 20 minutes, adding and dissolving sugar in a 1:3 ratio to the water.  The pineapple sufficiently passes on its acidic properties and also adds a little extra fructose to the syrup. Paste has been deliciously crack-resistant thus far.

yes, I did say best smoothies in the world.

photo credit: Beth

Leave it till dye release in a warm corner covered in saran wrap.  About four hours before I package it up for use, I add tea tree oil as my terp of choice.  About 1 to 11/2 teaspoons for 100g of powder has been suggested, but I always adjust since I rarely make that much.  I'd like to play with cajeput and frankincense a bit sometime.  I always default to tea tree even though it smells funny because I always think of it as an antiseptic and its healing properties.  I used to add lavender because my sister likes it, but honestly I'm not a fan.

So that's all that goes into my paste.  All random kitchen ingredients (well, in my home tea tree oil was a common household material). All natural.  Always fresh :)

The only other component that may be a part of my henna would be a sealant.  A lemon sugar combination is very common and works really well, but I always get annoyed with the stickyness.  Instead, I'll use a watered down white glue.  Just water and elmer's glue.  Completely safe, non-toxic, and washes off in case you've changed your mind.  When it comes time to remove the paste, it also makes it much easier to peel off the remaining - all in one! ALL in ONE!  Adding glitter makes it even purtier.

Now that's really it.  Promise.