I've been doing henna for going on 5 years but I'm fairly new to this forum (browsed around a lot before actually signing up). This is the first time I've encountered anything I really felt compelled to ask about... so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I recently bought some Purity Henna for a friend who would like bridal henna done for her wedding later this month. My problem is, although I often mix my own henna, its never been all that important that it be really *dark* so I was never concerned that my mixes didn't come out that way. Now, she wants something really visible, but I can't seem to make it work. She has darker skin which makes a darker stain a necessity if it's going to be visible.
Its been really hot (~90F+) so I've tried a variety of times/recipes/etc. with no luck. I then tried to cool (and therefore slow) things down (near my AC where it's in the upper 60s) thinking I might get the dye release at just the right point, but that didn't seem to help much either. Here's my basic recipe: Lemon Juice, little bit of table sugar, little more honey, lavender and tea tree oils.
I'm gathering that it's better to add terps and sugar awhile after the lemon juice so I'll definitely try that, but I'm still clueless about dye release. I prefer the method where you put the paste into a bag and wait for the dye to seep through and color the paper, but when exactly is the right point to add the terps/sugar and how orange should my paper be? In a few of my trials I knew that I had let things go too long because the paper was a deep orange/red. Being paranoid, I then did a couple where the paper had just been barely tinged. Am I missing the happy medium?
At this point it's beyond just what I'm trying to do for my friend... I'd really like to be able to offer people the best possible stain, and, besides, the fact that can't get it to work is kinda ticking me off and making me all the more resolved to figure it out! ; )
Thanks in advance for the help! My friend and I are both very appreciative!
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