Be it a birthday celebration, Raksha Bandhan, Eid or a function as big as a girl’s wedding, most girls have their hands painted a beautiful orange-red-brown colour, the colour of Mehendi or Henna. It’s indeed beautiful to see intricate patterns drawn on an area as small as a finger. But is henna limited to just cosmetic use?
Traditional use of Henna:
Henna is still applied in major Indian events, especially weddings. Some articles suggest that the use of Henna by a bride helps her stay in the present and calm her nerves amidst the crazy chaos of Indian weddings. In ancient times, Henna was actually used more for hygiene than just beauty. The aqueous infusion of the leaves was applied on external surfaces of the body to prevent various skin diseases. This infusion was also applied to provide a cooling effect on the part by gently reducing the activity of sweat glands.
Henna as medicine:
The leaves of Henna reduce burning sensation.
There is reference on the use of leaves of Henna to cure leucoderma.
When applied on hair, Henna promotes growth of hair.
Its use was found in the treatment of leprosy and many other skin diseases.
External application of Henna in form of infusion or decoction also alleviates headache.
So, the use of Henna is in beauty and beyond! But the Henna which was considered good for skin, is now causing dermatitis like conditions due to the addition of various other components in Henna cones available in the market.
What is your say on the added unnecessary chemicals used these days in Henna?
Natural Henna is much more safe and beneficial than chemical infused henna. Henna is not only used for beauty, it has cooling and soothing effect when applied on skin and also promotes healthy hair growth.
This post is very informative; it certainly did make an impact. It is disheartening to see its potential restricted to cosmetics and exploited for capitalism. At the end it harms us only.
Henna has been a part of our culture since centuries and has many benefits but the addition of chemicals to it, just for increasing the color payoff has many side effects.
This was really interesting to read, but the henna available nowadays often does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to do. If more brands start offering pure henna and actually educate people about its uses like you did, we might finally see a positive shift.