Organic Henna Powder

Description

Henna is a dye prepared from the plant Lawsonia inermis, also known as the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet, the sole species of the genus Lawsonia.  Along with its natural textile dye properties, henna is also used for hair dye and mehndi, the South Asian art of henna imagery for ceremonies and celebrations.

Henna is also popular in North Africa, and Henna is often used in North Africa to create organic indigo vats. It serves the same function as fructose to reduce the vat, and creates a very rich and deep blue shade that lasts and lasts. See our instructions for creating a henna vat here.

Henna is a fragrant green powder that mixes into a thick greenish-brown paste with the addition of hot water. We offer the highest quality, GOTS certified, organic henna powder.  Please note that our henna is the pure leaf powder and does not contain additives.

To use henna as a textile dye on wool (no mordant required) to achieve a rich reddish brown:

Measure Henna powder at 50% wof.  Mix into a paste with hot water, and then add to a dye pot with enough water to cover the fibers.  Stir well, then add the fibers.  Heat slowly, stirring gently to avoid tangling and felting.   Hold at a simmer for 1-2 hours.  You can also let the fibers sit in the dye pot to cool overnight, then remove, rinse gently and allow to dry.

From our Feedback Friday series:

I keep hearing from friends that I should use henna to deepen my indigo. Does it really make indigo a deeper blue?

Henna serves the same function as fructose which is to reduce the vat and make the indigo available for dipping, and in our experience, creates a very rich and deep blue shade that lasts and lasts. For best results, we create our stock solution, substituting henna for fructose, then let the solution and vat ripen for a day or two. We find that ripening seems to create a very rich and deep shade. If you don’t have much time, heating the vat gently will also help speed up the reaction among the ingredients. We also like to use henna to create our indigo stock solution and then rebalance the vat with fructose for convenience.

Learn more about indigo:

How to Dye with Indigo

Frequently Asked Indigo Questions