I have probably been asked for my recipe a thousand times over my career. Since I started selling my henna powders last year, it only makes sense for me to write down my recipe that I use for my own brides.
Having the highest quality Body Art Quality (BAQ) henna is easily the most important part of the henna recipe. I have two brand of my own powders: Hiral Henna Rajasthani Powder and the Hiral Henna Neeta Blend powder.
The Hiral Henna Rajasthani powder comes from the state of Rajasthan in India. It is very stringy which means that it has a snotty consistency and kind of sticks together to itself. The Jamila henna comes from Pakistan and does not have the same stringy quality. Both are very good powders and stain very well, but people have their own preferences for one or other based on their consistency preferences.
Alternatively, the Neeta Blend is a blend of both of those powders mentioned above. This way, you can the best of both worlds, and I personally ( as well as Neeta Sharma of Mehndi Designer) prefer this consistency than the other two. I hope that helps.
Recipe for the Hiral Henna Neeta Blend henna powder:
8 ounces of lemon juice
100 grams of Hiral Henna Neeta Blend henna powder
1 ounce (30ml) of Hiral Henna Bani Blend essential oils (or any other essential oils of your choice from our Aruna Blend or eucalyptus, cajeput, tea tree, lavender oils)
Water as needed
Put 8 ounces of lemon juice in the container or bowl you would like to mix your henna in. Add the 1 ounce of essential oils. Add the henna powder. Mix it all together - I prefer to mix with a hand mixer or with a butter knife. You will probably need to add water to the mix to make the consistency like frozen yogurt.
Cover the mixture up with plastic wrap or a lid and set aside in a warm temperature (75-80 degrees F) for about 24 hours. When you check back on the mehndi mixture in 24 hours, there will be a darker chocolate brown layer on top. When you stir up the mehndi, you will see it's more dark green in color underneath. While adding water, stir up the mixture thoroughly to break up any remaining clumps and make the mixture smooth.
Consistency of the final mixture depends on personal preference. Personally, I like the henna liquid enough so that it is falling off the mixer blade/butter knife, but not so much that it is dripping off. Please experiment with your perfect consistency and let me know in the comments below what that is for you. Happy hennaing!