· How often you wash your hands · What kind of soap you use
· Your skin quality and heat in your body
· Location of the mehndi on the body
Henna works by staining the outer layers of the epidermis, permanently. The reason why your stain itself is impermanent is because our skin exfoliates off. So the deeper our mehndi stains, the longer our design lasts. Thus, it is important to be aware of the contributing factors to a henna design’s latency. Strong soap and hand-washing shortens the life of a henna stain because it exfoliates our skin. If we take our exfoliation theory farther, we note the palm of one’s hands exfoliates much faster than the back of the hands; thus, henna on the palm lasts less than half as long as henna on the back of the hand.
What do you do after applying the mehndi?
The next step in the process of applying mehndi is to wait. The mehndi takes as long as 4-6 hours to achieve the darkest color. However if you want a light color then you can wash mehndi early. If you feel prolonged itchiness that makes you want to remove the henna immediately, please do so; the feeling could indicate the presence of substances to which you may be allergic.
