December 2025
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Articles and stores about henna, hair and traditions by Catherine Cartwright-Jones, PhD
Mehandi.com founder Catherine Cartwright-Jones recounts her experience as a presenter at the 2016 conference of the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists.
The cosmetic industry didn’t pick up on what I said here, but somebody from the UN did, and forwarded it to plant henna in the Green Wall project in Africa to keep people on their land, taking care of their families, instead of becoming climate refugees, stabilize the soil and prevent desertification.
This also was when a head chemist from Garnier patted my hair and said, “OOOOOOO what is that? It’s PERFECT.” I said, it’s just henna and indigo (2 step henna and indigo jet black). If the word “incredulous” were a facial expression, that would have been hers.
"Ancient Sunrise Henna for Hair" explores the art, science, techniques, and history of using henna, indigo, and cassia to dye hair and addresses the problem of the epidemic of para-phenylenediamine sensitization: the increasingly dangerous and widespread allergy to chemical hair dye. We offer this book free of charge. We ask only that you respect our copyright and observe our terms of use. You may view or download selected chapters or download the entire book.
Henna is Lawsonia inermis Fam. Lythraceae, a monotypic genus, the single example being L. inermis,2 native to North and East Africa, introduced and cultivated in the Persian Gulf region, the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and South Asia.3 It grows in semi-arid tropical zones, and tolerates dry soil and extended drought. It does not tolerate frost and thrives where temperatures are between 11C and 45C. Henna is a biennial dicotyledonous herbaceous shrub-like desert tree. A henna tree will naturally grow six to twenty feet in height, though under cultivation, the tree is pruned once or twice a year to a short bush to produce more henna leaves per hectare. The leaves are smooth, opposite, sub-sessile, elliptically-shaped and broadly lanceolate, with depressed veins clearly visible on the dorsal surface.
People have been using plants and other materials to change the color of their hair long before commercial hair dyes were invented. The resurgence in natural and DIY beauty has led to a long and strange list of ingredients being mixed up and put on the hair. Many of these are food items. Others are borrowed from natural fabric dyeing. However, just because something is natural and has a color does not mean that it will 1) bind permanently to the hair strand, and/or 2) be safe to use on the hair.
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