Henna – How and Why is the Skin Stained
By Ron T Cody
Across the globe, Henna is gaining popularity as a new form of Body Art even though it has been in use for several decades or perhaps centuries according to the recent archaeological reports. Henna is basically a flowering plant that produces a tannin burgundy dye molecule, Lawsone, in its leaves and petiole.
This molecule has an affinity for bonding with proteins and thus has been widely used to dye skin, hair and finger and toe nails.
Exactly how the Henna stains our skin is a big question and query of many interested applicants of Henna. As the human skin is also made of a special type of protein, Keratin, the Henna dye molecule is able of combining with it to leave a burgundy stain behind on the skin once the paste applied has been removed.
What happens during the colouring procedure is a rather interesting theory made by our scientists who have carried out a lot of experiments to understand the science and relationship of our skin and Henna.
Henna dye molecules, once applied on the skin, are small enough to penetrate through the skin cell layers.
They do not spread out like the ink would on blotter paper, rather, they go straight down as ink would on corrugated cardboard. This is the main reason why the Henna patterns or designs stay clear and in place till the last day of exfoliation.
The skin cells closest to the Henna paste will have the greatest dye saturation as compared to those beneath them.
According to a factual study, the more dried out and more corneated your skin cells are, the deeper that layer, and greater the dye saturation, the darker the stain would be left over by the Henna paste.
It slowly fades as the epidermal skin layer is replaced by a new layer of skin cells.
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Henna – Why Are Some Stains Dark Or Light?
By Ron T Cody
Henna has long been used for the purpose of beautification and increasing the appeal and worth of the body.
It has been regarded as the safest and healthy form of Body Art technique which leaves a provisional burgundy stain on the body.
The basic scientific relationship between the Henna and the Skin describes the actual reason for the working and leaving of the burgundy dye behind on the body when the Henna paste is applied.
Most intriguing feature of the Henna stains is that they leave imprints of dissimilar brightness on different body parts.
This phenomenon can be easily understood by deeply pondering over the structure of the human fabric, Skin.
Our skin consists of living tissues covered and protected by the interlocked cell layers of Stratum Corneum.
This layer consists of dead and dry cells that exfoliate and desquamate rapidly on daily basis exposing a new layer of dead cells and so the procedure goes on.
The Henna dye molecules, when applied on the skin, saturate and dye the dead, dry cells in the Corneum layer.
The brightness of these imprints or stains is closely associated with the depth of this respective layer.
The areas of the body with the deepest layers tend to give a brighter and darker design colour as greater numbers of cells are dyed and they persist for longer time as these dyed cells are greater in number and consequently, take more time to exfoliate and peel off.
The common examples of such regions are the palms of hands and the soles of the feet that contain the greatest number of layers of these cells.
Mostly, the nourishment of the body also limits the colour of the stains.
As part of common observation, people who are well-nourished, happy and healthy tend to acquire a darker imprint of the Henna design, also those which are long-lasting, whilst those who are poorly-fed and sick, receive a rather lighter stain colour of Henna.
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Henna – Why Does the Stain Fade and Disappear?
By Ron T Cody
Henna tattoos and designs are provisional or temporary in nature as compared to the pierced tattoos that leave their mark permanently on the body.
There are certain biological processes that take place inside our body continuously that account for the temporary affect of the Henna paste.
Skin is comprised of many layers of cells that protect the inner organs from damage by the exterior lethal agents or liquids.
The human skin consists of living tissues as well as dead and dry cells.
Instead of softening and moistening, the dead cells harden on reaching the surface and eventually peel off naturally.
This natural exfoliation process takes place every day and night. The Stratum Corneum layer consists of interlocked cells throughout its column.
As the lower cells reproduce rapidly, they push up the column to replace the exfoliating cells from the surface.
The Henna paste is applied on to the surface of the skin which is hardened and dried.
The dye molecules in henna paste are small enough to penetrate inside the skin cells.
Hence, the cells closest to the paste become greatly saturated with the dye as compared to those lower in the column of Corneum.
As the upper cells die and become hard and flaky, they are cast off by the new cells beneath them that are being pushed by the newly forming cells beneath.
Thus the cells with lesser dye saturation rise above to the surface soon enough.
In this way, the Henna design slowly fades after approximately 72-96 hours.
The dye molecules are unable to penetrate much in to the column or till the living tissue layers.
This is the main reason why a permanent mark is not made as the cells in Stratum Corneum are continuously reproducing and exfoliating as compared to those in the living tissues.
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