Mehndi Tips: Before, During and After Applying It on Your Hands and Feet

Mehndi is the most important pre-wedding ritual that adds colour to the life of the bride and the groom just before their marriage. It’s associated with lots of fun games and pranks, for example, one of the important wedding rituals performed by the groom is to find his name in the bride’s palm. The mehndi designer, however, is clever enough to hide it with intricate mehndi designs adding spices and flavours to this fun-filled ceremony. It is also believed that if the colour of your mehndi is darker then you will have a happy married life and it also signifies fertility as well.

The dark colour of mehndi is said to represent the love of your new family. However, we do not know the truth behind all these, as they are the age-old traditions and believes. So, instead of jumping hoops, let us try to get a dark colour of your mehndi that complements your wedding attire on your big day. Here are a few mehndi tips that would help you to have a darker mehndi design:

Things to Do Before Applying Mehndi

• Actions for a darker mehndi start a day before. You need to get a proper good night’s sleep and eat something before the application of mehndi.
• Just before you plan to apply mehndi on your hands, make sure your hands are clean and properly dried. Avoid any cream and oil on your hands as they act as a barrier on your skin and minimise the absorption of the mehndi into your skin. You can, however, make an exception by applying eucalyptus oil to your hands. This helps in darkening the colour of your mehndi and it also smells good.
• Make sure you sit in a place where there are optimal light and peace as the less the hustle-bustle, the better for your mehndi designer to work with focus.
• Wear comfortable clothes as you will need to sit for hours for your mehndi application to be completed and done with.

Things to Keep in Mind While Applying Mehndi

• While applying mehndi, avoid sitting in the sun.
• Avoid drinking too much water during the application.
• Try to not move your hands down or sideways to dry the mehndi faster as it only gets spread by doing so, which might result in getting smudged.

Things to Remember After Applying Mehndi

• After the application of mehndi is completed, do not blow-dry it under any circumstances. You may think that this will help in the drying process but it might result in smudging and ruining the design. Let your mehndi dry naturally.
• Shaving or waxing your arms is off-limits after the application of mehndi. If you shave, there is a chance that the mehndi will look faded as the upper layer of your skin is scraped off. To avoid such a situation, make sure to get all beauty treatments done before your mehndi application. These treatments include manicure, pedicure, waxing and shaving.
• After the mehndi dries for a bit, dab lemon juice and sugar on it with the help of a cotton ball.
• If you are going to sleep, you can cover your hand with bandage in order to prevent it from smudging.

Some Extra Tips for a Better and Darker Mehndi

The following are some dos and don’ts for a better mehndi experience:

Do's

• It is a common belief that the smoke from the cloves being heated helps in the darkening of mehndi. You can try this method by letting the smoke come in contact with your hand. However, be careful and stop when they start to hurt.
• After your mehndi is dried and it is time to peel off the henna, take some balm and rub it on your hand. Gently scrape off the crust. The balm is said to help in the colour development of the mehndi.
• For darker mehndi, it is advisable to keep the henna on your palms as long as possible. Keep it for around 8 to 12 hours.

Don’ts

• When it is finally time to peel the henna off, avoid washing it off with water, especially with soapy water. Soapy water can lead to a greater fading of your mehndi, thus making it look ghastly. Instead, apply balm and cooking oil (as stated above) and scrape off the henna by rubbing your hands together. Within a few hours, rich colour will develop, thus granting your wish for a better and darker mehndi.
• Do not use the mixture of lemon and sugar to an excessive amount. Although adequate use is helpful to get a darker mehndi colour, overuse of the mixture might dilute the henna, thus ruining it.

So, here we go! These are a compilation of mehndi tips for your hand. This will lead you to a better and richer mehndi design. Apart from these tips, keep in mind the application of other beauty treatments and their timeline. Book your pedicures and manicures at least 2 days before your mehndi ceremony. Similarly, it is also better to wax and shave a day before application of the mehndi. Do not forget that sleep is also important for better mehndi. Be clear with your mehndi artist and the design that you want and be ready to look your best on your wedding day!

Tell us how using these tips turned out for you in the comments below.