What Type of Event Do You Need Henna For?

This would be the first place to start in deciding on what henna artist to hire. As with anything, you do get what you pay for. However, as long as they use a safe product (which we will address below), there are aritsts just starting their career that will be suiltable for a young child’s birthday party or fundraising event. Everyone needs opportunities to practice in the real world, so hiring a less expensive artist with little expereince isn’t a bad thing, but you just need to assess the application. I wouldn’t hire a beginner henna artist for a corporate event, an event with more than 15 people, or certainly never for a wedding – leave those events to a more seasoned professional.

How to Tell Professional from Beginner

There’s more to being professional than just the look of a henna artist’s pictures online, though that helps. Professionalism comes from experience with a variety of scenarios, clients, and requests. Beginner henna artists may spook easily and be overwhelmed by 30 teens swarming them  from all sides with their iPhones asking for a design off Pinterest rather than the design book they set out. However, a professional henna artist will be able to wrangle the crowd of henna lovers in a calm and kind manner. A beginner henna artist may sweat under the pressure of Aunties requesting more and more intricate designs for the bridal mehndi while a professional will look to the bride for her preferences. Professionalism is more than good work – it’s good attitude and presentation. Before choosing your artist to hire, we suggest talking to them over the phone and asking questions about their experience with the type of event you are hosting. If you’re looking at an artist’s work online, look for a variety of designs as well as cleanliness of the work. Are the lines jagged and crooked? Are the designs poorly constructed and mismatched? Do they have a wide sampling of photos? Another good resource for vetting a henna artist is their social media account as well as online reviews such as Yelp or Google.

Information about Quality Henna Paste

This is crucial. If an artist doesn’t make their own henna paste or purchase paste from a professional henna artist, do not hire them. The reason being is for safety; store bought, commercial cones are made with unknown ingredients and have  stabilizers and preservatives to retain their ability to stain and survive their life on a store shelf (although this stain is usually a very poor quality anyway). The best and most safe henna paste is made by the artist because they will know the ingredients used as well as when it was made. Store bought cones with preservatives can harm skin so they should not be used on anyone. Professional henna paste is safe for all skin types that have no sensitivity to the essential oils the artist used. Pure, professional henna is made with henna powder that consists of  USDA Organic henna leaves that stay vacuum sealed until mixing. The paste will consist of two essential oils (tea tree, lavender, cajeput, frankincense etc.) , water, a sugar, (maybe lemon juice or tea water) and nothing else . The paste should remain frozen until right before use. Henna should smell earthy, not pungent or sour. When you are speaking with an artist prior to hire, ask what they make their paste with and how they mix it. If they can’t tell you, do not hire.