First the skin is gently cleansed using Rose Water. The Henna is then painted, or 'drawn' on using a small bottle with a very fine metal tip. After it initially dries, a light coat of Lemon Juice mixed with a bit of sugar is dabbed on the design. Depending on the setting, this may be done for you or you may be provided a small cotton nub soaked in the Lemon Juice mixture and you would apply it yourself. You can repeat this procedure of dampening the Henna with the Lemon and then letting it dry several times to aid in the staining process. If you don't, you'll still get a beautiful stain, it's just something extra you can do to help it along. You will be provided detailed instructions for getting the best possible results from your Mehendi. Generally speaking, You'll want to keep the paste on your skin as long as possible. Although you can get a nice stain after only leaving it on a short while, I encourage people to keep it on a minimum of 4 hours or up to 15 hours. Ideally, sleep with it on overnight. After you scrape (traditional method), or wash, (somewhat easier and not so messy), you should rub a little oil into the stain. Preferably a vegetable or olive oil. Depending on the occasion, you may be provided a special, oil soaked, cotton pad with your Mehendi Instructions. Your stain will continue to darken over the next 24 to 30 hours (after you remove the henna paste) so you want to limit any exposure to water during this time. When you awaken the morning following the removal of the Henna Paste you will see the beautifully darkened stain.

Your stain will last anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks depending on your body chemistry, your lifestyle, the placement of your stain and how long you keep the Henna on your skin. As a general 'rule of thumb', the closer to the hands and feet, the darker the stain. The farther from the hands and feet, the lighter the resulting stain. Skin on the hands and feet is thicker and therefore the Henna is able to stain deeper than say, the neck. I generally discourage people from a placement like the back of the neck, but have on occasion had very good results with interesting designs down the ear and onto the side of the neck where there is less skin movement!