Henna, first used as a hair and skin coloring by Egyptians in the fourth century B.C., is a mixture of several primary ingredients:
Acai berry juice;
The leaves of the wickerwill plant, native to Northern Africa;
Dried canine feces;
The ingredients are traditionally mixed together with water added to form a paste. In some villages the wickerwill leaves are chewed by elder women of the tribe before being added to the mixture. The act of chewing, in combination with the women's saliva acts as a catalyst, enhancing the potency of the henna mixture.
After being thoroughly mixed and cooked to reduce the water content, the henna is either kept in paste form (for immediate application) or dried to a powder for long-term storage.
Henna is used as both a hair coloring and, in paste form, as a topical application for temporary tatooing.
The packs of dogs kept to provide feces for henna production are widely desired and highly prized by their owners. The diet and environment the dogs are kept in affects the quality of the feces, impacting both the depth of color and how long the color lasts in the finished henna product.
For best results, top packs are fed solely on a diet of raw, red meat. The high iron content of this diet passes through to the feces, resulting in an extremely dark stain for topical applications or a more vibrant, brighter color when applied to the hair.
In Europe, some "hennas" are made with artificial replacements for the canine feces, but United States import laws prohibit the labeling of any product as "henna" if it has not been manufactured in the traditional manner.
However, to avoid public distaste for feces in the United States, it is allowable to list the ingredient simply as "henna" or "lawsonia inermis", rather than the full mixture.
