• Always results in an orange stain that darkens to brown/red in one to three days.
• Needs to be kept on the skin as long as possible. Three to four hours is good, longer is better! If your artist says 'only an hour', ask what color the stain will be at first. You want to hear 'orange'.
• Henna Paste should appear green, brown or dark khaki and has a smell like musky hay. Sometimes you will smell essential oils like eucalyptus, tea tree, or clove oils.
• Is cooling and healing to the skin.

• Results in a black or brown stain immediately upon paste removal, with no color change over time.
• Only needs to be left on the skin for a short time. If your artist says you can remove the paste in one hour or less, ask what color the stain will be. If the answer is brown or black, it's not natural henna.
• Paste can appear gray, brown or black. There may be no odor, or a chemical odor.
• Is damaging to skin and other body systems. Itching, blistering, scarring, organ damage and permanent allergies can result.

Choose wisely. Choose natural henna.

Reputable artists are proud of their product and will not hesitate to assure you of the quality of their ingredients. ASK what is in the paste; if the artist doesn't know or won't say, you should reconsider whether you want that paste on your skin.

The information below is an excerpt from this FDA site:
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cos-tatt.html

Since henna typically produces a brown, orange-brown, or reddish-brown tint; other ingredients must be added to produce other colors, such as those marketed as "black henna" and "blue henna." So-called "black henna" may contain the "coal tar" color p-phenylenediamine, also known as PPD. This ingredient may cause allergic reactions in some individuals. The only legal use of PPD in cosmetics is as a hair dye. It is not approved for direct application to the skin. Even brown shades of products marketed as henna may contain other ingredients intended to make them darker or make the stain last longer.

In addition to color additives, these skin-decorating products may contain other ingredients, such as gasoline, turpentine or other solvents.

How do I know what's in a temporary tattoo or henna/mehndi product?Cosmetics including temporary skin-staining products that are sold on a retail basis to consumers must have their ingredients listed on the label. Without such an ingredient declaration, they are considered misbranded and are illegal in interstate commerce.The FDA requires the ingredient declaration under the authority of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA).

How do I report an adverse reaction to a temporary tattoo or other cosmetic?The FDA encourages consumers to report any adverse reactions to cosmetics either to their nearest FDA district office or to FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors. Here's how:

To contact your nearest FDA district office, you can find their phone numbers on FDA's Web site. These phone numbers also are included in the U.S. Government listings in the Blue Pages of the phone book under United States Government/Health and Human Services.

To contact FDA.s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) Adverse Event Reporting System (CAERS), call (301) 36-2405 or email CAERS@cfsan.fda.gov .