Henna, Jagua, Jagua-Henna… What's The Difference?
We get asked all the time, “Does henna come in different colors?”. Henna is always reddish-brown (yes, always!); but there are other options to get different colors without using any synthetic ingredients.
HENNA
Henna always stains a reddish-brown color. It’s actually a small tree (called the henna tree) that grows in arid regions throughout the Middle East, North Africa, India and beyond. The leaves of the tree contain a dye (lawsone) that stains your skin. Henna paste is made from the dried, powdered leaves.
(The color works with your skin tone, so the actual shade will vary a little from person to person. It also stains darker on some parts of the body vs. others).
JAGUA
Jagua always stains dark blue. It comes from the juice of the jagua fruit, which grows in Central and South America. Because of the color and the darkness of the stains, it looks a lot like a permanent ink tattoo!
Jagua consistently gives you the darkest stains possible, naturally.
JAGUA HENNA BLEND
Jagua-henna is just what it sounds like: a blend of ground henna leaves with jagua juice. Combined, they result in a gorgeous deep eggplant color on hands and feet (lighter elsewhere on the body).
You might see other artists calling it “hengua” or by other names. We stick to calling it jagua henna just to avoid any confusion about what it is.
Jagua henna also yields incredibly dark stains with a cooler tone that can get closer to black. However, it requires excellent aftercare to get that full color.
In summary:
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