Essential Oils for Henna - What oils are safe to ship by Mail?

I will not be offering a new henna kit this year. As I will now ship only by US Mail, most of the good terps can't go by mail. Although the quantities of oils shipped in a kit are quite small, I feel it is better to be safe than sorry.

Here is a link to very helpful information about essential oils and their shipping status from Camden Grey.

Oils that can ship by mail under certain circumstances:

• Lavindin Grosso: Flashpoint 151°F
• Geranium: Flashpoint 185°F
• Neroli: Flashpoint 154°F
• Clove Bud: Flashpoint 212°F

Oils that cannot ship by mail according to the professionals at Camden Grey include:

• Eucalyptus Oil: Flashpoint 109°F (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#2319
• Lavender Bulgaria: Flashpoint 125°F (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#1993
• Lavender French: Flashpoint 125°F (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN #1993 Flammable Liquid
• Tea Tree: Flash point 130°F. (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#1993
• Cajeput: Not to be used on pregnant women! Flash point: 120°F. (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#1197

All these oils have been shipped to me via ground transportation carriers like UPS, DHS and Fed EX so I have plenty on hand for henna here in town.

My most successful henna blends do include Tea Tree, Lavender & Clove. Another good blend however is Geranium, Neroli & Clove. While I have seen numerous cautions about the use of Clove Oil in henna blends, it is my experience that a drop or two has not caused any problems to date.

I do offer all my clients an informed consent to sign that lists all ingredients used in their henna paste, and only one person in 5 years has been unable to get a tattoo because of a known allergy to cloves.

I hope you find this information helpful. I did! I may choose to change my shipping plans to make a weekly trip to the UPS store to ship henna kits by ground transportation. I will also do some more investigation to see if there are exceptions to shipping these oils by volume. (I hope so.)

The Henna Cone - Easy to use - Fine Lines - No hand cramps.

I was browsing to see see what sorts of henna kits are available for sale now (and of course to see where my page was in the engines) and I notice alot of kits offer the jaquard squeeze bottle, and some offer different tips.

I still use the plastic cone for henna, and the the cellophane cone for gilding. I make my own cones these days using 1 mil. plastic & a heat sealer. This way I can make the cone as wide or narrow as I prefer... and I know the seal will last. This method does create a seamed edge, but when filled with henna, twisted shut & sealed with a rubber band, I just turn the cone so that the seamed edge faces away from my client. The closeup photo below shows this.

I like it that I can roll the rubber band down the cone as I run low on henna. This helps me keep an even pressure on the paste, draw faster, cleaner lines and best of all... no hand cramps!

An extra advantage is that if I make too many cones, or just have a bit of great paste left over, I can wrap the henna cone in plastic wrap, tuck it into a freezer bag, freeze it, and then have henna for that "Oh I just need a quick design" moment that seems to happen in the summer.

Currently I offer two cones in each of my Artists Henna Kits. The cones are washable and reusable. I cut a very littel bit off the tip of one cone for finest lines, and cut more off the second cone to have the broad tip for tribal patterns & bold henna tattoo.

If you would like to see more photos of a henna artist at work.. visit this slide show from a Saturday at the Midnight Sun.

beautiful belly

This woman was wonderfully expectant and I was invited to henna her belly at her baby shower. She incorporated all sorts of things to pamper herself, and to celebrate the baby. She had chosen a few designs for me to work from, and I thought the finished product was beautiful!

I continued hennaing most of the guests as well, and spent about 2 hours there. Her sister wanted something on her neck, and I created this to enhance her beautiful lines.