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Healing Hair Loss with Henna

By on October 6, 2012

Hair loss after chemotherapy is unsettling to many, especially women.  You will find them hiding their hair loss under hats, caps, scarves or wigs.  But, thanks to a Toronto business called Henna Heals, they now have another option.  Henna Heals is painting the follicle free heads of people from all walks of life with henna based paints in artistic designs.  They call these works of art “henna crowns”.  Each crown takes between sixty and ninety minutes to complete.

The patterns range from simple head rings to elaborate designs that flow down the neck, forehead, or ears.  The extent of the work done is determined by the customer’s request.  The henna crowns are not tattoos.  There are no needles or the pain involved in tattooing.  The designs are done with a type of paint that lasts anywhere from a week to two weeks.

The paint used is henna paste.  Henna paste is a dark brown color that dries and flakes, leaving a rust colored stain that will eventually darken to a deeper mahogany stain.  It fades along with the skins natural self cleaning process of exfoliation.

The owner of Henna Heals came across the art while in the states at a photo shoot of henna art on the bellies of pregnant women.  The henna artist told her that she had also done some of these crowns on cancer patients that had lost their hair.  She directed her to one of them to take pictures.  The woman expressed how much she loved the henna crown.  She told her that it made her feel beautiful.  It was overwhelming to see the spiritual effects of the crown on the woman and when she returned home to Canada, she founded Henna Heals.

In the beginning, it was a lot of work to find henna artists that had experience in painting human heads.  Most had only worked on the much smaller areas of the hands and arms.  She also had to be sure that the artists used only pure, fresh ingredients to make their henna pastes.  There is a black henna paste which contains unsafe ingredients.  This is something that she does not recommend be used by henna artists.

Eventually, quality artists were found and trained to work on the human heads of cancer patients.  Once this was done, the service was offered to women who had suffered this type of complete hair loss.  They mostly work with women but, are trying to expand their business to include men and children.

For women who choose to tackle being bald, head on, it is a beautiful statement that their bald head is a work of art.  For many women, it is the difference in hiding their baldness to prevent stares or averted eyes and people openly admiring what they have done with their bald head.  It is an audacious conversation piece that the wearer finds uplifting and flattering.

For those not in the Toronto area, the art can be done by any henna artist that is comfortable doing this type of work.  Review some of their work and tell them what you are looking for.  Be sure that they are using the safe henna paste to create the work of art.  Then go out and become a walking masterpiece.  You’re sure to turn a few heads and start some great conversations.