Insight paper into knowledge of legacy herbs, as presented by creator, patent formulator and application expert on combination of Henna (Lawsonia inermis), Colourless Henna (Cassia obovata), Senna (Cassia and Sweet Senna (Cassia auriculata) and Senna (Cassia angustifolia). To bring detailed information on creation liquid and powder extracts using scientific tools backed by traditional methods. It details out efficacious components derived for creating final mix to be used in making of Quick HennaTM Mixes. Now used in products manufactured as proof of efficacy for selecting users and partners by company co-founded by passionate scion of Henna family, famously known as Mehndi-Wale.
Exploring the Rich Heritage of Sojat & GI Henna: The Birthplace of Quick HennaTM.
Earliest use of henna and its dye applications can be traced back to ancient Babylon and Egypt as mentioned in religious commentaries dating to Talmud. In India It was in prevalent use by the 4th century, which is evidenced in Hindu Scriptures written during that time and by the cave arts of Deccan region. It’s find was shown as colouring laxative plant from Sub Sahara and South Asian deserts.
Sojat, a Village hamlet, now a bustling small town, part of Marwar region (erstwhile Jodhpur empire), located at start of the Thar desert, is situated on the left bank of the Sukri River, in Pali district, Rajasthan State of India. Ayurveda reference textbooks refer it as TamravatiNagri for colouring plants is blessed as an epicentre of tradition and innovation in Henna and Cumin.
Its geo location provides for best heat and rainwater to provide the best varieties of
the Lawsonia inermis plant, popularly known as Henna or Hina or Mehandi (famously know in Indian Languages). Mehndi grown at Sojat, is cultivated 100% naturally by rainwater, which naturally enhances the percentage of Colouring pigment “Lawsone”. Sojat is the only region in India where more than 90% of
Henna is grown and now exported worldwide.
The soil properties of Sojat region further adds to the Quality, Purity & Natural Dyeing ability of its Henna/ Mehndi. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Product Quality standards issued by Government of India for ordinary mehndi, lawsone content should be 1.0. Whereas Sojat Mehndi’s lawsone content is
far better than the BIS minimum standards as it is more than 2.5. The high lawsone content has made it special and unique, in comparison to other varieties.
Varieties currently cultivated with bio modifications and improvements by us have consistently yielded,
Longer Colour Retention.
• Excellent Natural Hair Conditioner.
• An extraordinary Cooling Agent.
• Distinct aroma & long natural Shelf Life.
• Natural Deep Rich Reddish Colour.
• Process worthy in dry and fresh conditions.
Continuous efforts of Farmers and Processors (Sojat Mehndi Kishan Samiti, Mehndi Vyapar Sangh Samiti & more), community efforts have helped Sojat Henna with the Geographical Indication (GI) Tag* Status No. 372 filed under application number 628 by Government of India in 2021.
*GI tag is a form of intellectual property, a certification given to certain goods or products which are unique to a geographical region. It is an integral part of the development which advances economic interests. These tags are a tool to protect the ownership rights on natural resources and manufactured goods. Products having GI tags prevent unauthorised use, provision of original species and in turn provide financial gain for farmer, producers through traditional sales to global markets.
The Research Phase
Vipin and our dedicated team embarked on field and lab research, meticulously studying the properties of Lawsonia Inermis and related plants like Cassia obovata, Cassia auriculata and
Cassa angustifolia. Their focus was on understanding the plant’s API and Photosynthesis attributes. The goal here was not only to understand these attributes but also to harness their inherent potency and create a product that would address a variety of hair-related concerns, both cosmetic and therapeutic. It’s very important to highlight notion vs research leading to under patent to best in hair Care and hair Colour.
Master Herbs for Quick Henna
Nature, as minerals and plants has been a rich source of therapeutic agents for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated from natural sources based on the uses of these plants in traditional medicine. Our efforts for development of proprietary formulae have been restricted to Henna, Senna Cousins, Indigo, Rosemary, Neem Ashwagandha, Moringa, Bhringraj and Manjishtha. Heritage herbs and our legacy understandings:
Henna, Lawsonia Inermis
It has been used since ancient Egyptian period as a hair and body dye as beauty articles used by Queens and her consorts. Persian Henna or Lawsonia inermis, a bushy, flowering tree, commonly found in Australia, Asia and along the Mediterranean coasts of Africa.
Most revered plant, as per Ethnopharmacological relevance, paste made from the leaves of Henna plant has been used since the Bronze Age to dye skin, hairs, and fingernails especially at the times of festivals. In recent times henna paste has been used for body art paintings and designs in western countries. Henna, Hina, Mehndi, Marudaani, Egyptian Privet, Inai, Hinai, notionally is known as a black dye prepared from the dried and powdered leaves of the henna tree. It is traditionally used in Islamic and Hindu cultures as a hair colouring and as a dye for decorating the nails or making temporary skin tattoos. Western world finds it more as the temporary body art of mehndi or “henna tattoo” resulting from the staining of the skin using dyes from the henna plant. Despite such widespread use in dyeing and body art painting, Henna extracts and constituents possess numerous biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anticancer bioactivities. An important plant with significant in vitro and in vivo biological
Active colouring and biologically active principal compound of Henna is Lawsone (2- hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone) which has served as a starting building block for synthesizing large number of therapeutically useful compounds including Atovaquone, Lapachol and Di-Chloroalkyl. Some of lawsones have shown to possess potent anticancer activities and is still largely unexplored. Natural chemical constituents of Lawsonia Inermis; contains whole lot of complex and simple derivable phenolic, flavonoids, saponins, proteins, tri-terpenoids, polyphenols, quinones, tannins, resins, alkaloids, and others with exclusive ability of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, i.e., lawsone. Our first work has been only and namely on taking amber colouring off structure and now majorly on extractions* leading to derivatives using its saponins+ quinones+ tannins with alkaloids via SAR (Structure Activity Relationships) to try maximizing activity and minimize toxicity.
*Extraction procedures used and under trial by our team on continual improvement basis include infusion, percolation, Soxhlet extraction, superficial extraction, maceration, digestion, decoction ultrasound-assisted, and microwave-assisted extractions.
We have examined use base and researched the chemistry and biological activities of Lawsone along with its analogues and metal complexes. Mainly ability of Lawsone to undergo the redox cycling and chelation of trace metal ions are partially responsible for most of its biological activities. The responsible pigment of Henna, amber, red colour is the 1,4-naphthoquinone Lawsone, constituting 1–2% of the leaves, which is achieved after application on Skin.
More than 70 phenolic compounds have been isolated from various parts of the plants under phytochemistry actions. It is naphthoquinones, which include the dyeing principle lawsone, have been linked to the pharmacological activities. The terpene, β-ionone is largely responsible for the pungent odour of the essential oil isolated from the flowers. In addition to other volatile terpenes, some non-volatile terpenoids, a single sterol, two alkaloids and two dioxin derivatives have also been isolated from the plant.
Our strength so far has been using alkaloids to meet with ph.7.0 to 8.0 as in Hair Colour needs than pure henna ph. Of 5.5 which creates cuticle shield needing high curing time of natural lawsone. Immense help of our Henna cousins of Cassia family offering biosimilar as polyphenols rich muddied in quinones as straight plant derivatives**. The optimum pH level thus derived helps to reduce cuticle damage and hair fiber breakage.
**Plant-derived compounds refer to ingredients that originate from plants or flowers botany. As in pharmaceutical domain, plant-derived chemicals, extracts, and their derivatives are bioactive compounds with medicinal activity. After a lead compound is identified, further closely related compounds are searched with Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR). Consequently, derivatives.
It is these analogues of Lawsone rich in other beneficial biological properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitubercular and antimalarial, we have employed in our patents. Few incidents of adverse reactions following application to the skin have been reported, but these are mainly confined to cases involving individuals with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and reactions to adulterants added to henna products.
Henna as a medicinal plant other than hair dye use is illegal in the USA. It is not approved for direct application to the skin, as in the body-decorating process known as hand or body mehndi. It is the unapproved use of colour additive classified as unadulterated lead our research on why by USDA. We are still researching on roles of specific compounds and their synergies via comprehensively investigations and use cases. Our potent henna extracts formulated have been recently deployed regularly to function as antimicrobials for skin, hair care, hair colour, and other environmental biotechnological uses across the world.
Cassia Cousins
Integral part of our family journey and our founders to reap best out of cassia family of forgotten ancient medicinal plant referred in ayurvedic texts, which helped us developing patented Quick Henna™ Organic Gel Absolute & Quick Henna™ Med Potent Powder Mix.
Cassia angustifolia: Senna
Ayurveda refers Senna as magical plant which helps to eliminate vitiated & putrefied Pitta through motion and gives relief in fever caused by excessive Pitta. Senna contains compounds which work as natural laxative by smoothing & relaxing the tissues of gastro-intestinal tract, as digested food moves through the intestines.Senna contains anthraquinones, including dianthrone glycosides (1.5% to 3%), sennosides A and B (rhein dianthrones), and sennosides C and D (rhein aloe-emodin heterodianthrones). Senna remarkably also contains free anthraquinones including rhein, aloe-emodin, chrysophanol, and their glycosides. Senna pods contain thesame rhein dianthrone glycosides as the leaves. Also, carbohydrates in the plant include 2% polysaccharides and approximately 10% mucilage, consisting of galactose, arabinose, rhamnose, and galacturonic acid. Other carbohydrates include mannose, fructose, glucose, pinitol, and sucrose. Senna’s flavonols include isorhamnetin and kaempferol. Glycosides 6-hydroxymusizin and tinnevellin are also present.
Other constituents in senna specially for our use chrysophanic acid, salicylic acid, saponin, resin, mannitol, sodium potassium tartrate, and trace amounts of volatile oil. Specifically, cassia angustifolia, senna gives golden yellow highlight to grey a pale blonde tint, which is mainly due to sennosides interacting with acidic properties as gastro controller referred in classic Ayurveda. Senna leaves and fruit are edible, but they are not regularly recommended by modern medicine as they could interact with diuretics, blood thinners, other heart, and diabetes care medications.
The presence of chrysophanic acid, also found in rhubarb root helps in providing protective layer on hair cuticles. Senna never colours dark hair blonde or pale yellow but makes bleached, damaged, and chaffed hair silky and restores with golden hue on dull greying hair. Senna when mixed with normal henna reduces the red vibrancy due to its lawsones, where our knowledge led to patents.
Cassia auriculata: avaram Senna
Avaram, an ancient herb, with tiny yellow flowers native to the Asian and African subcontinents. Cassia auriculata is from the same family but has different properties than other cassia angustifolia though closer to lawsone henna. This Cassia does not stain your hair like henna. It also does not reduce shrinkage adds acidic or significantly colour grey. Many users confuse Cassia auriculata with Cinnamomum Cassia (Cinnamon), though they are in the same family of plants, they are not the same and non-substitutes Sooner avaram plant reaches maturity and flowers, it is dried and powdered, turning into a lighter green powder then Henna. Leaves contain yellow resin pigment, which help with beautiful gold light, on most hair colours it just adds a glimmering shimmer, rather than outright colour. This cassia feels more like talc and is very fine, our users found it not only gives regular cassia benefits but improves itchy sore scalps, hair look better, brighter, shinier, and more manageable.
Avaram Senna flowers have anti-inflammatory andantibacterialproperties thus they promote hair growth and protect the scalp and hair from various infections. Its compounds are naturally anti-fungal and antiseptic and quality is as good as Henna. In addition, the oil or gel mixed with the extract of senna auriculata flowers significantly reduces scalp heat and cools it. It’s antiseptic so ideal for scalp allergies and dandruff which are often caused by an overgrowth of yeast on the scalp, fed by the natural oils in the scalp. Avaram helps reduce this overgrowth and reduce flaking and dryness.
Cassia obovata: Colourless Henna
Neutral Henna, Conditioning Cassia, Colourless Henna, Cassia obovata, Senna italic or senna obovata contains a faint golden dye and is commonly referred to as “neutral henna” because it has similar benefits of henna but does not give the hair the amber colour that results with the use of henna. Oboids rich, its ability to moisturize the hair makes it natural conditioner. Same as other Cassia, it is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial and highly effective against microbes and fungi. It plays a very strong role in fighting against dandruff, eczemaand psoriasis. Traditional use of Cassia obovata was also a laxative like Senna, Cassa angustifolia. The principal active components are same sennosides A and B. In Ayurveda texts, the blend of henna (Lawsonia inermis) and Colourless Henna (Cassia obovata) is called ‘the two hennas’. Dermatological uses of this cassia concern the lawsone henna components. Thin layer chromatographs show components are fixed to natural keratin turning golden light-brown or brown differing with over time of application, indicative of a diffusion process. In bleached hair diffusion is faster, absorption by hair pre-treated by hydrogen peroxide was greater than virgin grey hair, suggesting that the oboids of this cassia were chemically bound to the cysteic function of keratin. It is biphasic as several components diffused.
Henna (Lawsonia inermis) combined enhances the penetration of obovata comCassia obovata get less hydrophilic, strength of the treated hair is not changed, but the cuticle scales get opened to receive colourant. Its treatment crimps the hair, acts as a sunscreen, which is bound to keratin, and provides ultraviolet protection. Cassia obovata works with the hair’s natural structure to smooth follicles without damage, making them light reflective and able to shine more. It is a natural conditioner, even when hair is very dry, highly processed or permed, it softens coarseness, smooth frizz and reduce hair breaking. As it doesn’t have components like natural silicon, it washes out of the hair completely.
Quick Henna™: The Result of a Journey
The result of this intense research and passion for plant science led to the creation of Quick Henna™, a proprietary blend that is deeply rooted in Ayurveda and Medicinal Plant Science. Our blends based on legacy knowledge and use cases mapped specific studies of liposomes on oxidative stress leading to excessive greying in current AI times. As is known to modern scientific researchers it’s reactive oxygen species or free radicals, which are highly reactive molecules that directly damage cellular structural membranes, lipids, proteins, and DNA. Reactive oxygen species are generated by a multitude of endogenous and environmental challenges. Human body possesses endogenous defence mechanisms, such as antioxidative enzymes and non-enzymatic antioxidative molecules, protecting it from free radicals by reducing and neutralizing them. With age, the production of free radicals increases, while the endogenous defence mechanisms decrease. This imbalance leads to the progressive damage of cellular structures, resulting in the ageing phenotype. Ageing of hair manifests as decrease of melanocyte function or greying and decrease in hair production or alopecia. In Ayurveda text, its well-known oxidative stress is pivotal mechanism contributing to hair loss.
We developed a hair-follicle-selective macromolecule and small molecule targeting Quick Henna™ compound with topical application of phosphatidylcholine-based liposomes created by cassia plant enzymes. Liposome biosimilars created by our process -targets molecules to hair follicles, which can be double verified on human scalp in histoculture. Topical bio-similar delivery to hair follicles has best ability to provide faster safer colour hair with melanin. The delivery of the active Quick Henna™ blends to hair matrix cells and delivers proteins too.