Two sisters · two chairs · above the fabric market

Brows threaded while you wait, and henna mixed by hand this morning

No cones from a shop, no black henna, nothing from a tube. The paste is made at nine from leaf powder, lemon, sugar and a drop of oil, and by eleven it is ready for your hands.

What we do, and what it costs

A smiling woman in a green and gold dress holding up both hands, patterned with fresh henna.

How long henna takes

Most of it happens after you've left. This is the whole of it, start to finish.

0–40 min

In the chair

One hand takes about twenty minutes; both hands and wrists, forty. You can talk, you can't scratch your nose.

+2 hours

Let it dry

The paste cracks and flakes. Leave it on as long as you can bear; overnight is best.

Day 1

It looks orange

Scrape the paste off, no water for a few hours. Bright orange is right; it isn't finished.

Day 2–3

It goes deep

Rust, then brown, then the colour it will be for a week or two, fading from the palms first.

What we do

A woman in a white shirt holding a twisted cotton thread taut between her fingers.

Brows, threaded

Ten minutes, walk in, no appointment. Cotton thread and a steady hand; no wax, so nothing lifts the skin.

£9 · upper lip £5

Two open palms covered in fine red-brown henna circles and lace patterns.

Henna, hands

One palm and fingers, or both hands to the wrist. Choose from the book on the counter or bring a picture.

£18 one hand · £32 both

A woman with closed eyes having her eyebrows neatened by a pair of hands.

Brows, shaped and tinted

Threaded, then tinted with a plant dye that lasts about three weeks. Patch test the day before, always.

£22

The colour, by day

The same paste on three different people, photographed on the evening, the next morning and the third day. If yours is pale on the first night, it is meant to be.

A hand with a fresh, dark paisley henna design against a bright green background.

The evening

Still with the paste on. Keep it warm and dry.

An open palm with a round henna flower in the centre, stained orange-brown.

The next morning

Orange going to rust. No soap on it yet if you can help it.

A forearm and hand covered in a deep reddish-brown floral henna pattern.

The third day

As dark as it will get. It fades from the palms in about ten days.

Two forearms held side by side, covered from fingertips to elbow in dense dark henna patterns.

Two hands with deep henna patterns resting on a red patterned carpet.

Before you come

No black henna, ever: Real henna is never black. Anything that stains black in an hour has a chemical in it that can burn, and we won't do it however nicely you ask.

Clean, dry skin: No cream or oil on your hands that day. Henna holds on to bare skin and slides off anything else.

Brides, book early: Bridal henna is two evenings, two to three days before the wedding, so it is at its darkest on the day. We take four brides a month.

Tint needs a patch test: A dab behind the ear, 48 hours before. It takes two minutes and we don't skip it for anyone.

After you leave

A folded card goes home with every henna, because nobody remembers what we said once they are out on the stairs.

Keep the paste ontwo hours at least

Scrape, don't washthen no water for four

A little oil at nightfor the first three days

Swimming poolswait a week

Book a henna

Two feet with intricate henna resting on a pink cushion on the grass.

A woman lying back with her eyes closed while a thread is drawn across her eyebrow.

Two sisters, twenty years

We learned threading from our aunt in her front room, and henna from our grandmother, who mixed hers in a saucer and never once wrote the recipe down. We wrote it down.

The room is small, the window looks over the fabric stalls, and on Saturdays there is usually a bride's mother on the sofa with a flask of tea.