My boyfriend is away at the moment, so at the weekend I decided to have a girly pamper and give henna a try. I absolutely love doing creative things, so henna seemed like a fun idea. Recently, there has been a lot of coverage in the press about the effect of henna on the skin after reports that black henna can cause extreme allergic reactions. I did a bit of research beforehand and the general gist is that because henna works by partially absorbing into the skin, the body’s immune system kicks in after it recognises the ‘foreign’ substance and it is therefore more sensitive when using other dye products, such as hair dye. There have been extreme cases where people have experienced allergic reactions as a result of using black henna. I am obviously NOT a doctor and these cases have happened, but it doesn’t make much logical sense to me. You would think that if the body was accustomed to the henna, the immune system would get stronger and more used to other similar substances. I’ve come to the conclusion that the best thing is to aim to use brown/red natural henna over black and to ALWAYS do a patch test (I know people don’t, but you should!). Also, avoid if you usually experience allergic reactions to dyes and other products for the skin.
You can get henna online very cheaply, but I picked up mine from Ganesha Handicrafts on Park Street, Bristol. It’s only £1.50 per tube and it is already pre-mixed (rather than the powder form), so you can ensure a rich colour and even consistency. They come with a little plastic point to put on the end to keep the henna fresh if you don’t use it all in one go (this is necessary unless you are going for a full-body Indian wedding look).
There is a real fashion for mandala-style tattoos, so I looked on Pinterest (obviously! – see my previous post) for some inspiration. I love the decorative and kaleidoscopic look of the mandalas, so using a combination of a few images, I went for it freehand! At first, it was a little hard to ensure that the thickness of the lines were the same and to make sure that the design looked at least semi-symmetrical. There was a little bit where I relaxed my hand and smudged a bit of the design, but the great thing about the mandalas is that you can keep adding layers and little motifs, such as dots, petal-shapes in a circle and flowers to distract from patchy bits and to make your design more intricate. You cannot really notice it now unless you look very closely.
There is a lot of different opinions about how long to leave the henna on, but I left it until the excess starting to peel off itself. If you want a longer design, I have heard that you can wrap your hands in clingfilm or I prefer to use normal household sandwich bags and leave it overnight to soak in. You can also put lemon juice over the design once the excess if off to make it last longer. Designs on the hands will obviously fade quicker, so if you want your design to last a long time, opt for the ankle, shoulder or back.
I had a good time practising with the henna and it was an inexpensive way to add a little oomph to an outfit or jewellery. Please let me know what you guys think and how you get on giving it a go!
Marriarty 