About Mehndi:
The leaves of the Henna plant are ground into a fine powder to which hot water is added. Other natural ingredients may then be added to enhance its colour. The art of its application is known as Henna (Arabic) o
r Mehndi.
This paste is traditionally meant to be applied to the hands and feet of a woman, and it stains (beautifully) the skin like a tattoo albeit temporarily. Authentic & pure Henna leaves a rich auburn color and it is applied in intricate designs & patterns on the palms and top of the feet. Today henna does not remain exclusive to religious and ritualistic ceremonies.
Henna paste
Mehndi in a ritual:
Henna designing, called Mehndi, using temporary Henna paste to create intricate floral and fertility patterns on the women's (typically bride's) hands & feet, is common in some regions of South East Asia, esp. India and Pakistan. Relatives & friends gather at the bride's home the day before the wedding and while the women enlighten the bride on the mysteries of marriage, the henna is applied. The longer the henna lasts on the new bride's hands indicates to her family that her in-laws will take good care of her.
Mehndi in pregnancy:
This henna tattoo design is based on the Hindu ritual of using Mehndi during pregnancy. On the first day of her eighth month, Athavansa, the expectant mother is ritually bathed in perfumed water and mehndi is applied. The mother is hennaed again after she gives birth and then again on the third and sixth days following the birth.
What Do you do once the Mehndi / Tattoo has been applied?
The next step in the process of applying mehndi is to wait, wait & wait. This part of the process promises to be most difficult; some itchiness and slight discomfort can accompany the experience of mehndi paste drying on your skin. But don't fret, the discomfort is minimal, and after having henna applied many times, you will become used to the feeling. However, Foot Mehndi Design, if you feel prolonged itchiness that makes you want to remove the henna immediately, please do so.
After the mehndi dries a little bit, apply a fixative solution to the design which consists of lemon juice and a pinch of sugar. You can apply this solution either by spraying it or dabbing with a cotton ball. Make sure that you periodically add more solution as the design dries more. Please note: adding the lemon-sugar mixture is not necessary, but it can certainly help increase the acidity of the henna design and the adherence of the paste to your skin. Another important property of adding the lemon-sugar solution is that it keeps the mehndi wet enough to continue going into your skin. Just make sure not to add the lemon-sugar prematurely; if you add it too early, your hard work may be destroyed if the design smears.
I recommend that you leave the mehndi on your skin for as long as possible -
i.e. 3-4 hours, to achieve a dark color. Do, also remember that good henna produces a reasonably brown stain after an hour itself. In any case, after at least 2 hours, scrape the mehndi off of your skin with a blunt knife or with your fingernails. Next, rub some baby oil, eucalyptus oil, ghee or mustard oil on your hands to remove any left over henna and to improve the color of the mehndi. The oil will additionally help to remove any stickiness caused by the lemon-sugar. If you want to darken your stain immediately, you can put your hands in contact of some heat source (hair dryer) or hover your hands over the smoke of burning cloves. Otherwise, simply wait a day and your henna design will darken to a brown.
For an excellent results:
Do not wet the area with your finished henna design for at least 8-10 hours. Or else the Henna will not enricehn to a dark brown colour, which is the symbol of good Mehndi design and may also fade quickly. If you decide to leave mehndi on overnight to get the maximum dark color, apply a lemon and sugar juice before you go to sleep; allow it to dry, and cover your hand with a paper bag to prevent smearing the mehndi against another surface.
You can use various covering methods to protect your henna from the elements - some great suggestions I have received involve wrapping a lemon-sugared design with unrolled cotton balls, or by applying a skin mask like a face mask on to the henna design.
You can use a variety of other wraps to retain body heat while allowing your hand to breathe a little. Some people use a wrap of toilet paper when the henna is "still dry", then wrap with plastic wrap, and then wrap with packing tape. To protect the design, you can also wear old knee-highs to bed. Yes, it works very well, but you might want to wear another layer of socks or another pair of knee highs over it in case the nylons have a hole.
I do not suggest that you cover your hand with a plastic bag because, having had a bad experience with this experiment myself, I find that the plastic prevents your hands from breathing, so the inside of the bag get very steamy and uncomfortable.
An alternative to lemon and sugar: In the hot sun at an outdoor fair, using lemon juice and sugar may invariably attract lots of bugs to your henna design before you have the paste removed. A solution that many mehndi artists are considering these days is to use the product "New skin" over the henna design to bind it to the skin. But be forewarned -- New skin smells terrible and will not make your hand smell that nice for the day that you have it on. New skin is also difficult to remove. Make sure to rinse it off with warm water, don't scrape it a lot or use soap. I know that I previously told you only to peel off the henna paste -- with new skin there is an exception.
It takes a long time for skin to absorb the mehndi, and it has to remain wet to work. To keep it wet, tradition designates that you should apply the mixture of lemon juice and sugar to your hands after mehndi is applied, with a patting motion using a cotton swab. Apply the mixture to any part of your hands where the mehndi seems to be drying.
Although this process makes your hands sticky and the mehndi rather difficult to remove, it will make the color last longer and have a deeper hue. Another way to improve the deepness of the color of your mehndi is to dry the mehndi over heat using a source such as a hair dryer. Alternate the wetting and drying over the period of time you keep the mehndi on your hands.
You will find that if you use my mehndi recipe, color can turn out well after only ten minutes of
having the mehndi on. However, the design will not last as long in your skin and it will not become as dark as it would if you left it on longer. If pieces of mehndi start to dry and fall off throughout the day, don’t worry about it, just leave the rest of the mehndi applied and the color and design will turn out beautifully. If you desire, reapply the mehndi in those areas, but be careful not to lemon-sugar them until these areas are dry.
In my experience, I can get beautiful browns as final colors after leaving mehndi on my skin for between 45 minutes and 2 hours. However, the longer-lasting, darker [near black] mehndi designs usually only come if you leave the mehndi on for over four hours to overnight. Six hours is usually recommended.
There has been quite a few news on the dangers of black tattoos. There have been cases of children in particular having black tattoos whilst on holiday abroad and ending up with very bad scars.
First of all let me start by saying that there is no such thing a black henna. Henna is made from the leaves of the Henna plant, has been used for hundreds of years and is perfectly safe. Black "Henna" actually has nothing to do with real Henna and is in fact a chemical called PPD, usually found in hair dyes. It is extremely dangerous when used on the skin and can cause the following problems:
In mild cases, itchy, raised skin.
In severe cases, blistering burns and can lead to permanent scars.
PPD can pass into the bloodstream where it can cause liver and kidney damage, including cancer.
Although not everyone reacts to PPD, my advice is to keep away from it. Any responsible Henna artist will tell you honestly what's in their Henna mixture. Natural Henna will stain the skin to a colour between burnt orange and a dark brown. You should be wary of anyone promising to give you a black henna tattoo. If in doubt, don't have it done.
Natural henna will smell quite herbal and will be a colour somewhere between an olive green and greenish brown with a paste-like consistency which is usually piped onto the skin like icing a cake.
Black "henna" looks like black ink, smells strongly of chemicals and is usually painted on with a stick..
History About Mehndi:
Henna, the plant, also known as the Cypress Flower. It’s exact origin has been difficult to place. It has been claimed by historians that the Mughals brought henna to India in the 12th century while others say it originated there.
The henna plant which grows to be 4-8 feet tall can be found in countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Senegal, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and India, where the climate is hot.
Considered auspicious or lucky, Mehndi is an essential part of rituals and celebrations. Although it is more often seen as a female art, men also decorate their hands. For example, accounts of the marriages of Mughal princes describe the painting of the groom's as well as the bride’s hands with Henna as part of the ceremony.
Indian Folk stories link the customs of decorating hands with Asha, the Hindu goddess of the dawn. Mehndi also carries great weight in Muslim celebrations in the same way. The Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him) used to dye his beard and hair with mehndi and advised them do the same. Muslims use mehndi to decorate themselves during celebrations. My personal belief is that the basis of mehndi lies in its cultural and artistic use but has no religious significance.
Many people use Mehndi regularly and simply for pleasure – to make themselves look and feel more attractive, to encourage good luck and just to enjoy the beautiful designs. Some people, especially in India love it so much they dye the manes and tails of their horses with Henna.
