Body Painting: Henna Tattoo

Body Painting: Henna Tattoo By Lieve Lambrechts

Henna tattoos are an ancient custom in India: girls and women are body painted before ceremonies, like marriage. They painted complicated patterns on their hands and feet to symbolize their fertility.

Henna (or ‘Mehndi’, the Indian name) is made from the henna plant (Lawsonia Inermis). The leaves of the plant are dried and ground. The powder gets mixed with water and you get a sort of green-brownish mud. If you put that mud on your skin, let it harden, and then peel it off, you will notice it has left an orange color.

You can get your henna at an eastern shop or a ‘souk’ in many different colors. There’s orange, mahogany, brown and black. The orange one is the traditional henna. The black henna is synthetic. It contains PDD (P-phenylenediamene) and can cause allergic reactions. Even if it doesn’t cause irritations, it’s still unhealthy. Moreover, in the past, black henna at your wedding was considered a disgrace.

Henna Recipe

With one pack of henna, you’ll have enough to body paint the entire football team. Put the henna in a bowl and gently pour some lemon juice and boiling water in the bowl. Don’t use too much water, the mud has to resemble the thickness of sate sauce. The purpose of the lemon juice is to help the color hold better on your skin.

Your skin should be clean, dry and not fat. If you want to color your nails too, they shouldn’t have nail polish on them. Make sure you really want this, because your nails will be orange for about 2 months. It doesn’t come off! When the henna is cold, you can get to painting.

If you want to paint your foot soles, which is a traditional custom in Marokko, make sure you have a pillow of some kind to keep your feet off the floor, before you know it, the henna mud is everywhere! You can apply the henna with all sorts of instruments, what works best is a syringe (without the needle of course).

Symmetric and geometric shapes work best. Don’t make the lines too thin, the color won’t come on to your skin very well. The bigger the surface, the brighter the color will be. Now: the annoying part: Waiting…

Let the henna dry in the sun, the warmth of the sun will get your color deeper into your skin. You can also use a hairdryer.

If you make a mistake in the picture your painting: ACT QUICKLY! If you wipe it off too late, the henna will leave a red spot.

After a while, the henna will start to burst. Don’t peel it off yet! The henna has to stay on for at least two hours. Then you can start removing the crusts of mud.

DON’T remove the henna with water! Just scrape the crusts of your skin, you can do this with a bold knife. Don’t let your body painting get in touch with water for the first couple of hours. Right after you scraped off all the crusts, rub your skin in with olive oil. It will make the color brighter and help keep the color on as long as possible. Your henna painting will survive for about a month or so.

Also nice to know: Swimming, body peeling, scrubbing your back, and bodyscrub products will make the henna tattoo deteriorate faster.

For more information, visit the authors website on body painting.

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Henna Design Is An Ideal Way To Get A Temporary Tattoo

Henna Design Is An Ideal Way To Get A Temporary Tattoo By Richard Davies

Have you ever seen henna design? It’s simply captivating as an art form. It’s used in society as a popular way to produce natural tattoos that are temporary by nature. It harnesses the power of nature and produces beautiful manmade results in the form of temporary tattoos.

Henna designs are rich with colour. Artists that perform henna design often have a portfolio of designs to hand that you can choose from. Find one you like and have it put on you by the artist. There’s no need to worry about any long term effects due to the fact that by nature itself they aren’t long lasting. The artists requirements in terms of what they need to work with is quite minimal. A portfolio design and some henna combined with a large helping of creativity is all that’s needed. The henna design is then drawn onto the subject as per their requirements.

Henna designs tend to last for the longest duration of time on both the hands and feet, so this is where they are most commonly drawn. It is then put on the skin using something such as a brush, then once completed it its wrapped which results in a vibrant colour. Henna designs last anywhere from one to four weeks in duration. This is largely dependent upon what quality of henna paste was used.

Some henna designs can be very finely detailed with great complexity, which you may find surprising for something that is most certainly finite. I guess all good things come to an end, but the great thing is you can get another great design drawn onto you whenever you like. If you decide you do ever want a henna design or a permanent tattoo be sure to check out our site for more great coverage.

Article by Richard Davies at Tattoo And Piercing Information. Discover a diverse range of information all about popular tattoos and piercings for free, including nose rings, tattoo design, tattoo books, piercing supplies and plenty more at Henna Design

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Henna Tattoos – A Natural Way to Decorate Your Body

Henna Tattoos – A Natural Way to Decorate Your Body By Sarah Freeland

Henna tattoos are a natural form of body art – a safe and temporary alternative to getting a real tattoo. Henna tattoo artists use a natural henna ink which is made from powder from the leaves of the henna plant. They make a paste with the henna powder and paint a henna tattoo anywhere on your body.

The tradition of henna tattooing, also called mendhi, has been practiced for millions of years. They have found henna art traces as far as back as the tombs of pharaohs day. Henna tattoo art is still a popular tradition today.

Before applying henna ink to your skin, make sure to test a small amount on your body and check for allergic reactions. Henna tattoos rarely cause reactions in people, but its important to make sure. Once you know the henna ink will not cause a bad reaction, you or your henna tattoo artist can begin the work of art on your skin.

The sky is the limit with the patterns and images of henna tattoos, but the colors are usually limited to dark shades of red, green, brown, or black. This also depends on how your skin reacts since every skin tone will take the henna tattoo ink a little differently.

For more information on henna tattoos and tattoo supplies visit http://www.tattooandpiercingsupplies.com

Article Source: http://www.articles-host.com/article-Henna-Tattoos-A-Natural-Way-to-Decorate-Your-Body-8692.html

A Natural Way to Decorate Your Body – Henna Tattoos

Henna tattoos are a natural form of body art – a safe and temporary alternative to getting a real tattoo done on your body. Henna tattoo artists use a natural henna ink which is made from powder from the leaves of the henna plant. The artist make a paste with the henna powder and paint a henna tattoo design anywhere on your body.

The tradition of henna tattooing, also called mendhi, has been practiced for millions of years. They have found henna art traces as far as back as the tombs of Egyptian pharaoh’s day. Henna tattoo art is still a popular natural tattoo tradition today.

Before applying henna ink to your skin, make sure to test a small amount on your body and check for any allergic reactions. Henna tattoos rarely cause these reactions in people, but its important to make sure in case you have sensitive skin. Once you know the henna ink will not cause a bad reaction, you or your henna tattoo artist can begin the work of art on your skin.

The sky is the limit with the patterns, designs and images that can be created with henna tattoos, but the colors are usually limited to dark shades of red, green, brown, or black. This also depends on how your skin reacts since every skin tone will take the henna tattoo ink a little differently. To see how the ink will appear on your skin do a test first to be sure you will get the desired result.

Henna Tattoos Cause Scars

I have read several articles all over the internet claiming that a large amount of people around the world are having severe allergic reactions to henna tattoos. Granted most of these people have traveled out of the United States to somewhere in Asia. A nine year old girl from Greece got a henna tattoo and within hours of getting it, It blistered and when the blisters popped the ink began to scab off. Then it got redder and hotter. They went to a doctor and the docotor advised them to go to a burn unit at the hospital. Doctors are concerned that this temporary tattoo is going to scare this little girl for life.

There is also another horrible story about a 10 year old boy from Australia that is experience something a little different than blisters, very dark hair is growing around the henna tattoo. Dermatologists say these horrible allergic reactions are being caused by the toxic dye para-phenylenediamine, or PPD, that these people are using while giving people these henna tattoos. This toxic dye is similar to the dye that is used in hair dye. Also experts are suggesting that these places in Asia are using black ink and not the traditional brown ink.

So the best advise dermatologists and parents who have children that have had reactions to these henna tattoos is just to avoid them all together, especially if you are out of the country. Also if you notice the ink they are using is black is another huge indication to stay away from them. If you want a fake tattoo just stick to the original temporary ones.

Your Tattoo Friend

Ashley