The other night I put henna/mehndi on my hand just for fun. I had only done it once before which didn't turn out very well but I wanted to try anyways because I was bored.
There's two names for it but it's the same thing; 'henna' is more of a Western term and 'mehndi' is more of an Indian term. It's traditionally worn at Indian weddings and special events but nowadays you see people wearing it just for fun. I've actually seen some local fairs and art events have "henna tattoo" booths so it's becoming more popular here. It's a paste made of crushed Mehndi leaves usually applied with a cone. You're supposed to leave it on for at least 5 or 6 hours and apply lemon/lime juice for the red/dark brown color to really show but I didn't have the patience for all of that because I think it smells disgusting and can't wear it for more than a few hours. And I also didn't have lemons (but it's on my shopping list now!). After you wait forever and the paste dries up, you scratch it off and voila!
I put it on right before dinner and figured I'd go eat and come back to take it off. As my friends and I sat down to eat, one of the ladies who works at the dining hall saw my hand and came over to talk to me. She was very impressed and kept complimenting me; it actually took me by surprise at how genuine she was. She asked if I did it myself and how long I'd been doing this for, and I told her I was just a beginner and I did it for fun. And then she wanted to know if I could do it for her and told me she'd pay me to "tattoo" her with a similar design!
I froze mid-smile because I wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but apparently she was. She took down my number and said she'd get the cones herself if I could just do the design for her, so I said okay. She was just really keen and excited about it. I did warn her that it might not turn out as great because I have no idea what I'm doing and I just sort of winged it with my own design but she didn't seem to mind or pay attention to that part.
So, I thought that was interesting and I'm still pretty smug about it. My mom and my cousin said it looked "professional" and that made me even more smug... so I'm in good mood. I still have a lot of it left and I've been trying to tattoo my friends in my hall but it's just not working properly because I'm lacking the lemon juice. It also gave me an idea for an even at a cultural club I'm a part of, so this has been a good week so far.
There's two names for it but it's the same thing; 'henna' is more of a Western term and 'mehndi' is more of an Indian term. It's traditionally worn at Indian weddings and special events but nowadays you see people wearing it just for fun. I've actually seen some local fairs and art events have "henna tattoo" booths so it's becoming more popular here. It's a paste made of crushed Mehndi leaves usually applied with a cone. You're supposed to leave it on for at least 5 or 6 hours and apply lemon/lime juice for the red/dark brown color to really show but I didn't have the patience for all of that because I think it smells disgusting and can't wear it for more than a few hours. And I also didn't have lemons (but it's on my shopping list now!). After you wait forever and the paste dries up, you scratch it off and voila!
I put it on right before dinner and figured I'd go eat and come back to take it off. As my friends and I sat down to eat, one of the ladies who works at the dining hall saw my hand and came over to talk to me. She was very impressed and kept complimenting me; it actually took me by surprise at how genuine she was. She asked if I did it myself and how long I'd been doing this for, and I told her I was just a beginner and I did it for fun. And then she wanted to know if I could do it for her and told me she'd pay me to "tattoo" her with a similar design!
I froze mid-smile because I wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but apparently she was. She took down my number and said she'd get the cones herself if I could just do the design for her, so I said okay. She was just really keen and excited about it. I did warn her that it might not turn out as great because I have no idea what I'm doing and I just sort of winged it with my own design but she didn't seem to mind or pay attention to that part.
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| This is right after the paste dried. It's not really that dark after I scratched it off. It's more of a brown now. |
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