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Henna has a wonderful flair bringing in colour to our lives. Since many centuries, it has been used as a celebratory decoration by women. But this is changing now, there’s a trend of using Henna as a part of make-up. Women, and men for that matter, now use Henna for creating tattoos. Since natural Henna is completely safe for the skin, it does not cause skin reactions that might occur due to traditional tattoo inks and equipment.

 

But many tattoo and mehendi artists use a chemical based Henna called Black Henna to create Henna tattoos. This synthetic Henna is very harmful to the skin and causes extreme reactions. Black Henna is made of  a chemical called PPD (p-phenylenediamine) which is a main component of many Hair dyes, is not to be applied to the skin.

 

This chemical causes blisters, rashes, and different allergies that require prolong and expensive medical treatments. Also when you eat with your hands that have been applied such chemicals, there are even chances that you are consuming that what can only be described as poison.

 

If you are a bride, getting a Henna for your wedding day, would you want to remember the day that was the most joyous day of your life, or the day that was the most horrendous?

 

This chemical Henna dries up very quickly – within an hour or so, and has a very dark shade, as compared to the brownish shade of natural Henna. People are in a hurry and hence they cannot spend the long hours that natural Henna takes to stain. Many unethical Henna artists exploit this tendency of people by applying them with Black Henna.

 

For the haste, do you really want to play with your lives??? I don’t think anything is more valuable than your health. Say NO to Black Henna. Always demand for Natural Henna. Yes, it does take time to stain, but the colour that you get is a magnificent brown than the ghastly black. The stain of Natural Henna looks good in photos as well, leaving you with pleasant memories of your special day for a lifetime!

 

Mehendi is the art of decoratively applying Henna on the skin, and is generally applied during festive occasions, and most important of it being weddings. Mehendi is an intricate part of a wedding, and is considered to one of the ornaments of the bride, without which her attire is incomplete.

 

Today, the art of applying Mehendi has spread all across the world, and in many countries, Mehendi is also known as Henna Tattoo, with recent trend of getting a Mehendi not only on hands and feet, but also on backs as well.

 

But Mehendi has come a long way, and has overcome the test of time to gain such praise from people of different ethnicities.

 

Although the genesis of using Henna for Mehendi is long lost in sands of time, the earliest use of Henna is seen on the bodies of Egyptian mummies. It is believed that Henna plants had their origins in Egypt, and were carried to the Indian subcontinent around 700 AD, where Henna was started to be used as a decorative accessory. Apart from its decorative uses, Henna has also many medicinal properties, which is also major contributing factor for its growing popularity.

 

The use of Mehendi was prevalent in the Mughal Era and their ceremonial decorations for women. The Mughal empire had a notable role in spreading the use of Mehendi. As the art of Mehendi started spreading, the designs started becoming intricate and more admirable.

 

Around 17th Century, the barber’s wife would be called for creating Mehendi designs on the hands of women. The tradition of applying Mehendi to a bride is to decorate her skin. There is a dedicated event, on the night prior to the wedding day, called Mehendi in which sophisticated Mehendi designs are made on the bride’s hands and feet, and smaller, simpler designs are made for the guests. The traditions goes that, deeper the colour of the Mehendi, more the groom would love the bride, and that as long as the bride’s hands are stained with Mehendi, she would not be asked or allowed to do household chores. So would be brides, remember this tip, let your Mehendi stain deeper and richer, so that you won’t have to do the housework for longer.

 

Today, Mehendi is not limited to just weddings and festive occasions, women get themselves adorned with a beautiful Mehendi, without the need of any festivities. Girls get a Mehendi for their birthdays, dates, anniversaries or even just because they like it. Mehendi is not limited only to women these days, men have also started turning towards Mehendi, as a form of temporary tattoo, which they can change every few weeks!

 

The colour of Mehendi maybe dark, but its future is bright, very bright!