The art of Mehndi

I am almost 100% positive that most of you have seen henna tattoos on people's bodies at least several times in your lives. The thing is that you don't need to be in India in order to see them - you can be anywhere in the world. The more I travel, the more I realise that this Indian tradition has conquered the hearts (and the eyes) of people from all over the world. For that reason, I know that you don't need to come to India to see them... As a islander that I am, I have seen henna stands on many Majorcan beaches. What I had never seen before is, nonetheless, the huge variety of henna tattoos that one can get, how imaginative and original the designs can be, how precise their shapes and how quick their makers. 

In India, henna (or mehndi, as it is called here) tattoos are not only traditional and beautiful, but a great art expression and a way to indicate that you have been to a huge celebration. For example, brides cover their whole arms and feet with henna - the more ornamented they are, the better. There is never a way to commit the sin of excess... Glitter, sequins, mehndi designs, golden accessories and bright colours and patterns all mixed - and why not?

My students in Anantapur used to cover their arms with mehndi every time there was a festival - Diwali, Dusshera, Bakhrid... Every occasion was a good one to decorate their arms in this amazing way, and I watched them, fascinated, every single time.

The first time I attended a wedding in India (I hope I can post the pictures soon), most ladies  had mehndi covering their arms, not to mention the bride, whose whole body was full of wonderful henna designs.

What left me breathless, however, more than the patterns and designs that can be fulfilled with a henna cone, is the speed in which these designs can be done. I once asked one of my students to draw something on my arms and she did it with such rapidness and precision that I could not help but almost clap after it - I obviously didn't clap, though, as I would have spoilt the whole piece of art. When I travelled to Jaipur, I also sat at one of these street henna stands and got a henna tattoo done all over my left arm. Once again, I couldn't help but stare at the precision and speed at which that man was doing it. 

If you are willing to get a henna tattoo done in India, I suggest that you bargain a lot. As foreigners that they know we are, they tend to ask for a lot of money. I remember the first woman who I asked in Jaipur... she asked me 1,400 rupees (around 18 euros) for the same design that my students would do happily and for free! I understand that it is their business and I was willing to pay for it, but not that indecent amount of money. When I went to Jaipur I had already been living in India for ten months and I knew the treatment I should expect as a foreigner, but there comes a time in which one gets tired of people trying to cheat them and trying to make them pay more for every single thing and I was not willing to pay 1,400 rupees for a henna tattoo. Instead, I got the one you will see below for 250 rupees. Like I said, in India, bargaining is a must.

Here you have some tips that can be useful if you are planning on getting a mehndi tattoo:

     1) Choose a design that you like from the albums that you will be shown beforehand or tell them to simply improvise - after all, they always do brilliant designs and these tattoos are not permanent.

     2) Choose stands where they use natural henna - that is, one whose colour is not fully black but a softer tone of a 'greeny' colour when it comes out of the cone. Black henna has been added artificial colourings which might not be so good for the skin and can create some allergic reactions. When natural henna is dry, it looks black, and the design is some kind of reddish colour (more 'orangy' at the beginning and darker after some days).

     3) Let the henna be fully dry on your skin before you proceed to remove it. The longer it stays on your skin, the longer it will last afterwards. If you can let it fall on its own, just do it. Otherwise make sure that it's fully dry before you start scratching it to make it fall off your skin.

     4) When the henna is dry, put a mixture of water and sugar on it. It is said that it helps make the colour be stronger and the design stay longer.

I hope these tips have been useful and this post interesting!

Have a good weekend!

Freshly made design in Jaipur.

As you can see in this picture, the design is not fully black, but it has some kind of 'greeny', brownish tone, which implies that the henna is natural.

The last three pictures show the designs done by my students one day at school. The henna looks darker because of the poor quality of the same and because it was almost dry (but not removed) when they were taken. As you might be able to appreciate, in these pictures there are some brownish drops falling off my arms, which are the mixture of water and sugar that I mentioned before.