by T. Regula

Created on: February 09, 2007   Last Updated: April 12, 2007

A henna tattoo "drew" me in to the world of mehndi art, which is the ancient practice of using the ground leaves of the henna plant to temporarily tint the skin. After being decorated at a street fair and loving every moment of the process, I decided to learn how to do it myself. At the time, there were very few people doing henna and eventually I worked regularly as a henna artist.

You can too!

Like everything else worth doing, start with passion. If you aren't obsessed with it, it isn't worth doing.

First, I learned everything I could about henna on my own, from books, magazines, newspaper articles and the Internet, and then I sought out experienced henna artists and begged them for more information. Initially, many of them ignored me and kept their secrets, but with persistence, I made some friends and began to share recipes and techniques. Often I had to "pay" for the knowledge by having them henna me. But sometimes I lucked out with the "grandma effect" - an older woman henna artist, ignored by her own daughters, would be charmed by my sincere interest and help me along the path where artists my own age would ignore me or see me as potential competition.

I kept careful notes of every henna experience I had, noting what products were used, and documenting all of the different methods used. Even now,those notes are precious to me and when I read over them, I often discover something I've overlooked or forgotten.

I would wear my own henna designs proudly, and people would ask me where I had it done. When they learned I did it, they would often ask me to henna them. I created a booth to use at street fairs. One woman I will always remember. She had a scar on her leg which troubled her deeply, even though it was not even that obvious. She didn't want a "real" tattoo, but she told me she wanted to look at her leg and see something beautiful. I adorned her with a spiral design ending in stylized flowers, and when it was done, she said it was the first time she had felt good about herself. It was a very intense moment for both of us, but maybe not surprising. Henna is said to contain "baraka", an inherent power of blessing and protection, and perhaps that is what she was responding to as well as to the design I placed on her.
Eventually, I was actually asked to offer henna decoration at an ethnic market where I bought some of my supplies, even though I was not from their culture.

If you want to use henna to decorate yourself or someone else, keep in mind the following.

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