Henna
Henna has been used for centuries throughout the world. It's often used to beautify the body for special occassions. It's usually used on the hands and feet but has been used on other parts of the body especially since it has been gaining popularity among pop culture. Henna comes in two colors, red and black. Red henna is very safe to use and there are very few people who have had any alergic reactions from it; black henna, on the other hand, doesn't agree with as many people. Because a lot of people are allergic to black henna, I would recomend that you test it on a small unseen area of you body before you put a lot of it on. Although very few people have a problem with red henna I would still recomend testing it first just to be safe. Henna once applied will last anywhere from two days to two months depending on several factors... how often you wash your hands, what type of mixture did you use, have you used any chemical cleaners, washed with soap, etc... You will find bellow some recipies for making your own henna mixtures and some idea's for patterns that you can use.
Henna Mixtures
Mixture 1
Ingredients:
One Cup, Brewed Black Tea (allowed to sit overnight)
1 tsp of Fresh Lemon Juice (from a lemon which has sat in the sun for 12 hours or more)
Directions:
1. Wash the hands and feet with the rose and orange water.
2. Mix the Henna Powder , Black Tea, and Lemon Juice together.
3. Apply the henna mixture to desired location and allow it to sit for at least 2 hours.
Mixture 2
Ingredients:
Tea bags (preferably a dark tea)
Directions:
1. Combine two tea bags, two teaspoons of coffee, two teaspoons of tamarind paste, and 3/4 of a pint of water, in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and let it simmer for approx. 1 hour and let it cool down to room temp. (approx 30 min). Strain out all of the particles in the mixture.
2. Add the henna powder to the mixture and stir. The mixture should be the same consistancy as a thick pudding if it is to thick add a small amount of water to the mixture. Allow the mixture to mature for three hours in a cool dry place.
3. Add 5 drops of eucalyptus oil and 5 drops of clove oil, mix well and your read to apply it.
Mixture 3
Ingredients:
Tea bags (preferably a dark tea)
Directions:
1. Prepare the henna powder as in Mixture two.
2. Mix together one cup of brewed tea which as been left overnight with half a cup of lemon juice. Add the mixture to the henna mixture and follow the directions for mixture 2.
3. Before applying the mixture wash the area you wish to use henna on with equal parts orange flower and rose water.
Henna will get darker the longer it sits on the skin one way to keep it on longer is to make a mixture of lemon juice and sugar. When the henna starts to dry add a little of the juice to your design and it will say moist. Some people also wrap plastic wrap around the design to keep it moist. This also keeps the henna from getting all over the place, however you ave to be careful not to smear the design and also not to wrap it so tight that the design get smushed or that you lose circulation to that area.
Henna can be applied with a plasic cone, a rounded off toothpick, a frosting dispenser, a pre - packaged henna dipenser or pre - made henna pens. To make a cone take a plastic food storage bag or sandwich bag and put you henna mix into it seal the zipper on the bag. squeeze all the henna into one of the corners and then fold the bag down to make it tighter around the henna. Cut the tip off of the corner and apply.
Patterns For Henna Decoration
Here are some commonly used designs and patterns:
Permanent Tattoo's
Permanent Tattoo's although popular in western culture are not so popular among those in the Middle East. In fact most Arabs think that tatooing is sinful and no respectable person would be caught with one. However among the various tribes of nomads tattoo's are often used. The tattoos of the tribes are used for various puposes. The tattoo's are generally on the face and indicate which tribe they belong to and what their status is within the tribe. One reason why women were given facial tattoos was to make them ugly to outsiders so that they would not "touch" them.
Some things to consider if you plan to dance seriously are...
1. Arabs will make up a large percent of a bellydancers audience. If your audience before you get a tattoo is half arab and half local you may lose 25% - 50% of your audience. You may be lucky and not lose any but why risk it?
2. Even though it doesn't happen a lot there are still cases where someone hasn't used a sterile needle and ends up causing infection or transmiting a disease. If you really want to get a tattoo, check around and look at several places to see how clean they are. You may want to investigate the possible dangers of tattooing first. Ask your doctor about tattoo's or look it up on the internet.
3. If your really certain you want a tattoo you may want to consider putting it somewhere where it will be easy to cover. Or put it somewhere that will compliment your costumes. Also, choose designs that will compliment your costume if they are going to be visible. You may also want to consider having the tattoo done in a color that looks like henna, so that it could pass for a henna tattoo (which are perfectly acceptable to arabs).
4. Many people find them quite painful. A tattoo does form scabs and is often sore for a couple weeks. You might want to take that into consideration when your deciding where to put it also.
Many tribal dancers in the US have tattoos and still have large audiences so just because you have a tattoo, doesn't mean you can't dance sucsessfully but, you should take everything into consideration before you get one... They don't call them permant for nothing you know? Also, the cost of removing one is not cheap. I don't ave anything against tattoo's and I find many of them quite beautiful myself, but I reccomend henna over permanent any time because if you don't like it it will be gone in a few weeks mabey sooner if you wash it a lot.
How to create a tribal facial tattoo witout actually tattooing.
If you want to sport one of tose fabulous facial tattoos seen on the nomadic women of Arabia but don't want to permanently marked on the face then all you need is some black eyeliner (preferably the kind you don't have to sharpen). You just draw it on and your ready to go but, remember not to wipe your face or it will smear. Another alternative is to use a fine tip marker. Test it on your hand first and see how easily it comes off. If it comes of after a couple washes then it's OK. Simply apply the tattoo design with the marker and your ready. This kind will not smear easily but you will have to wash it more to get it off. I don't reccomend using a permanent marker.
Here are some examples of designs that are commonly used:
