Mehndi

Mehndi, usually denotes the application of henna for body art on the skin.

Related Topics:
Henna - Body art - Skin

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Mehndi is a temporary body art form, popularly used in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. It is usually drawn, often with intricate patterns and designs, on the hands and feet. This may be in part because the stratum corneum is thickest there (especially for males) and the stain will last for a longer period of time.

Related Topics:
Middle East - North Africa - Asia - Hand - Feet - Stratum corneum

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Although the henna vegetable dye is predominantly applied to the hands and feet of brides, there exist traditions in Bangladesh, Kashmir and Sudan where bridegrooms are also expected to be painted before wedding ceremonies. Also in Rajasthan (northwest India), where mehndi is a very ancient folkart, the grooms traditionally get mehndi designs as elaborate as those for brides.

Related Topics:
Bride - Bangladesh - Kashmir - Sudan - Bridegroom - Wedding - Rajasthan

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Once the henna plant is converted to powder, it is mixed with a dark liquid like coffee or tea, lemon juice (to release the dye) and sugar (for consistency) into a paste which is then applied. Depending on how long the paste rests on the skin, the designs last from a few days to two weeks beginning with a red-brown colour and ending with a fading orange presence.

Related Topics:
Coffee - Tea

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The term henna tattoo, American marketing slang, is actually an oxymoron — a contradition in terms. Henna mehndi is a temporary surface dying of the skin. Tattoo is the permanent surgical insertion of a pigment underneath the skin.

Related Topics:
Tattoo - Pigment

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