Henna painting: secrets of oriental beauty

Henna painting appeared more than 5 thousand years ago. Even in Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia and, of course, in India, women applied delicious patterns to the body. Beautiful ornaments on the body served not only as decoration, but also were considered amulets, which are capable of driving away evil spirits and attracting all sorts of blessings.

Painting henna on the body does not lose its relevance today. Especially it is popular in India and Arab countries, where this art was called "Mendy". Oriental women put beautiful patterns on their hands and feet in honor of big holidays. It is noteworthy that the Islamic religion allows you to draw only plant patterns, images of animals and people are strictly forbidden.

In India, every symbol depicted on the body has its own meaning: peacock and lotus personify luck, flowers - happiness, scorpion - love. In the Arab countries, it is believed that the most picturesque plant patterns bring spiritual and material wealth. On the day of the wedding, the eastern girl wears the most beautiful painting of henna, and the remains of the dyeing raw material are buried in the ground. The Arabs believe that such a rite will help family well-being, love and loyalty.

In recent years, henna painting has gained immense popularity in Western countries. There are several reasons for this: the pattern of henna is absolutely painless and harmless, it does not remain for life, although it keeps on the skin long enough. Painting henna on the hands and feet is maintained for two weeks, on the chest and back - for one.

Currently, there are many professional salons specializing in bio-tattoos. The price for this service ranges from 10 to 60 dollars (depending on the area and complexity of the pattern).

You can also paint henna body on your own at home, special skills are not required for this. If there is the ability to beautifully print patterns - very good, no - you can do without it.

Preparation of the mixture

To work, you need clean henna (it's best to choose specially designed for body painting), lemon juice, honey or sugar, flavored butter and strong tea leaves. Preparation of a mixture is better to start in the evening, because in order to make the painting of henna more brighter and more durable, the coloring raw materials should well brew.

So, strong tea brew (400 ml) bring to a boil, add in it 3 teaspoons of lemon juice, one tsp. Honey or sugar and a few drops of oil. Then slowly pour henna into it, quickly stirring everything. It is important that henna be as fine as flour, so you can sift it first through a fine sieve (in the East it is done through thin silk).

Leave the mixture in a warm place for 12 hours. The aged henna should resemble toothpaste in a consistency. If the mixture is more dense, dilute it with lemon juice, and if liquid - pour in sugars and henna.

Now it is necessary to make a bag-bag directly for drawing. To do this, take a tight polyethylene bag, cut out a square from it and fold it in the form of a cone. Wrap the sharp edge and the sides of the bag with scotch tape. Further pour henna into it, the remaining hole is also covered with adhesive tape.

Creating a picture

Now you can safely embark on the arts. If you do not know how to print patterns, you can use a ready-made stencil. Glue it to the desired area of the body and fill the carved image with a thick layer of henna. Do not remove the stencil before 2 hours.

If there is no stencil, you can use another means: on a paper sheet with the desired pattern, apply a transparent film, circle the drawing and quickly apply the film to the body. Thus, the picture is imprinted on the skin and afterwards it will just need to be traced by henna.