Thursday, November 25, 2010

Star Tattoos in Black Henna

While working in a gift store in Hanalei, Hawaii, which is on the island of Kauai I learned the art of Black Henna Tattoo. There is a difference between regular henna and black henna, the most obvious being the color. Red henna produces a lovely color on the skin but does not look like a regular permanent tattoo when done. Black henna resembles a permanent tattoo when applied.

Black henna does not require the sugar water and extra care that red henna does. They both must sit on the skin to stain it for about two to four hours but black henna is easier to apply. Black henna is applied by using a simple bottle with a cone shaped applicator top to the bottle. Black henna easily mixes with water, and is effective in the bottle for about half a day. It is mixed to the consistency of toothpaste in the bottle. I use a bamboo skewer to stir the mixture inside the small plastic bottle. Speaking of toothpaste that is a good product to practice your newly found artwork with. While you may not be ready to make tattoos of exotic lap dancers for a while a simple rose pattern is indeed attainable. Keep it simple for the most part with black henna and you will do fine.

Patterns and black henna can be found online and comes with full directions normally. Test the product as soon as it arrives to make sure the active ingredients are still good. Sometimes the product gets old and becomes ineffective I have found. Beautiful patterns can be found online as well. Keep it very simple at first. Black henna is normally done freehand. Map your pattern out on the skin with dots, which helps a lot. Remember first and foremost that black henna is a stain so mistakes are not acceptable. It will indeed stain your clothes ‘forever’ so be careful what it touches! This is a good reason for practice! You should practice with black henna on your own self for awhile until you feel confident. OK, no exotic lap dancers unless you are really an artist! A simple rose on the ankle will do.