My community played a huge role in my love for temporary tattoos. Wedding ceremonies would have the brides beautifully showcasing the beauty of the henna designs on their arms and legs, and many guests wouldn’t be left out. The bridesmaid, the bride’s mother, and sisters, almost every woman would be adorned with beautiful henna designs. So, temporary tattoos are something I knew I was going to grow up to love and admire a lot and I vowed to try it as many times as possible.
The first time I tried the black henna drawings was a disaster. I couldn’t use my hands for about two days. I was used to trying the organic red-orange tattoos which I used to prepare by harvesting the henna leaves from our neighbor’s compound, grate and mix with some lime juice and then tied to my nails for some hours so that the colour would be deeply absorbed in my nails. I liked that, but this latest black henna would look good on my skin was my thought, so I tried it.
Even though it was just my nails that I painted with a little flower drawing at the back of my left palm, I nearly cried. I couldn’t lift a thing with any of my hands because of how heavy my hands felt. So, I took a break off the things I could, except school where I would need to use a pen. The third day after, when my hands were healed, I flaunted the beauty forgetting the pains I went through.
Later, I realized that the pain was not supposed to happen to start with, but the concentration of hydrogen in the mixture of the black henna caused the pains, so I decided to try again. O yeah, I did try again many times, and I’m still trying till now.
I started with mini designs on my nails and fingers to be sure it would be less painful. I did the mix myself and tried out my creativity in drawing. It didn’t end up as beautiful as I envisaged, but I loved it anyways, and a lot of other people admired it too.
Temporary tattoos with henna in my community used to be drawn only on special occasions like wedding ceremonies, house launching, or any party at all, but now, I’ve grown to realize that henna designs can be drawn on any day, and at any time one feels like.
One day, I went to the market, bought the already grounded henna, went back home, mixed it, adorned my nails and hands with it without any special occasion happening. It was just a self-care period for me and it’s one of those things I do at those times.
Despite the pains I felt the first time I tried, I didn’t stop using the black henna to draw beautiful designs on my skin, because no pain, no gain is what they used to say. Now, I don’t attend wedding ceremonies without having at least a little henna design on because the beauty of the drawings is something I like to see every time.
I don’t specifically want to draw a lion or a cat or a face on my skin. I just want to explore the beauty of many lines connecting into flowers, stars or moon-shaped designs and some connecting dots on my fingers in colours that’s entirely different from my skin complexion, and admire it for a period of two to four weeks when it would have completely washed off and I can draw it again when I feel like, hence, my love for henna designs.
Happy Anniversary Tattooworld. 🥳
All images are mine.