Henna Hands.

Last Sunday, I went for an afternoon of hangs, hurr and henna with my girls in my favourite salon in Glasgow; #BLOW. I have always loved everything about Henna since seeing an Indian Wedding when I was a little girl. Watching the bridal party separate the crowd with their beautifully painted bodies and bright coloured clothing made me fall into a fantasy of one day being one of those girls. That year, I dressed as an Indian Princess for Halloween, 18 years later I fell in love it with all over again thanks to Heenatastic.

I spotted Heenatastic on Instagram a few months back. Her name was Sadia and with every post came an automatic double tap from me. From traditional to contemporary styles, Sadia draws the designs free hand using some sort of home made Henna pen. The temporary ink goes on a greenish brown colour that dyes the skin anywhere from a light orange to a deep burgundy for up to two weeks. This form of henna, usually called Mehndi, is an art form traditionally practised in the Middle East and South Asian countries. drawn on brides and bridal parties for their Wedding day. Legend has it, the deepeer the colour goes the deeper the lurve. These days, life is celebration enough to not have something so beautiful on your hands. And also….MINE WENT ORANGE!

The whole process took around an hour to do. The Henna smells delicious with a strong scent of Lavender – one of my favourite smells – which relaxes you as she paints free hand in front of you. Once finished and the Henna is somewhat dried, Sadia sprayed some home-made Lemon Oil on top of the design to help bring out the colour. After leaving it for around 6 hours, the henna can be (oh so satisfyingly) rubbed off then rub on an oil which stimulated circulation. Sadia recommended Vic’s vapo rub but I didnt have any, so used my every night essential Kiehls Midnight Oil as a substitute. I think it worked rather well as my henna turned out quite dark in the end! I love it so much I’m swithering to get some of it tattoo’d permanently. My golden rule though is to mull it over for a year (min) before going down the permanent ink route, so I think I’ll be making henna my new monthly ritual to try out different designs! What do you think of my henna hands?

If you missed Sadia at #BLOW you can get in touch via her Facebook page to make an appointment. Prices start from just £10 and for a two week  free hand unique tattoo, I’d class that as a bargain! #BLOW’s final pre christmas event is THIS SUNDAY and is closing with their very own post postman pop up shop featuring Georgia Wiseman, Bebaroque, Dear Green and more! See you there between 11 and 5pm!