I know some Indian professors at my job. Somehow I just can’t ask them this question. It’s a bit too personal.
Is the forehead dot like lipstick? Do they rub it off at night and reapply the next morning?
Or does it stay on for a long time before it needs replacing?
This Wikipedia page might help. It talks about how to apply traditional and modern versions of the bindi. Modern versions are self adhesive.
The stick on kind are the ones that inspired this question. I wondered if they stayed on for several days or got replaced every morning.
It would be embarrassing for it to start peeling off at work.
Daily, in my experience, or even just for parties or other functions. The adhesive ones come in packs that can be carried in a purse if you need to replace a failing one.
The decorative bindi or red dot as you refer to it has no religious significance that I know of, so I don’t think the question you’re asking should be how often do Hindu women replace the red dot on their foreheads. It should be how often do women who wear a red dot on their forehead for decorative purposes replace it. The answer to that probably varies by woman. My mother doesn’t always wear one, but when she does, it’s always a new one. They’re just stickers really, and they come on a card sort of thing. Peel the sticky tape off the back and stick it in place. As for it being embarrassing if it ‘peeled off’ I think it would just fall off, and I somehow don’t think that would be particularly embarrassing, if at all.
There is another version of a red dot on foreheads that does have some religious significance which is the tika. That is vermilion paste and put on both men and women’s foreheads by priests after performing a religious ceremony. It’s perhaps where the bindi originates from, but at least in modern Indian culture, the bindi is purely decorative.
Thanks. I’d wondered about this for awhile. Now I know.
This is not true. There are plenty of communities in which the bindi has religious significance. In my community, traditionally, the bindi is a signifier of chastity and marital status of a woman, and women were expected to wear one in public at all times (except perhaps for widowed women). The younger ones living outside of India don’t really follow this anymore, but all the older ones and most of the youngers ones still in India still follow it. I don’t think my community is particularly unique in attaching religious significance to the bindi.
I have relatives (including my mother) who would be mortified if their bindi came off in public, and for that reason, they refuse to use stick-on bindis.
A very informative comment BrightNShiny. Thank you.
I wish that I had known the proper name when I started this thread. I’ll use bindi from now on.
I always figured it derived in some way from the third eye chakra, since it’s usually placed more or less right at that location. I’m not an expert in any way though.
All good answers and all true in a way . Originally the bindi was to ward off the evil eye, now days its mostly of symbolic significance as few would believe you caught Influenza from the evil eye.
There are communities where that would be the explanation.
Just to clarify, “bindi” is used in a number of Indian languages, but some Indian languages refer to it by a different name. I think in most places in India (at least the major cities), people would know what you are talking about if you use the term “bindi,” so it’s definitely acceptable to use the term. But don’t be surprised if you meet an Indian who uses an alternate term.
It’s not just women who do it; I once had a male colleague who wore the bindi every day. His wasn’t a simple red dot; it looked more like a yellow dot was applied first and then the red one, intentionally a bit off-center with respect to the yellow one, so the latter was still partly visible.
Can’t speak for all Indians, but we would typically not refer to that as a bindi. We’d refer to that as tilakam. It’s also called tika (mentioned in a post above) or has some other variations depending on the language.
So it’s not used all the time? A tattoo wouldn’t work?
Traditionally, we’re not allowed to have tattoos in our community. Not all Hindus follow that prohibition.
Plus, even though there’s a religious aspect to bindis for some communities, there still can be a decorative aspect as well (they aren’t mutually exclusive). So, some women try to match their bindis with their outfits, and they can get pretty ornate. Permanent tattoos would prevent that.
I wish I could make more clear-cut statements, but it varies by the part of the country, the community, the branch of Hinduism, etc.
I think you cleared up a lot of the stupid questions. Obviously there had to be a reason tattoos weren’t used. This was one of those questions I always wondered about but couldn’t really ask.
So am I evil for thinking of permanent magic marker?
Hm, do they make viscot surgical markers in red? Why yes they do 
There, problem solved
So, what are the options if one chooses not to use a ‘stick-on’ one?
If there are symbolic reasons of chastity behind the bindi, I would imagine a tattoo would also defeat the purpose. Like mormons putting on their underwear: just tattooing on the underwear wouldn’t cut it, because it wouldn’t help you remember your promises to god by the act of getting dressed. So is it more like: you stick on your bindi and remember your chastity vows (or what have you) before you leave the house in the morning?
Of course, it could be useful to those for whom it is just decorative.
(Probably hard to answer factually, but if anyone knowledgeable cares to comment…?)