The place where I get waxed also does henna tattoos. I’m not up for the commitment of a real one, and the fake ones that come with bubble gum just don’t seem cool enough anymore.
I figure I can pick out a cool design at the place, but where should I get it? Tramp stamp? Tummy? (Yes, my stomach is in nice shape, FTR.) I want to stay away from anything too visible. So maybe shoulder but not on my arms or lower leg.
Any ideas, teeming millions?
I think an ankle “chain” or something that encircles your upper arm would be a great look!
I’d love to get my hands/wrists henna’d some day. I think that’d be cool!
I do henna tatoos for fun, just for friends and family. I think they look very cool on the tops of feet, around the ankles, side of mid calf, upper arm band (if your arms are toned), backs of hands.
ETA: feel free to check out the rest of the pics, my Kiddo (LedZepKid),
Suburban Plankton, my silly Bassett Hound who broke her leg thinking she could fly, etc.
How about sort of across your hip (like, wrapping around from back to front a bit). Kind of flowy with your curves.
The palms of the hands and the tops of your feet will take the best, darken the best and stay on the longest. Next your back, the backs of your arms, your shoulders and your legs. The worst (in terms of darkness and quick fade) is your abdomen and inner arms (the soft skin).
To increase the darkness of the tattoo, dab it with a combo of sugar and lemon juice before wrapping it carefully in plastic wrap and heating it - either by standing around a campfire or blowing it with a warm (not hot) blow dryer. The acidity of the lemon/sugar and the heat will help release the dye in the henna.
Do not pick it off! Wait until it falls off by itself, and it will be much darker and clearer.
If you’re a woman, a henna tattoo will stay on longer if you get it during the second and third weeks of your menstrual cycle. It appears (as taught to me by Catherine “Bunny” Cartwright-Jones) that your skin cells are prone to increased shedding, probably due to the same hormones that cause your endometrial cells to shed during menses.
More than you ever dreamed there was to know about henna tattooing
Your upper back, around your shoulder blades.
Get one on the sole of one foot, saying, “First one who touches this gets a prize.” Grill the winner for his SS number, e-mail, real address, and first dog’s name. Then sell it all to the highest bidder. Tell the bidders, “here’s a real live one, he’ll fall for anything.” :rolleyes:
Hmmm. Well, my curves are a bit…uh, minimal. I think I might be going with the shoulder/upper arm thing, since WhyNot points out that that’s better for darkness. Also, I am in the 3rd week of my menstrual cycle! Well, almost.
Probably the beak. Everywhere else it would be covered by feathers.
Have you had one before? Just something to consider…when the wife and I decided to get one for each of us a few years ago, the one I had? Burned like hell. She was fine so it wasn’t the ink, but for some reason I had a reaction. It felt like the worst sunburn I’d ever had…on my upper thigh…sigh
That wasn’t black henna, was it? I’ve heard bad things about that…
Para-phenylenediamine, or “black henna” WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES OF BURNS
It’s possible that you’re allergic or sensitive to henna, Atrael, but it’s infinitely more likely that the batch you used was adulterated with unapproved chemical dyes, if not PPD, then one of the others used to artificially darken henna tattoos.
And whatever you do, don’t go tanning or spend a significant amount of time in the sun, unless you really WANT a reverse-henna tattoo for months. Henna is a very, very good sunblock.
(Still LMAO at my poor friend, I did a large-scale henna piece on his back. He promptly spent an hour or two getting an accidental sunburn. You could still positively identify the design over a year later! And I did warn him beforehand…)
Very possible. That looks like what would have happened to me had I not madly washed it off as soon as we got back to the hotel. But it didn’t take 3 or more days, more like 15 minutes before the burning sensation started. Since I was in Cancun Mexico at the time, I’d say the odds are more than even that it probably the PPD, and not henna. Still? Not gonna try it again 
Henna-where at all.
Really? I thought those spots would be the worse, since all the moment would soften the movement and take longer for it to set. Well real tattoos have that problem, i just thought the same for hanna tats
Nope. Henna doesn’t last nearly long enough for that kind of wear to be a problem - although you do want to keep your hands still as long as possible while the henna dyes, so it has lots of time to penetrate. You can get cracks in the paste, and therefore lines of nothing in the design, but keeping still reduces that.
No, the reason the palms and the back work so well is that the skin is thicker there than elsewhere, giving more layers of dead cells to be dyed.
