Mehndi body art for Eid

Mehndi always looks gross out of the tube

Saima the henna artist

The patterns get darker for a few days 

Still bits of mehndi on my feet like bits of dried mud

Eid is soon and my sister-in-law and younger first cousin Sameera, asks if we would like mehndi on our hands and feet.


Saima here is our cleaner's sister, who works in a beeuty paarlur, doing mehndi most evenings, but has come to the house to do ours.


Years ago, you had to make your own mehndi paste from the powder and water, then dip a fine toothpick to pick up the henna. Now you just buy ready made henna cones that you simply snip off the end and off you go.
Everyone has different tips on how to make the mehndi come out darker on your skin - the darker the better. 
1. When its dried, don't wash it off with water, just scratch it off.
2. Or just wet the dried mehndi with cold coffee water.
3. Keep it on as long as possible or just wet it a bit and the list goes on....
Basically, the better the mehndi and the more heat your body gives off the darker the mehndi will be.


Scraping it off your hands is a pain when its dry. There's not much you can do when it's on your feet, so you leave a trail of tiny bits of mehndi everywhere you go for the rest of the day. 


I used to put it in my hair, its a great conditioner and leaves a bright burnished shine to your hair - but a complete bitch to rinse out dried bits of grit. 

If you are lucky you can still catch a few brave old souls who have bright orange mehndied hair or bright orange beards. 

My 3 year old niece, Aliyah isn’t really keen on having henna on her hands and feet - a bit weird and you have to sit so still. So we discuss what drawing she would like and where she would be happy for it to go. She likes fish and happy for the mehndi to go on her lower leg. So I draw the picture of the whale and fish from her Gap pajamas onto a piece of paper. Saima can't copy it, so I get a biro and draw the picture on Aliyah's leg and Saima paints over it with the mehndi. Luckily you can have 'express mehndi' for children that darkens instantly. Don't  you love progress - instant mehndi colour for kids!