The Henna Ordeal

Hey everyone! I know, I'm late with this week's post, but I have a good excuse (sort of): the day before yesterday was Eid (where I live)! A belated Eid Mubarak to everyone who celebrates Eid! 

But yeah, I thought I'd do something related to this time of the year, and was thinking of doing something art related too as I hadn't done something like that for a long time, and found the perfect idea: henna. 

For those of you who don't know, henna is a dye created from the henna tree. It is used to apply on skin (or hair), as it leaves a bright red/orange stain, and is quite prominent in cultural festivals in South Asian, Arabic and African countries. 

So it's common to apply it during Eid. Just search it up online, and you'll get millions of results in a very, very short amount of time. If you ever visit a South Asian, African or Arabic community before a big event, you'll see people all gathered around, all eager to have their hands decorated with henna. 

(And- I'm not sure what I'm writing! Sometimes aimless writing is fun, but other times it's not. It's a mix, right now!)

Anyways, the pictures on the internet look so cool. And the tutorials make you believe you can easily do it at home, too. Well, at least the self-confidence thing is good...

But it's HARD, at least for me. Have you seen Mandela? The twists and turns are just so complex. Pretty, yeah, but complicated. Unless you're a pro at this, and I'm not, it can feel like an ordeal. The Henna Ordeal, if you like (I'm exaggerating, no need to worry!). It's like trying to delicately ice a cookie, except this cookie is your hand, and even if you make a tiny mistake and wipe it off immediately, there will still be a stain. 

You have to have a really steady hand, and a lot of patience, as it can take a lot of time. I've heard of some people sketching out the design they want prior to using the henna using a pen. I've never tried that, but maybe it works!

(I know, this post is just me ranting about henna, I don't know why exactly, but guess that's that.)

Another thing: you have to check the quality of your henna. The traditional one, a paste made of the henna leaves, is the best. However, sometimes it's hard to use that for those delicate designs, and you have to buy the ones in cones or tubes from the store. However, while some brands use decent products, others? Not so much, unfortunately. Let's just say you don't want to find out how harmful they are the hard way, so do a little bit of research before buying it. 

Also, a quick note that my posts may be irregular from now till the June. Or maybe not irregular, but shorter than usual (maybe as short as my posts used to be when I first started; I was going through a few of them a couple of days ago, and I was blown away. How did I only write two or three paragraphs?!). I'm starting my exams, so yeah. I'm not 100% sure they will be, but just a little warning. 

Thanks for reading this crazy piece of text (that was basically a rant!)! What do you think of henna? Let me know in the comments, and I'll see you next time, whenever that is!

Note: Not sponsored and just my opinions.