Hanover Park woman shares her henna passion, expertise

Tattoos for women in Western culture have been a relatively recent phenomenon, but in Indian society, it's a 5,000-year-old art form.

Mehndi, or natural henna body painting as it is sometimes known, is a traditional body art used by women to decorate themselves for weddings, festivals, birthdays, and other celebrations. The designs are temporary, wearing off in about three to four weeks.

Like tattooing it takes years to learn the intricate designs but unlike ink-based work Mehndi employs all natural ingredients. Just like any other art form, Mehndi's practitioners love their work and their creations. Ayesha Ahmed of Hanover Park is no exception.

Ahmed began practicing Mehndi in her native India when she was 12, working the designs first on her younger sister, then on friends.

"I always admired people who used to do it," Ahmed said. "My mother got me interested in it because she would draw the designs."

She has worked as a Mehndi professional since the 1990s, several years after immigrating to the United States, and has offered services and workshops through her Web site, geocities.com/hennaartbrideandbeauty. Ahmed will also offer basic Mehndi workshops through the Hanover Park Park District on May 10 and through the Schaumburg Park District beginning on July 19.

Mehndi is traditionally applied on the hands and feet. It's often used as a decoration for brides and wedding parties. For such occasions, the decorations start at the hands and run up to the elbows, while those on the lower extremities run from the feet up to the knees. Other occasions include baby showers and festivals such as Diwali and Eid or simply for wishing someone good luck. Brides and women in wedding parties generally have the henna tattoos applied two days before the event.

Unlike tattooing, Mehndi is not painful, but instead is rather ticklish. Ahmed prefers to have her clients wear comfortable clothing and sit on the floor for comfort, with a pillow underneath the hand or foot where the henna paste is applied.

Ahmed works quickly when applying the paste with a henna cone, creating original designs inspired by drawings in Mehndi pattern books. The designs are rife with flowers and paisley leaves.

"Paisley leaves are representative of happiness," Ahmed said.

Application of a basic design on a hand or foot takes about 15-20 minutes. Depending on the intricacy of the design, the paste takes 20 minutes to an hour to dry, but she recommends that it be left on overnight to provide a strong design.

"If it bothers you, you can take it off, Ahmed said. "But it's a good idea to keep it overnight because the color will be stronger."

The designs last three to four weeks and appear as a dark brown stain on the skin. Where the henna is applied makes a difference, too. Designs on the palm of the hand come out darker than those on top because of the nature of the skin in those areas.

Among the topics Ahmed covers in her basic Mehndi seminar include: how to sift henna and make henna paste, application with a henna cone, how to make an applicator, before and after care, as well as history and traditions of the art.

"I only use 100 percent natural henna, never black henna, which has dye in it," she said.

Even the ingredients used to make the paste are natural -- sugar, lemon, essential oil, cloves, and cardamom all go into a brewed tea along with the henna.

Aftercare includes applying a sugar and lemon juice mixture over the design after it has dried. The paste can be scraped off with a butter knife, or merely rubbed off. Several techniques help the design set, such as applying cooking oil, or holding it over the steam of two to six cloves in boiling water.

Although the decorations are still primarily traditional in nature, Mehndi is finding its way onto other areas of the body such as on the stomach around the navel and on the upper back. Here the designs are more contemporary, sometimes mimicking Western tattoo designs. Another trend is putting brightly colored glitter or jewels in the designs.

"I recently did a pajama party and I was the only dark person there," Ahmed said, noting that none of the attendees were of Middle Eastern or Asian heritage.

The feelings that practicing Mehndi evokes are as ancient as the art itself.

"This art makes me confident and it makes me happy to be able to do this for people," Ahmed said with a smile.