Dubai is a country where Henna is very well-known. You can get your henna tattoo in the desert safari camp in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, the henna painter there can make tattoos on your hand or feet, It’s is completely natural and painless and the interesting thing is that it’s included in your desert safari camp!
Henna painting is originally an Indian folklore. It was called mehndi in Hindi and Urdu, and has been practiced for over 5000 years in many countries like Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East. In some countries, Henna is used in weddings for brides to have tattoo like paintings with no needles and it only lasts for like a week.
Because henna has natural cooling properties, most people who live in the deserts have been using henna to cool down their bodies for centuries. They make a paste of Henna and get their palms and soles of the feet soaked it that paste to get a fresh and cooling effect. As long as the henna pasta remains on their skin, it gives them the feeling of a cooling sensation all over the body.
Henna painting is the tradition in most of the Islamic and Arab countries. People in these countries use the Henna paste as a replacement for tattoos. Because tattoos are prohibited by Islam in most of Islamic countries, people use Henna as a natural replacement as it doesn’t negatively affects the skin and are totally removable. The leaves of the henna plant are dried and powdered to be mixed into a paste which is used to dye the skin, hair, nails.
Henna leaves marks that can last for more than a week then it will gradually fade and then wear off completely. It also has a great impact on ladies that henna helps to increase the feminine hormones besides the good looking. Traditionally henna is used on the hand and feet, and now ladies use Henna for growing their hair stronger and taller.
As for the decorative usage of Henna, it is mostly used in bridal shower parties in the Middle Eastern countries, known as Henna parties. Henna parties are usually held on the night before the big day, when the bride and her best friends gather at the bride’s house to get Henna paintings done by someone specialized in this art work. During the ancient Egyptian period, it is documented that Queen Cleopatra herself used henna for decorative purposes.