Re: how long does henna tattoo last? skin pricked!
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on August 25, 1999 at 04:49:23:
In Reply to: how long does henna tattoo last? skin pricked! posted by herb on August 25, 1999 at 02:40:36:
Henna, if in contact with blood, causes hemolysis. It is therefore a
poor idea to insert it into blood-bearing layers of the skin.
Also....your henna powder may contain residue of all sorts of other
things ...dirt, bits of insects, insecticide, bits of whatever landed
on it when it was growing or sitting in the drying shed. Do you want
dirt and unknown varmit and vegetable matter under your skin?
Premixed henna paste may have even more exciting potentially
infectious crud (salmonella and e coli have been found in some tubes).
Do you recall what happened last time you poked something under your
skin that was not sterile?
If you want your henna pattern to last longer, trace over it every few
days with fresh henna. That works. That's safe. You can expect your
henna pattern to last from 1 to 5 weeks in normal circumstances.
Henna on the soles of my feet last 8 weeks.
I was reading about traditional tattoos in Sudan, that ornament the
lower lip and gums.....these tattoos accompany henna as enhancing a
woman's beauty, since nibbling the lower lip is a favored part of
love-play. However, the description of the tattooing process, (done
by the local henna artist) using a quill to force a mixture of soot
and crocodile gall into the lip, and the subsequent tripling of the
size of the lip until the swelling goes down sort of put me off that
idea.....