Mehndi

Mehndi or Mehendi (Hindi मेहन्दी, mehndi ) is a native of north-west India, now Pakistan term for the elaborate ornamental body paint ( body painting ) with henna. This is done for cosmetic and ritual purposes and has been known since ancient times. She is said to have originated in Persia and spread from there to India, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. In India, Persia, the Arab core countries, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia, Egypt and Sudan, the bride an elaborate henna gets to the wedding on their hands, possibly forearms and feet. In Bangladesh, Kashmir and Sudan also the groom receives a mehndi, but far less glorious than the failure of the bride.

Since celebrities like Madonna body painting brought in the late 1990s in the style of Indian Mehndis in fashion, has also the term henna tattoo naturalized in the German language for this type of body paint, as they look similar to tattoos. Unlike real tattoos Mehndis fade within two to three weeks, as these only the ever -renewing epidermis (epidermis) is colored and not, as with tattoos, the ink is inserted subcutaneously.

From the medical point of view, henna is true for body painting as harmless. Henna colors but naturally only in red-brown color nuances and requires a long exposure time. For a black shade and a quick coloring of the skin to the hair dye henna is usually added PPD (p- phenylenediamine ), which cause severe allergic reactions and can cause irreparable skin and liver damage. PPD is cheap and it's allowed on the European market, henna add up to six percent PPD.

For this reason, doctors recommend to be wary and cautious when - not only in a holiday destination like India, Morocco or Tunisia, but also in Europe - black coloring of " Mehndikünstlern " or cosmetic companies " henna tattoos " and pastes are offered. A mostly dead giveaway that PPD is used, is the assurance that the result will be permanently visible after only a half or a full hour. For Mehndis with pure henna you have to spend at least six to eight hours of waiting in contrast.