henna time

I have tons of greys. It's a well known fact. It all started when I was about 10. It's hereditary, I've been told. I was also told NOT to pull them out because if you do they come back with a vengeance. I should have listened because it's true. You get rid of one and 10 more will show up for its funeral!

After years of using commercial hair dye, I switched back to henna about nine months ago. Also known as Mehndi, Henna is very popular in India & the Middle East both for body decoration & for hair uses. It's all natural, a great conditioner & hair growth promoter. The only place I know to get it from is Dubai. Family & friends offer to send some or bring it over when they're visiting themselves. My dad's friends recently flew from Dubai to NJ & took the cruise over to Bermuda. They kindly bought me a stash of henna. Unfortunately, they were docked on the other end of the island & we were not able to meet up with them. Since they were in close proximity to one of LadyBug's many work locations, I asked if they could drop it off there.

Of course, it happened so fast that I didn't get a chance to inform LadyBug what it was. So when she picked it up she was informed that it smelled funny. She took a peek and said: Oh, it's Henna. Imagine her surprise when she was told that it's illegal to bring powdered henna into Bermuda. Her co-worker even gave showed her list & henna was actually on it. This I find ridiculous because they always have henna tattoo stalls at Harbour Nights every Wednesday during the summer. That list must be older than the Queen & has not been updated in eons when maybe back in the day Henna may have been mistaken for weed! Thats the only thing LadyBug & I could come up with.

I have come across many websites selling henna in America & the prices are highway robbery. And beware of those various henna colours because chemicals have been added to produce the variety of colours. Pure natural henna can only produce red colour results and a midnight black when mixed with indigo. Henna from Dubai costs a mere pittance compared to the stuff they sell on websites & it's nothing but pure goodness.

This past weekend I had a Tandoori BBQ/Henna Party for my Bermuda girlfriends using up my stash of Indian henna. Here are some of the designs we did on each other. After a couple of tries we all got the hang of it. It was a lot of fun & certainly addictive. The food was fun & the company was fabulous. Can't wait for the next one!