Update: My Henna Came!

Arrival

     Alright, I've finally got some actual mehndi to work with! (Although, I don't think that it's real henna, but it's better than Sharpies.) It came in the mail yesterday (almost 2 weeks before Amazon's predicted arrival date!) in a very dented and battered cardboard box from India.

     It came with 12 cones of red henna and small black caps to put on the cones once they are open. I quickly looked up how to store henna, and wasted no time in packing it away in my fridge with a verbal disclaimer to my family that this was NOT FOOD. It's out of the open air, light, and heat, just like the Internet said, so it should be fine (finger crossed!).

Experiment

     It hasn't even been a full day yet, and I'm already itching to use my new henna. But I had read some pretty unpleasant stories about how people have allergically reacted to it, so I didn't want to go full-out design right away. With this in mind, I traced a small sun on my foot with eyeliner and filled it in with the paste. It was more liquidy than expected, and the center, which I had planned to be left open, ended up filled in as a result. Next time, I'm probably going to cut a smaller tip to work with. I left it on while I did my chemistry homework and some other stationary work, but it was really late at night. I ended up taking it off after about 45 minutes because I needed to get to bed, before it had fully dried. Even so, the stain was already very dark. In fact, even the little drops I'd gotten on my fingers had stained, and I'd wiped them off after a few seconds! They aren't as dark, but it's still impressive.

     So far, the stain hasn't been accompanied by itching or rashes, so I think I'm safe on the allergy front. My mom saw it and told me it looked like there was a spider on my foot, so I added onto it earlier tonight. I just can't wait to be able to complete a full design in actual henna!