This is a post long overdue! The photo above was taken last December when we went to Boracay for our friend’s beach wedding.
Of course, being the geeky couple and avid WoW player that we both were (though if you ask us again, we’ll probably deny it and pretend to be ‘cool’, haha!) we decided to get matching Horde Insignia henna tattoos at the beach!
This is probably the closest thing I would get to a tattoo. I’ve been actually thinking of getting a tiny one, but the thought of needles and pain is giving me the heebeejeebies.
Getting His and Hers WoW henna tattoos is probably one of the geekiest things we’ve done as a couple, haha! My fiance’s henna tattoo turned into one big allergic reaction and turned into a big red Horde Insignia blister.
I actually find it cool, but for my fiance, it was a very itchy experience, hehe.
Looks like you got some of the dreaded “black” henna, which isn’t henna at all, but a harsh black chemical dye that can cause, as you see, a terrible allergic reaction, blistering, etc. Henna is NEVER black, so if you see that color, don’t get it. Natural henna is greenish-brown as it is applied, and the resulting stain is brown. Natural henna will never cause a reaction like that, so please make sure you don’t tell people that it was henna. I hope he recovers safely and you should be aware if you ever dye your hair you may now risk developing that same reaction. Be careful!
Wow alright – or maybe wouch! Definitely not henna. That’s PPD.
Henna doesnt blister skin.
I feel bad that you both were lied to, as this isnt your fault.
Getting henna is fun and those designs were pretty, but telling you that was henna was wrong. Always ask what the henna is made with, a good artist WILL tell you.
My fiance is allergic to henna :) He’s allergic to a lot of things, actually. LOL :)
My henna tattoo went perfectly fine with no allergic reaction whatsoever :) And the reason why it was black, is because it was just freshly applied. :) The finished product/stain is a nice shade of brown which we never got to take a photo of, hehe :)
Freshly applied henna looks more brown/green in color, like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/70002368@N00/3949126382/
and black henna allergic dermatitis reactions look like this http://www.hennapage.com/henna/ppd/ppdburngallery.html
There are also forms of dyes used on the skin called “henna”. I have seen purple, green, brown, red… The crux of the problem is that it is a chemical dye that can harm a small part of the population. Some people who have reactions become hyper-sensitized to other chemicals after their initial reaction.
Usually if it is natural henna, the allergic reaction is to the essential oils in the paste, such as tea tree or eucalyptis or cajeput oil. I am a natural henn artist and I’ve done hundreds (maybe in the thousands by now heehee) of henna applications and have never seen a reaction like this. The only reaction I’ve ever seen from normal henna paste was my best friend who failed to tell me he was allergic to tea tree oil- which is what i use in my paste. Doh! And his reaction was mild- nothing like this. Anywho, I dunno tho- that pic sure looks like it’s black henna. Typically all the henna I’ve seen that is dried is a dark dark brown- his looks almost blue black but it could be the lighting. Either way, sorry this happend to him. And GO HORDE! WOOT!
I took a peek at the link with the allergic dermatitis reaction. Yowza! haha made me feel itchy all over :P
I agree, this is definitely “black henna” … real, natural henna paste is not that dark – even when it is freshly applied. If it came out a rich brown, perhaps it was a mixture of real henna and PPD so-called “black henna”… but this very much looks like PPD both on the skin and in the contact dermatitis reaction.
Thanks for all the info. I learned a lot about henna tattoos!
Yes, this is “Black Henna” PPD, uses back hair dye, your luck that is all that has happened.
Lia I’m sorry that your fiancé had that bad experience. What he got was PPD. The other commenter’s are correct.