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Henna Tattoo Removal

Mayuri Kulkarni
Henna tattoo is a traditional Indian body art method where the leaf extract of a flowering plant, Henna, is used. It is different from conventional tattooing. It is a painless process of applying leaf extract to draw various designs by hand. Removing a Henna tattoo is also easy and pain-free.
Henna tattoo is commonly known as Mehendi in the Eastern countries, where the method has its origin. It is application of the leaf extract of the plant Henna.
This body art design originated in South-West Asian countries, like India and Pakistan. This method of decorating body with leaf extract became famous in the Western hemisphere by the end of the 20th century.
Leaves of Henna are dried and crushed to form a powder that is earth green or olive green in color. Later, a paste of this powder is prepared by mixing water and some other ingredients, like lemon juice, essential oils, and sugar. The paste is then stored for about 12 hours to let the mixture get matured.
Then, it is put in a cone-shaped plastic wrap with a small hole at the tapered end. The paste has its outlet from the tapered end, and is applied on body parts. The applied paste is left to dry for more than 8 hours and is then washed away.
This leaves behind a dark reddish-brown color to the tattoo design made. The tattoo is temporary and fades away gradually. This is a harmless and natural way of coloring body parts. Henna powder is used not only for tattooing, but also for coloring hair.

How to Remove

As discussed earlier, a Henna tattoo is temporary and the color fades away in a month or so. However, it may happen that one wants to remove it for some reason before it completely fades away.
Though it cannot be removed instantly, the color can be faded gradually. Some of the methods to remove Henna tattoos are given here:
  • Frequent washing of the applied skin area can make the Henna fade quickly. Use a loofah and a strong soap, and scrub the applied area.
  • Soak your skin in salt water for 20 minutes. This will help the tattoo stain to disappear. Salt makes the Henna ink diffuse in water.
  • Use some dead skin removers to remove the Henna design, but ensure that you do not have any skin allergy before applying the remover. This will not erase the stain completely, but will reduce the color to a great extent.
  • After applying the Henna paste on the skin, if you do not like the design or want to remove the tattoo for some reason, wash the applied area immediately. This will not leave any stain on the applied area.
Henna body art removal is safe and uncomplicated. It does not cause any pain as in conventional tattoo removal. There are no instant methods that can help to remove the Henna quickly though.
However, with the given simple methods, one can fade the stain and gradually see the removal effect. The most simple method for removing Henna is recurrent washing of the skin.