Three Ravens Henna

As I have mentioned on this blog, I am going to be in the December issue of Skirt Magazine. When I did my interview for the short profile I was asked why I started doing henna. I answered as best I could, discussing my habits of doodling on scrap paper and writing on my feet, and how that evolved into my first attempts at henna. Yet, I felt a little like my answer had missed something. Then, when I saw one of the pictures a henna party client had posted to her face book, it hit me. This is why I started and continue to do henna.

The art of applying henna to another person is extremely intimate and personal. When I henna I am invading another person’s physical space, making physical contact with them, and leaving their body (in some small way) transformed. How often in our guarded and self conscious society do we get the opportunity to impact someone, much less a stranger,  on such an intimate level?

Touch can be very soothing and healing for some people, and something that I have always found fascinating to watch is the moment at which my clients truly relax. I have noticed that when I start doing henna on a client’s hand that there comes a moment when they let go of the tension in their arm and hand, and become more open and free with themselves. The amount of time that it takes to get to that point isn’t as relevant to me, it is the joy of seeing someone get there.

In the last two sessions I’ve done, realising when I had reached that point was very clear. That first moment when someone presents their hand to me there is usually tension in the arm from the client trying to maintain hold or control of their hand, and for the first few minutes the conversation is usually minimal and limited to safe topics. But then comes the moment when their body unclenches, they rest the full weight of their arm in my hand, and they begin to talk more freely and open up. That is when you make connections with people. I have made some great friends while applying henna, and it is those connections that you make and those moments of realness (when someone opens up and trusts you with their hand or foot or whereever), which make henna so worthwhile for me.