You may know from reading my blog that my husband and I adopted two cats from a place called The Dancing Cat. It is a “cat lounge”. It is not a cat CAFE because they don’t sell food, or coffee, or tea, but it is like one, in that you can visit with cats. You can bring your own food and drink and pay a small fee to visit with the cats for an hour. Also, unlike some cat cafes ALL of the cats are up for adoption. The Dancing Cat also hosts events like Mewsic Nights, Learning How To Paint Your Cat or take pictures of your cat. They also have a Henna Cattoo Night. There is a local artist, Shannon Balco, who comes in and does henna tattoos.
They have been doing it for a while but I was always away when they did it, but this last time I was home. Yipeee! Shannon has a book of pictures of tattoos she can do. Not all of them are cats. She is even so talented as to do one that someone showed her a picture of. The one that looks like Yin and Yang cats! She did that right there after just seeing it. Cool, huh?
Henna is drawn on like a thick paste. The recommendation is for you to leave it on AT LEAST 30 minutes then you can scratch it off (not wash it off). The longer you leave it on the better. When I first got a henna tattoo I was told to leave it on AT LEAST 4 hours and no longer than 12 hours.
The pictures are pictures of the “Cattoos” she did when I was there. The last two show my tattoo. The first one is after I scraped all the dried paste off. Since it is on the back of my hand and very thin delicate lines a large portion of it had just flaked off. I was concerned with it flaking off and me not noticing and then one of my cats eating a henna flake. So I just scratched it all off. It had probably been about five or so hours. I did not wait 24 hours without water because it is on my hands. In the past I had the henna put on my feet. I could easily not wet my feet for 24 hours, but not my hands. I was at a cat place. I had to wash my hands when I came home. I HAVE cats, I am constantly washing my hands. It didn’t seem to affect it adversely.
The very last shot is the next day. Henna darkens at first then it starts to fade. The length of time the tattoo lasts depends on where it is and what it sustains. If it is on your hands and you wash your hands often, it will probably come off sooner. If it is on your leg and doesn’t come into contact with water that much it might last longer. It does help to put oil on it. When I first got a henna tattoo that artist recommended just tiger balm. The second time I put oil on it. I think the oil helps.
I can’t wait for The Dancing Cat to do this again. I am going to go again. I am going to ask her if she will do my foot instead of my hand. Since I dance Nia I like to have my feet decorated.
What do you think? Have you gotten a henna tattoo?
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