hotta hotta henna

I was given the opportunity to visit a typical Saudi abode and I  together with my  housemates had experienced  a superb hospitality, the Arab way. So this is how they treat visitors, from over flowing drinks,sweets and other stuffs we will have a free henna tattoo. OMG! i'm gonna have a henna tattoo! I was at first hesitant 'coz they say it will last for a couple of weeks. Just thinking of the time it is on my skin make me think twice and thrice if i will do it. But upon seeing how good the henna artist was,  and how intricate she does it, i was in! 

this is my hand after the henna was done, it's still wet, and look at the design, isn't it cool and lovely?

 

see i can still manage to smile huh! i don't know for other henna procedures, but ours is something different

And i said hotta hotta henna! Honestly this is one of a kind stuff, first while the artist makes her way in creating a superb design you can feel the cold wiggles of henna touching your bare skin, and it was fun and cool. But the real deal is, as it gets to dry in your hands, it will produce a rather stingy and hot chilly sensation on your skin. Oh boy, believe me, it was one hot, i mean super hot experience. You would want to scratch your skin to ease the spicy feeling on it. I was even telling myself, "dada this is the first and last time you'll do this".

see my hands? pretty design isn't it?

showing off my newly painted hands

ethel's design was another thing to behold

krizel's hand just right after her session, she still manages to make a few laugh,
after that hotta, hotta henna too!

shella's design was rather huge and she chose to have her other fingers designed too!

this was my henna art

i need to wait a little longer for the henna to stick to my hands

one last picture before scrapping the residue 

this is how it looks like after scrapping off the henna powder residue

the design is not that visible yet

they adviced us to rub oil to it to  make it more intact and stay long on the skin

it's a little bit light at the moment, but as days will pass it will darken

see! now the color changes, from a lighter shade now its brownish- orangy

krizel's hand  is changing it's color too

the day i went to work with my henna tattoo..saudi co-workers, patients and other personnel would utter "mashallah" as a way of praising my hand. 

Saudi females who saw my hand while dispensing  medicines would  usually hold my hand and say " mashallah".

It's overwhelming hearing  how they loved my hand and how they appreciate that we, non-Saudi  likes their art too

taken  a week after it was made, look how the color has changed right now.

as the shade gets darker, the more visually you notice the small details of the design

i just can't get enough of this beauty

i just love this art work on my hands

 I enjoyed this experience despite the hotta hotta sojourn of it. Now you maybe asking me, am I ready for a next henna session? Well, i would love to try this again and i wanna do it just few days before I will go home to the Philippines for a vacation. I want to show to my friends and family how nice it is to sometimes experience and try other people's art and way of life. I say way of life, because henna is  part of saudi females, its part of their culture. A thing i'm most proud of that I have tried.

Henna tattoo the Saudi way was indeed something i'll never forget.