Permanent Body Art

If I had to pick one pet peeve of my dad's I think it would definitely be writing on your body. I remember when I was a kid he absolutely hated it when I would write on myself. It didn't matter if I jotted a note on my hand or drew a picture on my arm with a pen that would wash off, he really didn't like it. He didn't even like it when we wrote on the driveway in sidewalk chalk and that was really easy to wash away. Now that I think of it, his pet peeve just might be that he doesn't like to see writing or drawings on anything but paper. Anyways, he would always tell us not to write on ourselves and we didn't really see the logic behind that and, honestly, didn't always obey. Sorry Dad. So that being said....

I've posted before about how people in my culture get henna, which is basically a type of hair dye, painted on their body in decorative designs. I even put some pictures up from one of the times that I got it. It's supposed to stay around for about 4 weeks and will eventually fade. About a month ago I was visiting a friend and, in the middle of a conversation, she just stood up and said 'we want to go and make henna. Do you want to come?'. What do I care, it fades away in a month, right? So I'm just like 'sure, ok, let's go make henna'. We get to the place and they pick out a design for me and the lady starts drawing it on my leg and I realize that I'm the only one getting henna. So I ask my friends 'what design are y'all going to have done?' and they say 'oh, we're not getting henna, we just wanted you to get it.' Now these girls speak perfect English so it's not like there was a miscommunication here, they just wanted to see the white girl have a cultural experience. Haha.

It's not uncommon for your skin to burn a little after you get henna. After all, they just painted a design on your body with a hard core chemical used for hair dye. But this time mine burned for 3 days. I thought it was odd, but what could I do? I mean, this permanent dye had already been painted on and then washed off so there really wasn't anything I could do about it. After about 3 weeks it started to fade a little, just enough so that I could see the huge red weird looking after effects of the henna. I asked my doctor friend and, apparently, I now have a chemical burn where the henna was painted. So much of a chemical burn that it's actually now looking like it will be a permanent scar up the side of my leg in a flowery/leafy kind of shape.

I really would have never chosen to go and get a permanent tatoo but it looks like I might be stuck with one. To look on the bright side, at least it's not green. So Dad, sorry I didn't heed your warning about not drawing on myself.You can say 'I told you so'. If I had just learned my lesson when I was a kid...Although I guess now it won't be necessary to go and get henna ever again. I can just trace the red marks up my leg with a marker and no one will know the difference!