The Art of Henna

Elizabeth: Geeta Harjani is the owner and proprietor of successful Geetaz beauty salon, snugly located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. To realize this dream, Geeta worked for more than two decades not traditionally trained in the arts. Geeta is completely self-taught in both canvass painting and in the art of henna. She took to henna not only because she wanted always to be a beautician, but because it was a platform that married both of her passions, beauty and art.

I met with Geeta to learn more about the history and practice of henna. We’re here with henna artist Geeta Harjani to learn about the art of henna. But first, I’d like to know how you got started.

Geeta: Well, I've been doing henna since I was a little girl because it’s in our family and my mother used to do it and pretty much all of my aunts everybody use to do henna in all kind of occasions whether its wedding, its engagements, its like somebody’s having a baby so henna has been a big part of our work.

Elizabeth: It’s all sort of happy experiences.

Geeta: All happy, yeah, all celebrations, all festivals like henna is a must.

Elizabeth: Do you think that the popularity of henna has grown in the United States and if so, why?

Geeta: I think for one thing that henna like tattoo is very popular here.

Elizabeth: Getting more and more.

Geeta: Getting more and more. And henna I think is more proper now because it’s temporary. So like people know that they want to have a tattoo until their 60s, 70s, whatsoever.

Elizabeth: Right.

Geeta: I think that a big factor that it being a temporary tattoo, it’s very popular.

Elizabeth: Now on what sort of events do people use henna? Are there common themes?

Geeta: Yeah, like for weddings. That’s the main thing. So for weddings, we have a special day for henna. It’s a whole celebration itself. It’s a big party like everybody gather like its wedding time.

Elizabeth: Right.

Geeta: So that has more traditional patterns. Sometimes even there’s a picture of bride and groom or some of our religious stasis like you try to represent them with some emblems and all so that’s especially for wedding. And any happy occasion, any celebration, changing of seasons like I told you weddings. If somebody is having a baby, birthdays like where is henna?

Elizabeth: Henna is a cherished and celebrated practice in several countries around the world. But perhaps the most prolific of them all is its practice in the Indian’s subcontinent. No Indian bride deprives themselves of a glorious henna night before her wedding. With the women of the family gather and have exquisite henna applied on their palms by talented henna artist like Geeta.

Henna is derived from the plant Lawsonia inermis with produces a burgundy dye molecule when it bonds with protein. It has hence been used to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather, silk and wool. Henna has been around for many millennia. It even appears under the name kampfere in the book Song of Solomon in the King James Version of the Bible.

Coming from India, do you feel it’s important to carry on the tradition of henna?

Geeta: I think it is. It’s a very nice tradition or with the time that I think there's so many traditions come and go. But I think henna has stayed around forever now.

Elizabeth: And I think probably with the popularity of Bollywood and movies. We’re seeing a lot more henna and then of course, we have the tattoos that we’re all seeing a lot more tattoos. The two were combining probably like in a very nice way.

The leaves of the henna plant are dried and powdered. Sometimes dried tea leaves are added to the mixture to make the dye more potent. A paste consistency is made by gradually adding water. The paste is then filled into plastic cones with varying tip diameters. This regulates the flow of the henna through the plastic cone.

Common themes often include traditional geometric designs, flowers and intricate filling row patterns. Here Geeta demonstrates a traditional bridal design. A few hours after the henna is applied, the dried paste can be washed off and what remains is the bright orange pattern of the dye decorating the palm.

Okay, Geeta so you’re going to be giving us a little henna demonstration. But before that, we have all the ingredients in this box here, right?

Geeta: Yes, I do. That’s my magic box.

Elizabeth: It’s beautiful by the way, very intricate.

Geeta: All right. So first, I’ll show you. This is the henna cone. So now we kind of just to make simple, we have it in the cone, so it’s to—it’s like…

Elizabeth: Icing of the

Geeta: Frosting Yeah.

Elizabeth: That’s exactly what it looks like and it’s filled with the henna.

Geeta: It’s filled with the henna. Another important thing is there's a box of -- this has the blend of some lime juice and sugar that is applied to the henna after it’s applied to the hand.

Elizabeth: So sugar and lemon. And what does that do?

Geeta: It kind of covers it so stays. It sticks well to the hands.

Elizabeth: It’s like a preservative.

Geeta: Like a preservative, you can say. And sugar kind of it helps you brighten the color. It gives a deeper color.

Elizabeth: Very nice. All right, so there's not too much as far as ingredients now. We just need a set of hands for this demonstration. So let's get started.

It was time for my first lesson. Geeta agreed to teach me a simple mango design which is perhaps one of the most celebrated Indian patterns.

Okay, Geeta so we just saw you do a fabulous demonstration of the most “ink-tricate” of hennas. And now you're going to teach me how to do a traditional design.

Geeta: A traditional design. I think we’ll do a mango which we just showed in the demonstration.

Elizabeth: Right, all right.

Geeta: And what we do is -- let's say we have to imagine the design where it’s going to start from.

Elizabeth: Yes, so you never do any sort of free drawing.

Geeta: No, there's no drawing. This is just an imagination where the design is going to go.

Elizabeth: That’s a run. Mine kinds of look likes a whale.

Geeta: I do the whale.

Elizabeth: Alright, you’re really makes it look easy but then when I go to duplicate it, it’s like impossible. So what do you think?

Geeta: It looks beautiful.

Elizabeth: Not bad.

Geeta: Not bad at all.

Elizabeth: It just feels cold. It doesn’t feel like anything. It doesn’t tickle. It doesn’t hurt. That’s really cool. And you would typically go all the way up to fingers like we saw with that demonstration.

Geeta: Yes, you can just let your imagination run and take it wherever you want.

Elizabeth: There's no boundaries. Geeta exemplifies the essence of the American melting pot. She brings her own Indian traditions of henna to the American mainstream redefining the art of tattooing. With the healthier non-permanent alternative that is the very symbol of happiness. Geeta decorates each palm with themes and patterns from her home country perpetuating a glorious old tradition.