September 9th: Mehndi

“We’ll do it tomorrow” came a couple of weeks ago. I finally started mehndi lessons. I didn't mention it, because I wanted to wait until I had pictures. And huzzah! I do! Up until this point, I have been sketching in a sketchbook the different shapes that are used in mehndi and how to properly make them on paper. But today I got to apply my first design on my hand.

My host mom said it's pretty good for the first time...

And then, I applied my first actual one on my host mama, who was very patient with me. Professional mehdni girls freestyle and are done within 15 minutes. It took me more than an hour...

That’s all. It’s exciting. You have the mehdni paste in a cake frosting type cone, and then you put the designs on the skin. It dries, and then you take up the dry bits, and then poof! Your skin is stained! At first it's orange, but then it turns dark brown. They said that the darker your mehdni is, the more your husband loves you, so that's cute.

Yeeeee.