Do I have to all the way to Portugal for this??
February 17, 2008 2:05 AM 
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Where in Los Angeles can I go to get black henna done on my hands?
This is a complicated question for several reasons:
Firstly: I got my
original black henna done in Portugal, at this crazy little stand in Lagos. Everyone I met after I got it done presumed I'd been to Africa, which I hadn't, so there might be something particularly African about the style I got.
Secondly: Yes, I've read the
insistently-
opposed AskMeFi threads and google
results about black henna. But, there's a little blurb about how henna can look black in certain circumstances (
"Heat and the addition of essential oils such as Tea Tree oil are the safest and most effective darkeners of henna. These may make nearly black stains on hands, but on the rest of the body, the stains will be brown") that gives me a little hope. Maybe that was what they did to mine, though it seems unlikely because the henna-esque stuff used on my hands was definitely black (AFTER the peel) and definitely not dangerous to my health.
So, where (if anywhere) can I go in Los Angeles to duplicate the effect?
(I'm aware of the kits on the Internet, but I'm afraid my level of skill doesn't quite match up, so specifically, I want places/people that can do it for me)
I was toying with the idea of getting a tat for a while and decided to go for a black henna version of the tat whilst making up my mind. I found a guy on the boardwalk who did the tat for me every couple of weeks. You shouldn't have any trouble finding someone who can do the same. A friend of mine used to go to someone else on the boardwalk for what you're doing and she never had problems either finding someone to do the work (or with the henna itself).
By the way, given there's frost on the ground where I am now, I'm not even a tiny bit envious of you being down by the beach, sun shining, getting a henna tat and relaxing... no not a bit! ;)
posted by Grrlscout at 3:48 AM on February 17