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"It was very strange, I did not understand what was happening, I had never heard of black henna
." The British Mary Bates was lying on the beach in Turkey in 2015, when a woman she asked him if he wanted to get a henna tattoo.
He had never done it before but he liked the drawings and decided to make a dream catcher on his ankle. He was then 16 years old.
"At the time, something was starting to go wrong," he recalls in his remarks about the BBC 3 program.
"All the lines were starting to get up and it was getting worse. the days began to ooze and large pieces of skin fell. "
What Mary was experiencing was an allergic reaction to the so-called" black henna ": a potentially toxic variety of this natural and temporary dye It is traditionally used in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa to decorate the skin, especially before the celebration of a wedding, or to dye the hair or paint the nails.
What local artists promise is a tattoo that will disappear naturally in a few weeks
But unlike what happens with natural henna which is brown and made entirely with plant ingredients, black variety contains a large amount of a chemical called paraphenylenediamine or PPD.
This product is for example in hair dyes, but in the case of black henna it can be in high concentration.
A dragon forever
The use of black henna has proliferated in very touristy places, especially in North Africa
While anyone who gets tattooed with black henna do not react the risk is so great that in the European Union, it is forbidden to put high concentrations of PPD on the skin.
Mary, now 19, received treatment with steroids and a honey-based gel, but she had to go to the hospital once. the week for more than a month before his ankle is healed.
The doctors themselves thought that they would be left with marks for life but fortunately Mary said that they were missing her.
She is one of the most fortunate.
Alex, the son of Kelly Hutton, another Briton, had a problem similar to that of Mary but in his case the scars still cover a large part of his arm
The boy was 7 years old when they are gone. holiday in Morocco last October. When two women approached them on the beach and offered them tattoos, Kelly did not suspect anything since he had already had henna experience.
"He wanted to get the biggest tattoo on his arm and ask for a tattoo. Huge drawing of a dragon ".
Kelly then had no idea of the difference between black henna and natural henna.
The child did not have a bad reaction immediately. That happened a week and a half later, when they had gone home, when in the middle of the night he got up to scratch his arm
" His skin had started to raise in exactly the same way. It was like the dragon that had been tattooed on his arm and he kept biting it, "tells the mother to the BBC
" We took him to the doctor, who gave us a cream with steroids. "
the cream finally worked and stopped itching, but the black henna left a scar on his arm which, 8 months later, still has not disappeared." [19659018] 69% permanent scars
26-year-old Deena Stevens did the same in the United Arab Emirates a year and a half ago
When he saw a short time after receiving the tattoo that he was black henna, he washed his hand as soon as possible. six days, he had no reaction and thought that he had escaped a reaction, but the week was he woke up at dawn with a great itch .
Despite scarring scars and steroids that still have marks on the hand.
According to dermatologist Anjali Mahto, scars are common with black henna, but whether they are important and permanent or not depends on the initial reaction.
Several studies have confirmed that at least [19659049] s 69% of people will suffer from a reaction to black henna if they leave it on the skin for 120 minutes or more, this which is common when it is applied as a temporary tattoo.
"If you have a lot of inflammation and blisters, you could have permanent scars."
How to distinguish natural henna from black
The henna artist Ash Kumar, whose designs can be enjoyed in Bollywood music videos and movies, is one of the most active voices against black henna.
Ash Kumar explains that now people are afraid to get any type of henna tattoo for the fear of having a reaction but insists that black henna and the "impostor"
"True henna is totally safe, was used for thousands of years ," he says.
"It is made with ingredients derived from plants, such as eucalyptus, which help cool the skin"
"Traditionally, it's done for therapeutic reasons, to calm the bride and Help him to relax, which is why Hindus, Muslims, those of the Sikh religion and some Jewish communities If you have a good product it is very good, "says the artist .
According to the artist, natural henna has a very distinctive scent while henna normally not black
"Natural henna is a brown paste that gives a smell of" natural "henna. eucalyptus or clove, similar to Vicks Vaporub, if you know it, but the black henna paste is odorless or can smell a little paraffin Does not have a pleasant smell ", at- he describes.
He also warns that this henna never marks the skin immediately, but gradually over several days, which can be an early warning signal.
"If they offer you a temporary henna tattoo on vacation, ask them ] if the color is instant.So they say yes, flee " recommends
Read the original article in English by BBC Three at this link .
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