Henna is NOT Black and does not cause blisters and open sores.
There are several products marketed as "Black Henna", some of which is harmless but others are very dangerous
PPD (Para-Phenylenediamine), black hair dye CAN cause blisters and sores.
When PPD is used to make black temporary tattoos, often called "black henna", it can cause blistering, open sores,scarring, and lifelong health problems.
PPD should never be used directly on skin in plain format or mixed with another product. It is illegal to put synthetic Black Hair Dye on your skin because thats not what it has been approved for.
Para-Phenylenediamine is a strong sensitizer. A sensitizer is something that your body is naturally allergic to, or may become allergic to. Some people are born sensitive to PPD. Others become sensitive to PPD. If you become sensitized to PPD, that allergy will never go away and you may become cross-sensitized to many related things. That means other similar things may set off an allergic reaction and make you sick. Hair dye, sun block, cosmetics, even black clothing, may cause an outbreak of itching and hives.
Why Do People Use Black Hair Dye To Make Body Art Instead Of Safe Henna?
1. Its Cheap
Black Hair Dye can be purchased from any beauty store at a low cost. If purchased off the internet, it can be repackaged and mixed to be sold as "Black Henna".
2. Easy To Mix And Apply
To make normal henna for tattooing takes time and patience to learn to do beautifully. With Black Hair Dye you just mix it with water and use. It easily stains your skin giving you a nice looking tattoo.
3. Big Profits
Because Black Hair Dye is cheap to buy and prepare to use as a dye for tattooing a street artist can make thousands of dollars a day from just 1 packet of black dye that may have cost under $10.
4. PPD "Black Henna" looks like a Tattoo
People want something that looks like a tattoo. At first, PPD "black henna" may look like a tattoo. Later, there may be itching, blisters, open sores and scarring.
How Can You Tell If The Henna Artist is Using Safe Henna For Tattooing
1. Does it Smell
Traditional henna paste smells like spinach, or you may smell fragrances like Pine, Tea Tree Oil, or Mentholatum from essential oils they're using. PPD doesn't have a smell.
2. What's The color
Traditional safe henna paste is khaki green, greenish brown, or very dark brownish green. If the stuff they are using is jet black, stains the skin quickly it's probably PPD based black hair dye.
3. Ask The Henna Artist whats in the mix
They should say something on the lines of essential oils, lemon juice henna powder. You should be able to smell them, this is a very sure sign that the henna is safe and not black dye.
4. Ask them how long the stain will last.
PPD "Black Henna" stains typically last more than a week and stay black throughout that time. Henna stains last 1 - 3 weeks, fading to orange during that period. There are some safe body art products, such as body paints, that come in black, but they don't last longer than 3 days. If it's black and long lasting, it's probably PPD "Black Henna"!
5. Ask them what color the stain will be when the paste comes off.
If they say it will leave a orange stain that will darken to red brown or dark brown, but will not be black when the paste flakes off, then it is henna. If they tell you the stain will be BLACK when the paste comes off and that it will stay black, they're using PPD
There are some black body art products that may be safe and do not contain PPD.
Ask to see the ingredient list! If the artist cannot supply a complete ingredient list, don't let them put it on your skin! If you don't like what you see in the ingredient list, don't put it on your skin.
Sniff it. If it smells vile, don't put it on your skin.
The safer black body art products only last a few days at most. Ask the artist how long the design will last.If the answer is "Not more than 3 days" the body art product may be safe.
About the Author
Nita is a professional Henna Artist, Urban Henna. who has practised the beautiful art of henna for a number of years. She not only does henna for brides but also for special occassions.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Five Must-Knows When Getting a Kanji Tattoo
Q: What do famous celebrities like Pink, Britney Spears and the Spice Girlsf Mel C all have in common?
A: They all have Japanese tattoos!
Japanese tattoos are cool. Of course, if you have money to burn like any of these ladies, you can afford to hire a professional translator to pick out the perfect character combination. But if personal translation is out of your league how can you avoid becoming a kanji fashion victim and get stuck with a tattoo you will really regret?
1. Know the difference – hiragana, katakana and kanji
Before you talk to your tattoo artist, make sure you know what you are talking about. You say you want a Japanese tattoo, but what do you know about Japanese characters? You need a quick stint in 2-minute Japanese boot camp.
First off, letfs be clear that there is no Japanese galphabeth. There are three sets of Japanese characters – hiragana, katakana and kanji – and each group has its own history, function and style. Get your head around these facts and you will already know more than 99% of the people walking around with Japanese tattoos right now:
Hiragana:
These simple, rounded characters represent sounds, but have no independent meaning. They were developed by women in the Heian period and are still considered feminine by Japanese people.
Katakana:
Developed by Buddhist monks around the same time as hiragana, these are simple, angular characters that also represent sounds and have no meaning of their own. You saw them cascading down the screen in Matrix (although they were backwards!)
Kanji:
Originally from China, these characters are like pictures, representing a meaning and also several different sounds depending on the situation.
Just reading this has probably given you an idea of which style you might like for your tattoo – but donft stop just yet! Now you know what kinds of Japanese characters there are, letfs move on to...
2. Writing styles
Come a bit closer. Lean forward towards the screen. Thatfs right. Now, look at the words in front of you. Take a good, close look at the shapes of these letters. OK? Now tell me honestly: Would you want a tattoo in Times New Roman? How about Tahoma? Whatfs that? You donft want a tattoo by Canon or Epson? Sure you donft. And in the same way, you donft want to have your Japanese tattoo looking like a printout either!
So, now we move on to writing styles. Just like there are three kinds of Japanese characters, there are also three ways they can be written. Donft worry. This is easy! I know, you are thinking that you canft even read Japanese, so how on earth will you be able to recognize these different styles?
Well, try this:
Kaisho
Block letters. You learned to write your ABCs like this, and Japanese kids learn to write their characters in just the same way: Like a Volvo – boxy but good.
Gyousho
Cursive letters. You moved up to middle school and learned you could write faster by letting the parts of some letters flow into the next. Yes, you guessed it - the Japanese do the same thing, and they call it gyousho.
Sousho
Super-cursive letters. Ever seen a prescription from a doctor? Then you know what sousho is like in Japanese: Sure, the writer or some other trained person can (probably) read it, but no one else has a clue what it says!
Are you getting the picture? If you want to look like a computer printout, then be my guest and go for the kaisho style. Thatfs your choice. But I think you probably want to use either gyousho or sousho for your tattoo. My personal preference would be gyousho: Itfs stylish, but it wonft leave even native speakers baffled.
3. Real or fake?
Remember I mentioned Mel C at the beginning? Well guess what kanji she got tattooed on her arm? Thatfs right – gGirl Powerh: Great in English, but show this kanji combincation to most Japanese people and youfll get a blank look at best. Want a worse example? Try gbig daddyh. Now, you know what it means in English, but put it into kanji and you end up with glarge fatherh! It just doesnft work.
I'm sure you remember that kanji are the only characters that have meaning as well as sound. And their beauty means that they are what most people want for their tattoos. But watch out: As well as being popular, they can also be the most dangerous!
Letfs see if we can find a pattern here: Look carefully at the examples above. What are they communicating - concrete concepts or abstract ideas? Can you see the difficulty the translators had? The kanji for gdragonh, gsamuraih, gloveh or any other concrete ideas are pretty easy to discover. But go for anything with an idiomatic meaning and whoever is trying to help you translate it is going to get a major headache!
Just an idea, but how about this suggestion: Rather than trying to force a round English peg into a square Japanese hole, why not find a real Japanese phrase that you like and get that instead? Bushidou (the Way of the Warrior) and Ninjutsu (The Art of Stealth) are two good examples of real Japanese terms that would make great tattoos.
4. Your name in Japanese
As Ifm sure you remember from 2-minute Japanese boot camp, katakana are the characters usually used to write foreign words and names. So, if you want to get a tattoo of your name, technically these would be the characters you would choose. But I am guessing that, like most people, you want your name written in kanji.
Do a quick search on Google and you can find a number of sites that specialize in translating names into kanji. Basically there are two different methods that these sites use, so letfs look at them here.
Translating the meaning: This method involves finding out the original meaning of the English name, and then researching the kanji equivalent.
For example, my name has its origins in Greek and means gcrowned oneh. The one who is crowned is the king, so I could translate my name into the kanji for king and call myself ohsama. (Perhaps a little pretentious – and disturbingly similar to Mr. Bin Ladenfs first name!)
Translating the sound: This is a lot more difficult! Flick through a dictionary and you will find a bunch of kanji that can be combined to sound like your name. But sound isnft everything: Remember that kanji have meaning as well. In fact, it is even more complex than this! Be sure to check each of the following factors with anyone who translates your name like using this method:
1. Sound: Does it sound like your name or not? I have seen my name gtranslatedh on certain websites to sound like Stefan. Shame my name (Stephen) is actually said the same as Steven!
2. On-yomi and kun-yomi: Yes, more technical words! But donft panic – they are easy to understand: Basically, kanji have two kinds of reading. One kind, on-yomi, is their original Chinese sound. The other, kun-yomi, is their Japanese-only sound. What to watch is that (like oil and water) on-yomi and kun-yomi donft mix. Use either all on-yomi reading or all kun-yomi readings to make the sound of your name.
3. Meaning: Do the kanji have a good meaning together? Now, it can be very difficult to find kanji that sound right and have a good meaning, so you may need to compromise a little on one of these.
4. Masculine or feminine: I guess this is more like a sub-category of meaning, but it is something you need to check out to avoid embarrassment. For example, while gAsian Beautyh may be a great combination for a woman, I get the feeling most men would not be too happy about having that permanently written into their skin!
5. If in doubt, check!
First, use your new-found knowledge of Japanese to ask a few difficult questions to your tattoo artist or kanji gspecialisth. If you get the feeling they donft know what they are talking about, you probably want to look elsewhere.
Next, before you get anything permanent done, use an online dictionary (like the one at http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict) to check whether the Japanese really means what you want it to. You may not be able to input Japanese yourself, but you can copy and paste characters from an email or web page and see what they mean.
Finally, if you are lucky enough to know any, ask a Japanese person what they think. Their confused expression may tell you that you have come up with another gbig daddyh!
Follow this advice and you will avoid the most dangerous pitfalls of Japanese tattoos and get a kanji tattoo you can be proud of.
About the Author
Stephen Munday lives in Japan and is the creator of http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/where you can download images of over 2,200 names in kanji or have a unique phrase translated into Japanese for a tattoo.
A: They all have Japanese tattoos!
Japanese tattoos are cool. Of course, if you have money to burn like any of these ladies, you can afford to hire a professional translator to pick out the perfect character combination. But if personal translation is out of your league how can you avoid becoming a kanji fashion victim and get stuck with a tattoo you will really regret?
1. Know the difference – hiragana, katakana and kanji
Before you talk to your tattoo artist, make sure you know what you are talking about. You say you want a Japanese tattoo, but what do you know about Japanese characters? You need a quick stint in 2-minute Japanese boot camp.
First off, letfs be clear that there is no Japanese galphabeth. There are three sets of Japanese characters – hiragana, katakana and kanji – and each group has its own history, function and style. Get your head around these facts and you will already know more than 99% of the people walking around with Japanese tattoos right now:
Hiragana:
These simple, rounded characters represent sounds, but have no independent meaning. They were developed by women in the Heian period and are still considered feminine by Japanese people.
Katakana:
Developed by Buddhist monks around the same time as hiragana, these are simple, angular characters that also represent sounds and have no meaning of their own. You saw them cascading down the screen in Matrix (although they were backwards!)
Kanji:
Originally from China, these characters are like pictures, representing a meaning and also several different sounds depending on the situation.
Just reading this has probably given you an idea of which style you might like for your tattoo – but donft stop just yet! Now you know what kinds of Japanese characters there are, letfs move on to...
2. Writing styles
Come a bit closer. Lean forward towards the screen. Thatfs right. Now, look at the words in front of you. Take a good, close look at the shapes of these letters. OK? Now tell me honestly: Would you want a tattoo in Times New Roman? How about Tahoma? Whatfs that? You donft want a tattoo by Canon or Epson? Sure you donft. And in the same way, you donft want to have your Japanese tattoo looking like a printout either!
So, now we move on to writing styles. Just like there are three kinds of Japanese characters, there are also three ways they can be written. Donft worry. This is easy! I know, you are thinking that you canft even read Japanese, so how on earth will you be able to recognize these different styles?
Well, try this:
Kaisho
Block letters. You learned to write your ABCs like this, and Japanese kids learn to write their characters in just the same way: Like a Volvo – boxy but good.
Gyousho
Cursive letters. You moved up to middle school and learned you could write faster by letting the parts of some letters flow into the next. Yes, you guessed it - the Japanese do the same thing, and they call it gyousho.
Sousho
Super-cursive letters. Ever seen a prescription from a doctor? Then you know what sousho is like in Japanese: Sure, the writer or some other trained person can (probably) read it, but no one else has a clue what it says!
Are you getting the picture? If you want to look like a computer printout, then be my guest and go for the kaisho style. Thatfs your choice. But I think you probably want to use either gyousho or sousho for your tattoo. My personal preference would be gyousho: Itfs stylish, but it wonft leave even native speakers baffled.
3. Real or fake?
Remember I mentioned Mel C at the beginning? Well guess what kanji she got tattooed on her arm? Thatfs right – gGirl Powerh: Great in English, but show this kanji combincation to most Japanese people and youfll get a blank look at best. Want a worse example? Try gbig daddyh. Now, you know what it means in English, but put it into kanji and you end up with glarge fatherh! It just doesnft work.
I'm sure you remember that kanji are the only characters that have meaning as well as sound. And their beauty means that they are what most people want for their tattoos. But watch out: As well as being popular, they can also be the most dangerous!
Letfs see if we can find a pattern here: Look carefully at the examples above. What are they communicating - concrete concepts or abstract ideas? Can you see the difficulty the translators had? The kanji for gdragonh, gsamuraih, gloveh or any other concrete ideas are pretty easy to discover. But go for anything with an idiomatic meaning and whoever is trying to help you translate it is going to get a major headache!
Just an idea, but how about this suggestion: Rather than trying to force a round English peg into a square Japanese hole, why not find a real Japanese phrase that you like and get that instead? Bushidou (the Way of the Warrior) and Ninjutsu (The Art of Stealth) are two good examples of real Japanese terms that would make great tattoos.
4. Your name in Japanese
As Ifm sure you remember from 2-minute Japanese boot camp, katakana are the characters usually used to write foreign words and names. So, if you want to get a tattoo of your name, technically these would be the characters you would choose. But I am guessing that, like most people, you want your name written in kanji.
Do a quick search on Google and you can find a number of sites that specialize in translating names into kanji. Basically there are two different methods that these sites use, so letfs look at them here.
Translating the meaning: This method involves finding out the original meaning of the English name, and then researching the kanji equivalent.
For example, my name has its origins in Greek and means gcrowned oneh. The one who is crowned is the king, so I could translate my name into the kanji for king and call myself ohsama. (Perhaps a little pretentious – and disturbingly similar to Mr. Bin Ladenfs first name!)
Translating the sound: This is a lot more difficult! Flick through a dictionary and you will find a bunch of kanji that can be combined to sound like your name. But sound isnft everything: Remember that kanji have meaning as well. In fact, it is even more complex than this! Be sure to check each of the following factors with anyone who translates your name like using this method:
1. Sound: Does it sound like your name or not? I have seen my name gtranslatedh on certain websites to sound like Stefan. Shame my name (Stephen) is actually said the same as Steven!
2. On-yomi and kun-yomi: Yes, more technical words! But donft panic – they are easy to understand: Basically, kanji have two kinds of reading. One kind, on-yomi, is their original Chinese sound. The other, kun-yomi, is their Japanese-only sound. What to watch is that (like oil and water) on-yomi and kun-yomi donft mix. Use either all on-yomi reading or all kun-yomi readings to make the sound of your name.
3. Meaning: Do the kanji have a good meaning together? Now, it can be very difficult to find kanji that sound right and have a good meaning, so you may need to compromise a little on one of these.
4. Masculine or feminine: I guess this is more like a sub-category of meaning, but it is something you need to check out to avoid embarrassment. For example, while gAsian Beautyh may be a great combination for a woman, I get the feeling most men would not be too happy about having that permanently written into their skin!
5. If in doubt, check!
First, use your new-found knowledge of Japanese to ask a few difficult questions to your tattoo artist or kanji gspecialisth. If you get the feeling they donft know what they are talking about, you probably want to look elsewhere.
Next, before you get anything permanent done, use an online dictionary (like the one at http://kanjidict.stc.cx/dict) to check whether the Japanese really means what you want it to. You may not be able to input Japanese yourself, but you can copy and paste characters from an email or web page and see what they mean.
Finally, if you are lucky enough to know any, ask a Japanese person what they think. Their confused expression may tell you that you have come up with another gbig daddyh!
Follow this advice and you will avoid the most dangerous pitfalls of Japanese tattoos and get a kanji tattoo you can be proud of.
About the Author
Stephen Munday lives in Japan and is the creator of http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/where you can download images of over 2,200 names in kanji or have a unique phrase translated into Japanese for a tattoo.
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