Henna business increases during Eid

JEDDAH: Henna enhances the beauty of women and is used during special occasions such as engagements, weddings and during Eid.
Beauty salons and home-based henna artists have been active with customers getting decorated with the chemical-free henna designs for Eid Al-Fitr. This year marked one of the busiest times of the year for beauty salons during the end of Ramadan as women line up for treatment and particularly for henna. Moreover, it brought a lift to local enterprising women and their henna businesses.
Sara Ahmed, a local home-based henna artist, started out painting with henna as a hobby and began growing a business through social media. She said, “This time I have special designs such as Khaleeji, Arabic and Indian ones set for women and girls. Since henna is considered a basic element for women’s make-up during festive occasions, appointments have increased 50 percent in the last three days, compared to normal days, and the charges for each hand range between SR40 and SR80.”
She receives almost 20-30 customers per day and spends almost 15 minutes on each hand. Commenting on the business, she said, “Henna artists do not require a lengthy training period, and accreditation is not necessary. One needs to acquire the basic knowledge and skills to apply henna before plunging into a henna business.”
Most henna artists have started using black and white henna, besides using the natural henna, which is a reddish-brown color.
Haifa Ali, who works at a local salon as a henna artist said, “There is a new trend of white henna these days. It is not made of traditional ingredients. Instead, it is made up of medical adhesives mixed with water and acrylic-based pigment. Since this is not real henna, but a temporary piece of body art that lasts between one and three days, the majority of the customers for white henna are girls. This has turned not only into a fashion these days but also to avoid the pungent smell of traditional henna.”
Most of the salons have been fully booked and same is true for home-based artists who are receiving calls every few minutes hoping for an appointment. The salons have hired extra henna designers to meet the demand of customers. The salons are fully booked till night time and there is little chance of getting an appointments during the last two days in Ramadan, before Eid.
Residents spending a long time in queue call the wait worthwhile. Commenting on it, Kulsum Rahim, a housewife said, “It’s very traditional and I can think of no festival without henna. The trend seems to lean toward more traditional henna and intricate designs. Although it gets quite late, we patiently wait for the artist to apply it on us.”