Henna and White Ink Tattoos

My hometown is always busy with various festivals throughout the summer, and I make it my goal to attend each and every one of them. Not only to get out of the house and see old friends, but to eat oriental food and to spend money on unique jewellery and temporary tattoos.

This year is the first year I’ve ever gotten henna – only because I thought the designs I wanted were too expensive and I didn’t want to deal with my parents' opinions on tattoos. Although we all comprehend that henna is not a real tattoo, they believe that once I will get tired of temporary tattoos, I’ll want to get real ones later in life. Similarly on how many individuals believe that marijuana is a gateway drug to other more dangerous drugs. I am old enough to make personal decisions, but as long as I live under their roof, I don’t want to do something that will instigate arguments daily.

I do love tattoos and I definitely don’t have my parents’ beliefs about them most likely because I am born in a different generation. My generation is filled with billions of people who have beautiful symbolic and non-symbolic tattoos, who turn tattoos into art and a form of expression. The reason I’m not getting a tattoo anytime soon is because more or less they are permanent and I’m not exactly sure what symbol I want to permanently inscribe on my body.

I’ve heard and read many stories of tattooed people who are minding their own business and strangers invade their privacy by asking for the meaning behind their tattoos. I’m assuming at first it must be nice to receive interest in ones life, but after a while it must get exhausting. Kind of like how a celebrity goes grocery shopping or has romantic dinners with their significant other and they are constantly being interrupted by fans.

The above reason and the fact that most employers do not consider tattoos to look professional is a reason I would want to get a “mystery” tattoo. One that only I or my partner would see (and probably the public when I will post it on Instagram). And don't even think I’m talking about the Donald Duck tattoo where he’s “mowing the lawn” on the pubic mound.

Most recently I’ve wanted a tattoo on my finger or on the side of my breast. One idea I got from Pinterest is a white-ink tattoo of a bird on the side of the breast, or a light-coloured tattoo that would hide beneath my bikini bottom (mystery no more I guess). The latter is for the well-known concept that UV light discolours and blurs out tattoos. So far, no Pinterest tattoo motivated me enough to get one because I have no emotional attachment to those symbols. Back to temporary henna, I guess…

Once my henna tattoo was done, I was in love with it. Not the design as much, but having something temporarily permanent on my body. It gave me ideas of purchasing my own henna and designing my own art, but there was one problem. Where and how do I make henna? I know there’s pre-made boxes available at Walmart or Michael’s, but shelf-stored henna will lose its dye strength over time. And to make henna from scratch using henna powder and essential oils? Well, I need to do more research on which online/local store carries reputable henna powders (so much work to do for such a lazy person…).

And what about white henna? Well, that isn’t actually henna, it’s just Pros Aide, an adhesive for medical purposes, cosmetics, and prosthetics for special effects, mixed with white paint. It never stains your hand as brown henna does and it is quite waterproof, but it will look like a gel sticker you applied on windows as a little kid. But I can’t get any Pros Aide locally, and it is so costly to purchase online that I reconsidered my obsession with white-ink tattoos.

I visited my local tattoo parlour and inquired about white-ink tattoos, only to find to my surprise that they don’t offer white-ink tattoos. Tattoo artists more commonly use white ink to give the perception of 3D in a tattoo or to highlight certain areas. Furthermore white ink is very thick unlike black ink, which would make outlining a minimalistic tattoo very difficult – basically the lines wouldn’t be as crisp. Finally, white-ink tattoos fade away much more quickly than dark-ink tattoos (just Google before and after pictures of white-ink tattoos), so it would get quite expensive to constantly have the white-ink tattoo touched up. Even though I asked for dark green/blue tattoos, the tattoo parlour* I visited will pretty much not use any colour except for black (boo!).

Note* This tattooing company is well known and popular in my town.

My next question was how much would it cost to get a minimalistic tattoo on my finger, and to my surprise yet again, they told me they don’t tattoo any sensitive areas unless another part of my body has a tattoo. I understand the area is very sensitive and I may make the life of a tattoo artist more difficult, but come on! What if I never want to get a tattoo anywhere else on my body, would you deny me paying you however much money you want to get a white-ink tattoo on my finger?

So, home I went, bummed, but kind of glad that a white-ink tattoo on my finger would never work in my hometown. I’ll just have to wait until something is symbolic enough to be permanently inked in black on my body. But the thought of getting a permanent tattoo and it turning out to be temporary is motivating me even further to find a tattoo artist who is willing to give me a white-ink tattoo.

Do you guys have any tattoos that mean the world to you, or funny stories of how you got a tattoo? Comment below and let me know!

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