Re: And at the Southernmost Point.

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: : I was recently in Key West, Florida (90 miles to Cuba!) and there : : were about ten black death artists, and one natural, just plain red : : henna salon. The black death artists all had very similar designs, : : all inspired by modern tattoos. There were crowds of people around : : all of them. When I checked one of them out, there was a very : nervous : : and very leary woman sitting in the stool, trying to get up the : : courage to get one. I was with my parents (neither of them are : hardly : : enthused with henna) so I was too affraid to say anything, lest the : : phony scam artist call the police and say I was 'disturbing the : : peace'. I wanted to get talking to them, but they all looked like : : such grim and nasty people, I was frankly affraid of them. : : The one natural henna salon didn't get nearly as much bussines as : the : : black paste o' deathers. I think they were using Earth Henna. (I : : tried it once, it was crappy) They should have been using Kenzi's, : or : : Castle Art, or Jamila, or SOMETHING. They also did not pay much : : attention to detail. They were using Jaquard bottles and tips, but : : the ends of the tips (the little round part that determines the : : thickness of the line) had been sawed off! So, the result was a : vert : : thick line, which could only be varied by the ammount of pressure. : I : : started talking to one of them, asking if he ever used the uncut : : tips, and if he knew that he would be able to work more easily with : : them, but my mom quickly threw in a "SSSHHHHHH!!!!" I guess she : : thought I was being rude or something. This place looked like a : : tattoo parlor, with pattern sheets pasted all over the walls. I : even : : noticed one of Catherine's patterns, that lovely sunflower design : : from Henna From Head To Toe!. : : It was really awful having to restrain myself, especially when one : : black death artist said "It's perfectly safe, I use it on my : : children." I was tempted to scream "YOU ARE A TERRIBLE MOTHER! DO : YOU : : KNOW THAT YOU ARE SLOWLY KILLING YOUR CHILDREN AND YOURSELF!!!! : : WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM!!! jUST GO CRAWL UNDER A ROCK AND : : DISSAPEAR!!!!!!!" But since I was with my parents, and had nobody : to : : back me up, I didn't. My dad thinks that PPD is just a big joke, : and : : my mom thinks it's not as bad as it is. I wish I had a henna friend : : with me to back me up, but I didn't, so there was really nothing I : : could do. Jeez, I'm so glad I have you guys to talk to!!! : : ~Nick : : : : I have been silent for a few days because I was on vacation in : : Montreal, a city which should now be called the City of Black : Death. : : I saw quite a few henna artists there (probably 20 total) and every : : single one of them was using black henna. It was quite : incredible. : : And one thing that really struck me was the smell of black : henna...it : : was the usual wonderful smell of natural henna but mixed with that : : awful and unmistakable smell of hair dye/die. That might be : : something, Catherine, toadd to your list of things to look for when : : distinguishing black henna from natural henna. : : : I started checking out the henna artists while just walking : around : : town and right away some very familiar designs jumped out at me. : The : : ones I saw first were Liisa's beautiful brushwork designs (my fave : is : : the dolphin). One person had the whole gamut plus some that I : hadn't : : seen before. I saw a few other familiar designs, even a few of : mine, : : but usually ones that I had copied from elsewhere. : : : Catherine, one guy had, among his designs, printouts of all your : : desgins on your website! He saw me looking at them and said that I : : was looking at very ancient henna designs from his part of the : world : : (he was Iraqi). I said, in a friendly way, "I know the woman who : did : : these designs!" and he said, "that's impossible unless she lived : : 5,000 years ago!" ha ha ha! I know you always say how old you are : : Catherine, but you don't look a day over 4,500! : Nick I know,how you feel like!!!!! : About one month ago,in Vienna there was a very big : festival "Donauinselfest". : I did mehndi over there-there wer 3 other mehndi-artists too. : The one applied black mehndi-I asked him,whats in his past-he told me: : Ammonia,Ammoniak,HAIR DYE(just imagine!!!),henna,clove oil,Alkohol- : acid. : I WAS SHOCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : At the first day,about 200 to 300 folks went,to get a "black death"- : tattoo. : But the second,third and finally 4th day only 2-5 people came to him. : He asked me about my stuff,because I had a lot of clients. : I told him,what I used. : I gave him my number-he wants to learn the REAL stuff. : The first day,I saw him working on a child-with the "henna".I tried : to tell the childīs parents about this past-but they only laughed : about me. : 2 days later,the parents came back-their kid was in HOSPITAL!!!!!! : No joke!!!!! : And I found out also,that evryone(not me) was very expensiv!!!!!!! : Imagine:about 10$ for a single finger(bad,thick work) or : an "om"!!!!!!! : I was shocked!!!! : And the colour was very bad too. : I tried to tell my clients a lot about the art too-the other : hennaartists only wanted money!!!!!! : I gave my clients a garantie for good colour. : There was only one hennaartist,who was intrested in making her : clients happy-but she was VERYYYYY expansiv too!!!!!!! : So,Nick,donīt worry-we have to tell "outsiders" about the art and : abou the real stuff!!!!!!!!!! : Erfan

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