Never ever get black henna. Like, ever.

Soooo I guess this is kind of old news. If you follow me on Twitter you basically know the whole story of me getting black henna and how much I whine about getting blisters from it. But in case you didn't know, let me tell the whole story from the beginning. 

Warning: Graphic pictures ahead. Proceed with caution! MWAHAHHA. (No, seriously).

February 23, 2013
I followed this Muslim couple (whom I met at the mosque here) with their cute daughter (who is less than one year old I think) to downtown Minneapolis, where they get their supply of halal meat every 2 weeks or so. The woman's name is Ashley, and she converted to Islam about... 4  or 5 years ago. I really admire how strict she follows the Islamic rules and how she takes classes to learn how to read the Quran and all that. She's also part of the mosque's committee.

But anyway. We went to this Somali-American mall/community and we basically stood out like a sore thumb because we were the only non-Somalian there. I mean maybe there were others but let's just say we were the 0.1 percent. Ashley has been there before so she knows the way. We ate lunch (ALHAMDULILLAH HALAL MEAT!) and we explored the place a little and decided to get black henna. There were a lot of shops offering it, basically signs everywhere. We chose this salon Ashley has been before (note: his husband went off to have the car fixed or something. Typical of guys escaping girls' shopping har har).

So I Instagrammed this picture when I got back:

And a lot of people Liked it! :) I mean, it WAS pretty. I couldn't stop looking at it myself lolz. I got a few compliments from the people here as well. One of my friends thought I drew it with a Sharpie! Hahah. It was jet black so I could see where she was coming from. I paid $5 for it, which is not that bad I guess.
(The smudgy part at the end was not my fault! This little kid was talking to me and she wanted to borrow my iPod and she accidentally smudged it.. sigh. Oh well).

A few days after that, Ashley called me to inform that she has some blisters under her henna and was checking to see if I have the same reaction. I thoroughly checked my hand and saw nothing. 

March 7, 2013

I remember the exact date because it was the night of International Cultural Night (which was SO much fun!).
It was that night where I started to see red bumps under my skin. TWO WEEKS after I got the henna! Which was pretty weird, the reaction was so delayed. It got increasingly itchy and before I know it..

Lol oops sorry if this is a tad bit graphic. It gets worse.

 So now all the henna is gone, leaving the red blisters in all its glory ^_

All together now: EWWWWWGGGGHHHHH.

Yes. It was itchy and flaming red. The first night it happened, I woke up every 2 hours to reapply lotions on it. I even put some ice in a bag and pressed on the blister because when it's itchy, it gets hot. As in the temperature of my skin on that blister was probably 5 degrees higher than the rest of my skin. The back of my palm was also SWOLLEN, don't know if you can tell from the picture but I could not bend my wrist! I'm glad I got it on my left hand though, so at least I could still write using my right hand.

I Googled about black henna and sure enough, it's actually pretty common for people to have this kind of reaction. Apparently there's some dangerous chemical/dye called PPD in the henna because henna is not supposed to be black.

It was painful too! I've definitely cried a few times, sigh. One of my friends saw what happened to the henna and she said "well it's the most beautiful blister I've ever seen." HAHA WEEEELL not exactly what I was aiming for but that was very sweet of her.
Interestingly, the blister followed the exact pattern of the henna. The skin around it was not affected AT ALL. 

Creamsicle!

That was the eczema cream that I had. It healed the itchiness a little, but I have to keep reapplying the cream every 2 hours or so. I decided to go to the doctor at health services here on campus (I hesitated a little because the doctors here have probably never seen or heard of such case!). The health services on campus is free, as in they analyze it free of charge but you'll have to buy any medication needed yourself. Outside the clinic. Which was a bit of a hassle!

The doctor was actually pretty good. She obviously has never seen such blister from henna before but she prescribed me 2 medications, one is a 'mild' cream and the other one is stronger. I went to Walmart pharmacy to get the strong medicine right away but idk they said the amount of cream is wrong or whatever GOOD LORD I was so pissed. I was in pain and I just wanted anything to soothe it T_T It was still winter here in Wisconsin so I had to wear my winter jacket and when it brushed against my sleeve, it becomes itchy! :( Not to mention when I shower (I like taking scalding hot shower) so when the hot water hits the blisters, it was so, so painful. I had to put my left hand on the wall while washing the rest of my body with my right hand.

So I decided whatever I guess I'll get the 'mild' one for now. 

But nope it did nothing! My eczema cream was better by comparison. So then the next day, I've had enough and decided to walk to Shopko; it's sort of like Walmart except 20 times more expensive, for real. I banned Shopko except in the case of life and death and IT WAS. I mean I was not gonna die from this henna but it felt like it lol jk but seriously.

So I got this medicine in a small tube for $10. Alhamdulillah, the cream was pure magic!

Literally, Severus Snape brewed it. Even after the first application, I could feel the difference. I applied it twice a day without failing and after a week, I could feel the itchiness gone almost entirely, and the red bumps were still there but not as 'bumpy'. After the second week (which I spent in Florida aww yea) it was basically healed :) So if you are reading this, somehow already affected by black henna, ask your doctor to prescribe you the triamcinolon 0.1% cream because it worked wonders on me.

I know Ashley told me her doctor had to prescribe her multiple creams and antibiotics. Maybe her case was more severe, or her doctor just didn't know about triamcinolon because when I mentioned that name to her she's not familiar with it. So.. yeah. 

May 5, 2013

So here's how it looks today (literally I just took this photo few minutes ago), more than TWO MONTHS after I got the henna:

Yep, the marks are still there. But it's not itchy or painful or anything. I don't think it has faded ever since it was healed. 
I've had a couple of people still mistaken it for henna and if I feel like explaining, I would say 'oh it used to be henna but then I got allergic reaction to it, this is basically the scar from it'. If not I'll just say thank you. I don't even know if it's gonna go away anytime soon, but as long as it's not interrupting me in my daily activities, I'm good. It kinda made me wish I've gotten something cooler, like the Harry Potter hallows sign rather than this random flowers if I knew it's gonna stick around :P

Sidenote: After the mall we went to have dinner at this halal restaurant and it was THE. BEST. CHEESEBURGER. I. HAVE. EVER. HAD. It was basically like BigMac, but 10 times better!!! Man, looking at this now is making me hungry.

I didn't buy a lot of things but I did get some halal hotdogs. The closest 'real' meat I could get! I could buy beef or chicken but I don't know how to cook anything with it and I don't have any space in the fridge to put it, so.


Also, this is Ashley's daughter, Safiya. She's really cute!!! And she didn't cry when I fed her, unlike all other babies I came in contact with so she's awesome.

So that's all folks. It was a lesson learned. I know some black henna IS safe, but I would never do it again because the effect was hell for just a temporary thing. In fact when I was in pain with the blister in its prime I felt like I won't even want to have henna on my wedding day!



TWO WEEKS TILL I COME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO CLOSE I CAN ALMOST TASTE THE NASI LEMAK IN MY MOUTH.