Henna puts a bit of color into women's lives

By Dewi Kurniawati

JAKARTA (JP): Don't be surprised when you take a peek at some women's nails here to find they are daubed with unusual colors -- orange, deep browns, black -- or an intricate design covers their hands.

It may not be the latest range of zany nail polish, but traditional pacar muslim or Inai, a reddish brown dye obtained from leaves of the henna plant and traditionally used in wedding ceremonies.

Syifa Al Jufri, who specializes in henna coloring of the hair and nails, said the practice came from women having their hands and bodies painting in the Middle East, Pakistan and India as a pre-marriage ritual. In the waves of migration from those lands to Indonesia (Al Jufri is herself of Arab descent), the practice spread.

Today it is part of the marriage tradition for Acehnese of North Sumatra and the Minang of West Sumatra.

For the wedding preparation, henna painting on the hands, which takes up to three days for applications, is usually followed by luluran, a traditional body massage and scrub.

"It takes three days to get the best result in applying henna, the aim is for the color to look perfect and remain longer", said Al Jufri. Henna can stay for up to six months on the nails, about two months as a tattoo on hands and up to three months for hair dye."

From June to July, when many people choose to have their weddings because it is considered an auspicious time of the year, Al Jufri is fully booked.

"My family still practices the custom up until now," said Cut Nyak Inseun Faradena, a 22-year-old whose family is from Aceh but now lives in Jakarta.

"Three nights before the wedding, there's a night called malam boh gaca, when the bride is groomed by her relatives with henna on her nails, and they also paint some attractive designs on her hands and feet."

The Arab, Indian and Pakistani communities here have been a base for the spread in popularity of using henna, but in recent years there has also been the strong influence of Indian TV soap operas, in which the art of henna hand designs is called mehendi.

The fad for henna decoration has caught on both among public figures, such as TV talk show host Hughes, and people who want to be trendy.

"It's an expression of happiness in life," said Purnima, a mehendi designer from Jakarta who is currently part of an Indian cultural promotion at a department store in Plaza Senayan.

"Certain passages in life such as weddings and births are symbolized by expressive designs like flowers and birds with henna painting."

Designers like Purnima take 15 minutes to do their magic -- but the result lasts for three weeks.

It costs about Rp 350,000 to have the hand design done, which will include a design exclusive for the wedding, by Al Jufri.

She said henna is considered halal (conforming to Islamic teachings) compared to nail polish because it does not clog the pores, an important concern in the ritual washing before prayers five times a day.

"I got the henna specially from Saudi Arabia, because it is original and the best," said Al Jufri.

She said women who came to her were not only brides-to be, but housewives and other women who like their nails and hair dyed with henna.

"I apply henna on my hair because it covers the gray perfectly, and when the light strikes, it gives you a beautiful exotic glow," said Latifah Baswedan, a 47-year-old housewife who lives in Bintaro, South Jakarta.

She formulates her own mix of the henna dye with tea concentrate and lemon in order to get the best result.

"Since I became a haj pilgrim, I have to be extra careful using beauty products, and henna is considered halal because it doesn't clog your pores, so I can pray," said Latifah who gets her henna directly from Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Muslim scholar Ihsan Tanjung said use of henna probably was an Arabic cultural tradition and not explicitly condoned or outlawed by Islam.

"Makeup and beauty cosmetics for women in Islam are allowed as long as they use it for their husbands or family's view only, not for others, because that would mean they committed tabaruj, giving something they are not supposed to, and that's against the teachings in Islam. So it depends on the purpose and how they use it."

For career woman Munaya Sungkar, 27, it's all about the look.

"It just looks beautiful, yet it is natural. Even my younger sister who is a teenager uses it for her hair, and it's not much different from the hair colors you can get at the hairdresser."

Varieties

Henna is easily found in Tanah Abang traditional market, selling from only Rp 3,000 (the Pakistani variety) to Rp 10,000 (from Saudi Arabia).

"We get various consumers of henna today, from Indonesians, Arabs, Indians and even some Chinese," said Chaedar, who has been in the business of selling halal cosmetics for five years.

"Suppliers usually bring the products after they come back from their home country, like the henna which I get from Indians, and the ingredients for pacar muslim I get from the people who just got back from their pilgrimage."

Chaedar said many women claimed they preferred using henna because they did not suffer allergic reactions or irritation with the products.

"When they use henna to cover their gray hair, after two or three months they usually comes back to get some more, they say it's more natural for the hair," said Chaedar.

But is henna medically safe?

"So far, I haven't found any cases of irritation whatsoever from the application of henna products," said Dr. Edwin Djuanda from the Jakarta Skin Center. "It's understandable that people take henna as an alternative to their (allergy) problems, due to the prevalence of products capable of killing the skin pigment if they have a high chemical content."

Dr. Nadya Yusharyahya, a dermatologist and the founder of Jakarta Skin Center, has used henna on her hair since 1976.

"I have had gray hair since I was young, so I decided to used henna because it's natural and until today, personally, I never had problems with my skin, such as irritation. Also, as a practitioner, I haven't had have any patient complain about henna."

Nadya said there was always the possibility that some people might have allergic reactions, so they should first apply some of the henna mixture behind their ear first and wait several hours.

She has found one difficulty, however.

"My only problem is that it's too much of a hassle to use henna (at home), so i started going to a beauty salon to get some help."