However I find that it is not JUST in the Americas that this is happening, it is also found in holiday locations world wide (Turkey, Greece, Morocco, for example) places where you can get a black “henna tattoo” (being neither a tattoo nor henna I hesitate to call it a henna tattoo with out the quote marks) these can show up as burns many days after the stain is gone.

A great way to tell if it is “black henna” is to look at the product - does it look like india ink? Run away!
Are you supposed to leave it on for an hour than wash it off, resulting in a black stain? RUN AWAY!

Thank you for this great article!
Karenh

As I clearly specified above, “henna tattoos” in America and Latin America as well as other countries are made from a DIFFERENT SUBSTANCE, which I apecify above named PPD or paraphenylenediamine. This is the SUBSTANCE causing THE PROBLEM. Traditional natural henna tattoos which do not stain as dark black but brown or orange are the safe ones. These generally take a longer period of time of application for the pigment to penetrate the skin versus the comercial “MALL” type “darker henna tattoos”.

AND YES ALWAYS ASK IF THE TATTOOS HAVE PPD OR PARAPHENYLENEDIAMINE because if you develop an allergy you will have trouble finding hair dyes in the future.

Hopes this clarifies,

Dr. Welsh

Real henna, properly mixed, can last more than a week and can be a dark-brown stain. There are people doing “henna tattoos” in every country who use real henna, and others who use PPD - it’s necessary to ask the particular artist what’s in the paste being used! This PPD problem is not limited to America; unfortunately, even in countries where henna has a very long tradition of use, there are people using PPD.

Thank you for posting this and helping to keep henna safe!