A dark brown design wraps around the arm of an 8th grade girl. The design is a swirl of little shapes and lines that cover her skin from the back of her palm to the end of her forearm.

What she has on her arm is called a henna. It is a cool trend that lots of girls like drawing on themselves or have drawn on them.

Nina Udell shares her opinion about what she thinks of these temporary tattoos.
“I think that henna tattoos are really cool, and I hope that I can get one. And I hope that more people start learning how to do them in Westport,” she said.

The art of Henna has been practiced for over 5,000 years in Pakistan, India, Africa, and the Middle East. It was a popular form of temporary body decoration in the 1990’s. Henna is a plant that comes from the Lawsonia genus or the dye made from the henna plant that is used for temporary tatooing. The henna plant contains a reddish-orange dye that binds with a protein in your skin that safely stains your skin.[/pullquote]Nina is only one out of the many people that have this same thought on hennas.
Abby Straight and Karolyn Hood were also interviewed about their experience with henna.
The girls had bought henna kits together in the summer because ¨They’re pretty,¨ said Abby. When a question was asked about if they would get permanent tattoos when then were older, they immediately said no.

Abby and Karolyn say that they learned by looking at pictures of hennas from what others people had made. ¨My parents like it as long as it’s not too big,¨ Karolyn explains. Hennas are a great and fun trend because you are able to express yourself while looking good.