My Henna Hands Hell
Sophie was left in absolute agony by her temporary tattoo
After a morning spent lounging by the pool, I decided it was time to stretch my legs. It was April earlier this year and I was on holiday in Agadir, Morocco, with loads of my family – and, so far, we’d had a magical time.
‘Anyone fancy coming for a walk?’ I asked.
‘I’ll come,’ replied my sisterin-law Yasmin.
The pair of us set off to browse the interesting shops and stalls that lined the streets of the resort.
There was so much to see, but one thing that kept catching our eye was the street vendors doing henna tattoos.
They looked so beautiful and elegant – I’d been really tempted to have one all holiday.
In fact, the day before, I’d had a patch test at one of the stalls in the market.
I’d previously reacted badly to hair dye.
I didn’t think there was a link between hair dye and henna allergies, though.
But everyone advised a patch test, so I’d had one done anyway, just to be safe.
Luckily, 24 hours later, the area of skin where I had the patch test was absolutely fine.
We stopped at one of the street vendors and flicked through the brochure of pretty designs.
‘I’ll have one if you will,’ Yasmin said, encouraging me.
So I paid my 50 dirham – equivalent to about £4 – and sat in the chair.
I chose a beautifully elaborate design that covered both hands and even extended down my fingers.
I watched as the talented tattooist carefully painted on the black henna dye.
Fifteen minutes later, the tattoo was complete.
It looked really amazing – I was chuffed.
I waited for Yasmin to have hers done before we both headed back to the hotel to show off our designs to the rest of our family.
‘What do you think?’ I asked my hubby Soner, 24.
‘It looks beautiful, it suits you,’ he said, admiring it.
A couple of hours later, I drove some family members to the airport, as they were leaving before us.
Then I headed back to the hotel for dinner with Soner.
It was only later that evening, while we chilled out, that my hands began to itch.
An hour or so later, I noticed a few small raised bumps on the skin where the henna was.
Maybe it’s just a mild reaction, I thought as I headed to my bed...
Terrible reaction
I paid £4 and chose a beautiful, elaborate design
The next morning, I woke up with a burning pain in both hands.
I lifted them to my face and, to my horror, saw that they were twice the size of normal.
I had hands just like the Elephant Man!
And it wasn’t just the swelling. Huge, fluid-filled blisters had formed wherever the black dye was.
And the pain was agonising. ‘Soner, wake up! Look, my
hands!’ I screamed.
‘Oh my God,’ he blurted out as soon as he saw them.
I must have suffered a reaction to the dye in the black henna, just like I had when I’d used hair dye as a teenager.
Foolishly, I’d assumed that all the dye the henna artists used was the same, so even though I had a patch test from a different artist, I thought I’d be OK.
And stupidly, I’d not realised there was hair-dye pigment in henna – that’s why I’d not thought my allergy to hair dye was anything to worry about.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Soner had to help me get dressed so that we could make our way to a pharmacy for some advice.
They sold me some over-thecounter cream to try to stop the reaction in its tracks. I went back to the hotel room and plastered it on my hands. But it made no difference. They just kept getting more swollen and more painful.
The next day, it was time to fly home.
I bought some bandages and wrapped them around both hands to try to make the journey more bearable.
But I was in so much agony, I wept in pain the whole way.
As soon as we arrived home, we made our way straight to hospital to see a skin specialist.
‘I have seen this reaction before – but never this bad,’ he said.
‘Please help me,
I can’t take the pain any longer,’ I begged.
I was given some strong painkillers – but even they didn’t help much.
The doctor also gave me strong steroid and antibiotic creams to apply twice a day.
I did exactly as he told me – but, for the next two weeks, my hands remained very swollen and covered in painful blisters.
Soner had to do everything for me, including helping me shower, getting me dressed and feeding me.
Lesson learned
Finally, the swelling slowly started to decrease and the blisters began to scab over.
I was terrified that I’d be left with horrific scarring for the rest of my life.
It’s now been three months since I had the henna done and, thankfully, my hands are almost back to normal.
I still have scars on both hands, but I’m hopeful they will fade as time goes on.
Although it was an awful experience, I know I’m lucky that it didn’t turn out worse than it was.
I’ve definitely learned my lesson, though, and I’ll certainly never be getting a henna tattoo again.
I was terrified I’d be left with scarring for the rest of my life