Mylanchi

I have always been in love with the henna designs I've seen on Indian women so I decided that since I'm here in India, this would be the perfect opportunity to get henna done on myself. I came to learn that in Kerala the local people call henna, mylanchi. My driver is a local guy here in Kottayam and a neighborhood friend of his happens to own a beauty parlor. By beauty parlor, I mean someone's home with a designated room for all things beauty: hair cutting, coloring, facials, waxing, threading, manicures, pedicures, makeup, mylanchi, face bleaching, and any other beauty ritual you could think of. The owner called a young local girl who couldn't have been more than 16 years old to do my mylanchi. I gave her complete creative control and she came up with beautiful designs I couldn't be more impressed with. The application process took about two and a half hours and she told me to let it dry for six hours. Once it was pretty dry, the owner mixed together some lemon juice and sugar and applied it to the mylanchi assuring me this would make it darker and last longer. It was such a beautiful process to watch her come up with these beautiful designs.