I totally sypathise with you and your daughter for the allergic reaction that she has suffered due to the product placed on her skin and called "a henna tattoo" by a vendour at the Turtle Bay Beach Club.

I myself am a henna artist and also opperate a supply company and have been working with henna and other body art products on a professional level for about 14 years.

I would be willing to bet that the product used on your daughter was infact para-Phenylendiamine (often abbreviated to PPD) this product is illegal to use as a cosmetic in most countries where there is any cosmetic legislation. The USA is one of these countries. The product is well these days known for causing severe contact dermatitis and if left untreated the consequences can be dire; you can be left with hyper or hypo-pigmentation, which can last for years, and in some severe cases people have been hospitalised and suffered greatly. This product is still perfctly legal for use in hairdyes - and is found in one form or another in most permanent hairdyes.

All respectable henna artists will not use PPD - not only is it illegal, but these days we all know better - it is completely immoral to use PPD as it is such a nasty product!

The reason some street vendors still use PPD is simply because it creates a 'Black' looking temporary tattoo that lasts well. They often refer to it as 'Black Henna' - A lot of people like real Henna Tattoos, because they last really well - but they turn out a 'brown' colour - so inevitably there is a bigger market for 'Black' looking tattoos. The street vendours don't worry about the customers 'reactions' to the product they use because either (a)the street vendour is long gone by the time the allergic reaction shows up. Or (b) they opperate in tourist areas, so the customer has long gone before the allergic reaction shows up.

You mentioned that your other daughter has also had a 'Henna Tattoo' but at a different venue... Was her Henna Tattoo also Black?

If she has also had a 'Black Henna Tattoo' then she has also been exposed to PPD. Not everyone reacts adversly to PPD on first contact with it. However it does stay 'in' your skin, so future contact with the product will eventually cause an allergic reaction. If it was 'Black Henna' i.e. PPD then I would advise your other daughter to also avoid all future contact with the chemical PPD products - i.e. 'Black Henna' and all permanent hairdyes - Uunless they specifically state NO para-Phenyldiamines or salts.

It is really unfortunate that the chemical PPD product gives real Henna Tattoos such a bad name. In all my years working professionally within the Body Art Industry I have never seen or heard of one person who has suffered an allergic reaction to Natural Brown Henna. I also spent 13 years living in Kuwait in the Middle East, where I saw and heard of no reactions to Natural Brown Henna.

It has also been shown that even if you have been unfortunate enough to be exposed to PPD and then to have suffered an allergic reaction - it is still OK to use natural henna, and have natural henna tattoos. There is a link on our website to a New Scientist Report about PPD exposure and Natural Henna products, if you would like to read it the link is at the bottom of this page: www.hennatattoos.com/page.php?xPage=PPD.html

If your daughters still wish to continue with body art. I would suggest that you always look for the safe and natural options:

Henna - always comes out orange at first, then it develops to a rich deep brown colour over 1-2 days

Jagua - a relatively new to the market product, from Latin America - always comes out very pale greyish/blueish then develops to black over 1-2 days

If you want to read up on the safety of these products we have safety pages on our website:

www.hennatattoos.com/page.php…

Any product that comes out Black straight away is PPD and therefore should be avoided at all costs!

I hope your daughter recovers from her PPD exposure in the very near future. However it may proove helpful to print off some information about para-Phenylinediamine / PPD / 'Black Henna' and take it to the doctors with you, just so that they can see the product that has caused the problem.

Should you need any further information about PPD or about Henna or Jagua for that matter then please feel free to contact me.

deehell, I hope you've emailed the resort and advised them of this so that others don't end up in the same boat.

There was a programme on tele not so long ago about this, you could clearly see the tatoo's that had been done, sadly in the shape of scars. Hopefuly your daughters skin will recover without permanent damage.

The safest option for others - don't!

Thanks very much for the detailed reply. I hope this is helpful to others as it has been to us.

Unfortunately, Turtle Bay didn't reply to my note about the henna tattoos.