Growing up in a village in India is where Nafisa Moosa, 42, was first exposed to the art of henna design.
At the age of five, Moosa gathered with girls in her village to stand in a queue, excited to get their hands beautifully decorated with henna for the Eid celebrations.
All day she patiently waited her turn but when it became dark, she realised the artists were not going to get around to her.
Fast forward 30 years and Moosa now runs her thriving business, Nafisa’s Eastern Beauty Salon, from her home in Malabar, where she offers henna design, threading and waxing.
Moosa said her experience all those years ago had contributed to her success decades later.
“It was getting dark and we did not have electricity in the village.
“Every time I got closer to the front of the line she [an older girl] pushed me to the back of the line,” she said.
That night Moosa went home to her mother, heartbroken and in tears.
“My mother felt so sad she made a circle of mehndi [henna] on my hand, but I was so heartbroken it didn’t help.
“I cried so much and I rubbed the mehndi, pulling off some of my skin in the process,” she said.
Determined to learn the art of intricate freehand henna design, a body art and temporary skin decoration using a pigmented paste from the henna tree, Moosa decided to watch and learn.
She later went for lessons and practised countless patterns on her own hands, paper and even on her brother — often wiping off the mehndi only to start again.
The dye does not reflect colour immediately.
Back in the village, milk packets were scarce as people mostly collected fresh milk from cows using a can, and so Moosa would scratch in dirt bins to find old milk packets she could sew together to make a mehndi cone.
Mixing the henna powder with water, she filled up the milk packet with a mehndi paste.
Today she often does henna art for brides, and has travelled to other parts of the province for weddings and functions.
The use of mehndi was not exclusive to one’s hands, Moosa said.
Previously she has been requested to decorate the stomachs of pregnant mothers, feet and even decorated a bride’s back in Jeffreys Bay.
Some people also use henna to colour their hair.
She has managed to educate her children thanks to the profits from her business.
“I am very happy that I stood on my own, and I could grow the business to nurture and educate my six children.
“If you are good, people will always try to put you down — don’t let them.
“I would like to motivate people; even if someone bullies you, remember to lift yourself up and rise above it,” Moosa said.
Because of the demand, especially during Eid and Diwali celebrations, her daughters Naeema, 23, Faheema, 21, Saeeda, 17, and Nazia, 15, all assist in henna design for clients at Moosa’s home while her sons, Shauib, 19, and Umar, 5, keep themselves busy.
“When I’m putting on henna for clients I go to another world — it’s very therapeutic,” she said.
“I like doing the mehndi — it just keeps me calm.”
The cultural significance of mehndi
Traditionally henna leaves from the Lawsonia inermis tree were dried and ground into a powder and mixed with water to form a paste.
This is what is called natural mehndi.
It is applied by hand using different techniques, with the red-orange molecule of the plant reflecting as a stain after being applied to the skin, nails or hair.
Today, there are a variety of mehndi products on the market, some of which contain chemicals.
Gqeberha mehndi artist Nafisa Moosa said henna application was initially used on Egyptian mummies and royalty.
“It was put on to preserve the body in those days and it was put on to beautify the skin. They also used it to treat wounds,” Moosa said.
She said across Indian cultures Mehndi was applied before the bride’s big day and represented a woman about to become a wife.
It was also meant to keep her stress levels under control.
Moosa said in India, three days before the wedding a bride put on henna during a function called the “Mehndi Night” and was not allowed to wash her hands and feet.
The practices vary and evolved over time.
During another ceremony before the wedding, Moosa said family and friends would apply a paste of turmeric powder mixed with oil onto the woman’s face, arms, legs and feet.
The turmeric detoxified and made the skin feel soft and supple before the big day.
“It makes the bride feel relaxed and special. She will be treated and made to feel like a queen.
“The mehndi takes out the heat from the hands and feet where there are nerves.
“It’s meant to heal the body,” Moosa said.
HeraldLIVE
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