Islamabad:Application of Henna on hands is one must do ritual for girls on for Eidul Fitr. With the variety of designs available online, mostly girls opt for online mehndi designs which are readily available and are updated regularly. Girls like to apply henna on their hands by looking from these latest designs and replicating the same for the Eid day.
The competition of applying best mehndi design also exists to flaunt among their cousins. Girls cannot think of celebrating Eid without applying ‘mehndi’ on their hands. ‘Chaand Raat’ is usually reserved for Henna application and buying matching bangles. Parlour rates for henna application are getting expensive so the girls like to do their own designing at home. Constant practice of applying henna on hands makes girls perfect with accurate henna designing are appreciated by family members on their acquired skills. All the parlours in twin cities hire extra staff before Eid to cope up with the overwhelming demands of customers who prefer Henna application from salons.
Last year, Eid festivities were marred before Eid because of the lockdown, but now with the visible decline in corona cases, there is no hindrance in Eid shopping and most of the markets of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are swelling up with customers to do their shopping beforehand. Rashida, one henna expert who works in a salon said that we have keep up with the overwhelming demand of customers who start coming for mehndi application two days before Eid. There are always so many weddings after Eid days that we have to hire extra staff to fulfil their demands. There are many workers who provide home services also. “I have permanent clientele from many years, who always asks me for the henna application for all special occasions. There are many who comes from abroad to attend a wedding after Eid, so they give me quite intricate designs of their choice to make.
There are many ‘mehndi’ cones available in the market, red, black, whichever our clients love to apply. Sudanese, Arabic and Indian styles are most in demand for application. We just had to check the quality of cones, whether they do not contain harsh colouring chemicals or not. They were instances when the clients experienced burning sensation because of sensitive skin so we to keep in mind, mild henna for the clients are preferable,” she said. Ayesha, a housewife said that she would try some of the thousands designs available on net.
She downloads the mehndi design that she wanted to apply and then at Chand Raat after finishing her work she applies mehndi with her own time and convenience.