How to: care for henna + jagua tattoo

Have a new jagua or henna tattoo? 

Well good for you, first of all. Congrats on a beautiful form of temporary body art that is all natural and safe for the skin. Watch out, or you will get addicted too! 
Okay, lets start from the beginning. 

Freshly applied henna tattoo:

Henna take around 30 minutes to dry depending on the paste and environment. So during this time you want to make sure not to smudge it or bump into anything! Some small bumps to your henna tattoo may be fixable, but no guarantees. 

Once your henna tattoo is dry, the paste will be crust like and dark brown almost black in color. It will start to flake at this point and that's okay! Just try not to pick it off, and let it flake on it's own. 

The stain underneath the crust us your henna stain. This us what most people refer to as a henna tattoo. It will be a very bright orange in the first 24ish hours as it slowly turns a into a deep dark brown red color. 

NO WATER on your fresh henna tattoo, usually at least a full day. But really if you can avoid too much soap and water scrubbing on the area until it has reached its full stain, that is best. Fully dark henna stain is reached between 2 and 3 days after application of your temporary tattoo. You can always wash hands and avoid just that particular area with too much soap or water. 

Oil is a great way to preserve the henna stain for as long as possible. Using lots of this on the henna tattoo stain before any water activities will help create a barrier between the water and your skin, and keep your stain nicely moisturized. Moisturizer helps the stain remain longer. Any scrubbing, soaps, or hand sanitizer will more quickly fade your henna. Salt and chlorine will also create more fading, but sunblock or oil will prevent that. 
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Freshly applied jagua tattoo:

Jagua takes around 20 to 60 minutes minutes to dry depending on the product used and the environment. So during this time you want to make sure not to smudge it or bump into anything! If you bump jagua you will end up with with smear tattoo, unfortunately. Jagua works fast, but in a way you don't know it's working.. You can't see where it has stained at first, but it is powerful and stains very quickly. The stain show up hours later, however, and tricks many into thinking they have no tattoo waiting for them. 

Once your jagua is dry you can use your hand as normal, just no water until you are ready to wash your jagua off. Washing jagua is best to do after at least 5 hours of having the jagua paste or gel on. I usually tell people to wash one hour before bed, to give it the maximum time to set in, and a little air dry time before going to bed. 

Make sure to get it all off. You can scrub, use soap, ect. You'll feel a film once the jagua is under the water, so just get that all removed. If you don't that film will re-stain! If you dont wash off your jagua tattoo you will likely smear it as you sleep. This could result in jagua stains elsewhere on the body and in unwanted areas, or a smeared design on the hand. 

I tell you, jagua is not for the faint of heart. Phew! 

JAGUA TATTOO DISAPPEARS AFTER WASHING. This is totally normal, and as mentioned before, the jagua will surprise you and show up so very, very dark the next day. 

Oil is a great way to preserve the jagua stain starting the day after application. Using lots of oil on the jagua tattoo stain before any water activities will help create a barrier between then water and your skin and keep your stain nicely moisturized.
Any scrubbing, soaps, or handsanitizer will more quickly fade your jagua. Salt and chlorine will fade it quicker as well.

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