MUSA JIBRIL

The Henna Place was easily one of the stars of the Slay Festival, held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos on February 17.

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While there were a thousand and one stands showcasing various ventures and innovative creations by women at the ground of the square, ladies of all ages made a beeline at The Henna Place stand to get a stamp of beautiful henna arts on various parts of their bodies.
Prior to the one-day exhibition, The Henna Place has made a name as a beauty nest, a top-notch women’s go-to place to pamper themselves, away from the prying eyes of the male folk. Located at 20A Babatunde Anjous, off Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase I, Lagos, it is famous as a beauty parlour that has brought the art of henna of the north into Lagos.
An enamoured customer once recounted: “Walking towards the entrance, the rich fragrance of traditional incense engulfs you and puts you in a relaxed mood. The environment is very cosy with African designs.”
Another rhapsodized that the place “smelt really nice, [it] reminded me of the perfume market in Dubai.”
A third said: “The interior is designed to reflect the essence of the salon which is inspired by Northern Nigerian traditional practices.”
Henna––a tradition of dye used to beautify the skin, hair and nails––spans several centuries. In Nigeria, Maiduguri is the epicentre of gyarin jiki, traditional body treatments of henna, or lalle, sugar waxing and body scrubs.
The Lekki-based The Henna Place, opened on March 19, 2014, brought these traditional northern beauty therapies to Lagos when Fatima Wafailu and Hadiza Nyako Tukur couldn’t find a salon where they could get their regular beauty treatments. The ladies’ decision to open a place of their own snowballed into a viable venture that introduced Kanuri treatments to the southern market.
Contemporary lalle designs incorporate influences from all over the world. Whether a woman desires a detailed Arab henna or the intricate Indian designs (called Mehndi) or the African motifs that are big and bold, typically, it takes about 20 minutes to craft, simple or elaborate, and a further 30 minutes to dry.
So far, The Henna Place has proven its mettle.
However, there is more to this henna hub than the exotic art of body inking of lalle. The salon also offers various pampering sessions and body/hair treatments exclusively for women, from Halawa (body wax) to body scrubs and facials to Dukhan (Hot Steam Pot), manicure and pedicure and massages. Assortments of beauty articles such as Jigida (waist beads), oils and incense are also available for purchase.
The Instagram is a window to the art of The Henna Place. Its name says it all. The Henna Place (Women Only). It’s a woman’s realm. Women go in there and come out transformed.