The crushed leaves of the henna plant, when mixed with other natural ingredients, yields a thick, fragrant paste used for painting hands and feet. The olive green, dried henna powder, once mixed with such ingredients as black tea and coffee, cloves and tamarind, turns dark. Once the paste is applied on the skin, it is allowed to dry, sometimes overnight. The dried henna is scrapped off the skin resulting in a maroon-red stain. Henna has traditionally also been used for hair conditioning and dyeing, skin antiseptic and tonic, and as cloth and leather dye. Henna is a cosmetic and a medicine, but most importantly, it is a marker of beauty, auspiciousness and celebration.

Henna painting is considered a woman's art form, often to mark special events in a woman's life, especially marriage. The painted bride is denoted special by the intricate, elaborate henna patterns on her hands and feet, attesting to the liminal occasion in which she is transported from one stage of life to another. Henna designs add beauty and decoration to the parts of the body that are in view, namely hand and feet, but patterns usually extend towards the elbows and knees, causing erotic curiosity for the concealed parts. Designs vary with each culture, and even within cultures. Generally speaking, Arabic Swahili women's designs consists of large, bold floral patterns, whereas Moroccan Berber women paint geometric, linear designs. In India, Hindu women prefer paisleys, vines and birds such as peacocks. Muslim women do not paint figurative images due to the Islamic prohibition on representational art.
In the past decade, henna painting has experienced an immense popularity in the United States. Although ethnic communities residing in the West have always practiced the art of henna, the acceptance of this form by Westerners, especially celebrities, is a relatively new phenomenon. Popularly called "temporary tattoo," henna painting does function like tattoos. People who are reluctant to acquire a real tattoo, test out a location and design by first having an ephemeral henna version of what will eventually become a permanent part of their skin. Also like tattoo, henna designs in the US resemble "tribal" bracelets and anklets, belts and rings. The practice of wearing henna as jewelry was born in the West.

In India, Africa and the Middle East, the art of painting the body from the crushed leaves of the henna plant has been practised for over five thousand years. Henna has long been used to decorate the body for important occasions and celebrations.

In Morocco, henna patterns are used to protect the wearer from evil, and to promote luck and fertility. Henna is regarded as having Baraka (blessing) and it has the power to dispel djinn (evil spirits) who can cause diseases and sterility.

Henna in Sudan means happiness. Through henna, a wife expresses her love for her husband. When a woman does not wear henna, she expresses either grief through death or lack of love. Men wear henna for weddings only in flat colour without design. It is used for hair colouring and strength. It works as a cooling agent for the body.

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