Traditional tattooing is a permanent coloration of the skin by injecting a coloured pigment into the dermis, a layer of skin that exists between the thinner outer Epidermis and the subcutaneous layer consisting mostly of fat tissue.

Henna tattooing uses no physical penetration of the skin. A paste made from the ground up leaves of the Henna plant is used to draw designs onto the skin, pigment in the Henna paste binds with the keratin in skin, hair and nails. As the cells are replenished the design fades, this can take from days to a few weeks, but typically just one week. There is a restricted palette which ranges from red through brown too a near-black.

Henna being applied in Morocco and the result with henna paste still on.