Decorating with henna in Omdurman, Sudan. The thick paste, prepared from the Lawsonia shrub, is applied through a small hole in the end of a twist of plastic. Dried and fixed in smoke from a charcoal brazier, the pattern can last a couple of weeks if not washed vigorously. In Sudanese as in many middle-eastern and Indian cultures, henna decoration on hands and feet is exclusively for married women