Henna Lady

Last week, my mom and I went to get our eye brows waxed and eye lashes henna-ed. According to my mom, the henna part is pretty common in Europe. I have yet to verify any reports that this is actually done anywhere in the states other than in the Polish neighborhood on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago or in a Polish woman's basement -which is where my mom and I have been going for the last ten years.

We have actually been going to the Henna Lady for a total of fourteen years. For the first four, we made the 50 minute trek from Buffalo Grove to the Milwaukee Avenue Polish neighborhood. We soon started to see her exclusively as she was the most precise and her dye seemed to last at least a month or so. Our routine each time is almost exactly the same as it has been for the last ten years as my mom sets up the appointment and notifies me of the time. We each travel separately and the first one to exit the highway at Schiller Park usually calls the other. We wait for each other to walk in.

Inside, the Henna Lady escorts us to her basement. We usually exchange a wave to her husband on the couch before descending down to the exercise room/beauty parlor. We make small talk about family and the holidays but never ever talk about the fact that we are Jewish. The Henna Lady used to make subtle and not so subtle antisemitic comments and jokes but those have stopped for the most part. We're pretty sure she figured it out about 5-7 years ago.

I never have cash on me when we are the Henna Lady's and therefore my mom always pays the $22 she charges us for henna-ing both sets of eyelashes and the eyebrow wax. Last week, however, I somehow had a folded up 20 and a 5 in my wallet. For the first time I told my mom it was on me.