Body painting is a kind of body art, and has probably been about since the start of civilization. In pretty much every tribalist culture, body painting was performed as part of religious or martial rituals.
Body painting still survives in parts of the world, and particularly ‘Mehndi’, the form of body painting that uses henna dyes. Since the 1960’s, body painting appeared as an art form is now very talked-about in the western world.
There’s the everlasting consultation about its social acceptability because body painting practically always involves nakedness. But no art without paint naturally, and you will be pleased to know the paint is proscribed to laws: the body paint needs to be non-toxic and non-allergenic.
The paint simply washes off with water and soap. As for the henna dyes, which Mehndi uses, there is a difference between the man-made black henna, and the natural brown henna. The natural henna dye is totally safe when body painting, but the manmade black henna dye could cause allergic displays.
If you ever want to try henna and even new methods of body painting, just be sure to have yourself patch tested to be sure you won’t breakout in rashes during the event.