History of Body Art Supply, Inc.
In late 1995, Kristen (the proprietor) and a few girlfriends, had been dabbling with henna after finding some pre-made paste at an ethnic gift shop. The results were poor but the henna bug had struck! After searching the internet looking for suppliers, we found 3 sites offering henna. Yes, only 3!
One took our money and we never received any products and they are not in business anymore. The second had pre-made paste but no oil to help obtain the desired results and the third company never answered our email asking for more information. Once burned, twice shy:-)
To make a long story semi-short. Kristen posted to a newsgroup asking if there were any other henna fans out there interested in purchasing a henna kit that contained ALL the needed supplies to successfully enjoy the art of henna mehndi, such as oils, powders, paste, applicator methods, aftercare products, book, stencil, etc. The replies were instantaneous with a resolved YES. We found our nitch.
The challenge, fun, and frustration began. After sourcing, pricing, testing, and re-testing. FDA contracts, customs regulations, business legalities, Body Art Supply, Inc. was born in the Fall of 1997. We where very fortunate in the fact that our initial Indian supplier is an outstanding human being and now a very dear friend. Over time and diligence, our product line has grown from a few henna kits to over 1000 individual items. The concentration being the henna kits and the results obtained. We have always strived to practice “The Golden Rule” and find that treating others as you want to be treated is a wonderful and sometimes unique business practice.
Going on our 5th year, it is really interesting to watch the trends, the new henna sites popping up and the wonderful information that is out there, though you do need to sift through to find the good, truthful ones and ones with integrity.
We have been solicited and published by Tattoo Magazine (twice), YAHOO Internet Life, Hinduism Today, Airbrush Magazine, and had a television spot on The Travel Channel/Discovery Show, as well as other notable media and ezines. None of these were paid to advertise and we want to thank YOU for your loyalty and for spreading the word about us. Take a moment to review our Press Kudos to see for yourself.
Current projects- been contacted by a publishing company who are going to use our products in ‘mini kits’ to be distributed in Asia, Europe and the rest of the world. Everything is accepted and we’ll keep you informed when the mini kits are released for sale.
