Photo credit: Mirror.co.uk

The conventional wisdom is well established at this point: Outside of certain cultural traditions, henna tattoos are something you get done as a vacation time-killer in between having your hair put into cornrows and getting hit on by swarthy European millionaires who want nothing more than an afternoon with someone else’s wife. Harmless, right? WRONG. Dead wrong. Henna’s bloodlust knows no bounds and, make no mistake, it’s coming for you. You and your children. This red-inked menace is even taking the shape of beloved American cartoon characters in its quest to disfigure and mutilate the youth of today:

A boy of three was scarred for life after suffering horrific burns from a dodgy holiday henna tattoo of Bart Simpson.

Vinnie England got the temporary image of his TV hero from a Spanish street stall.

But the trader may not have been using the safe, natural henna he claimed because Vinnie suffered an appalling reaction. His skin became inflamed, sore and blistered.

Now he has a three-inch bright red outline of Bart drying his backside on his forearm.

The ink has since faded from this young hero’s arm, but the scar may be permanent (probably not). Some suspect that the ink may have been mixed with a low-cost hair dye called PPD, which is known for instigating poor skin reactions and is commonly combined with henna, but who are you going to believe? Those fat-cats shilling for the multi-billion dollar henna industry? I think not.

Three-year-old scarred for life by henna tattoo of Bart Simpson done in Benidorm [Mirror.co.uk]