...well, to be perfectly fair, the henna practice I hear about most often re: the Romans tends to be hair dye for prostitutes. xD but I'm pretty sure the ancient Christians or some Abrahamic sect or another from around that era had a practice of henna wedding tattoos as well. Which... may or may not have had some kind of relationship with the practices that existed in India, I don't claim to be an anthropologist xD

But honestly, it's wonderful that you're so aware of cultural appropriation and respect, but I wouldn't be so cautious of some minor things like this? I mean, the worst thing about cultural appropriation--the really insidious, creepy, skin-crawly thing about cultural appropriation--is the way it tries to pick up the cool bits of a culture while thoughtlessly sweeping aside the people and the history that that culture originated from. I mean, some things you do have to be careful about. But this is really so minor, so benign; even if the Romans and so on didn't use it, I'm sure no one would care so long as you weren't, you know, using anything too specific or culturally significant or something. You know?

[squishes] ♥