Fun Korean Stuff: Dyeing Your Fingernails With Garden Balsam 봉숭아

What:

1.      In Korea, girls and women dye their fingernails and toenails orange using Garden Balsam
         (Impatiens Balsamina 봉숭아).

2.      The flowers can be found everywhere during the summer months.

3.      If you can’t find the flowers, you can buy the powder instead (봉숭아 묻들이기).

For the first week the orange color will be a bit too strong and look like nicotine stains, also your fingers will be stained for about two weeks.

This is two weeks later.  You'll notice that there are no longer any stains on my fingers and that the color on my nails has faded nicely.  The only problem is that the color is not even.  My pointer fingernail is much lighter than my pinky.

Why:

1.   In the olden days it was used to ward off evil spirits.

2.   In China it was used as a nail polish, I'm guessing it was the same in Korea as well.

3.   A cute love tradition – if the orange color remains by the first snowfall then you will marry your true love.

4.   It’s pretty.

5    These days it’s done as a way of preserving tradition.  Koreans are big on that and it’s cool.

When:

1.      In Korea, the flowers and leaves can be used after the heavy summer rains, mid to late
          August.

2.      The flowers and leaves can be frozen and used year round.

How:

1.      Pick the flowers and leaves off the plant.  You will need one handful for one hand.

2.      Crush them.  I used the bottom of a rolling pin and a bowl for mixing face masks.

3.      Apply the mixture to your fingernails or toenails, wrap in plastic, and tie with string or tape.
         (I didn’t use string and the plastic kept on falling off while I was sleeping cause I move around  a lot).  The mixture will go onto your fingers as well.  No worries, it'll wash off in about two weeks.

4.      Sleep, as in go to bed. kkkkk

5.      When you wake up, remove plastic and wash the mixture off.

6.      Apply a clear coat of nail polish to make it look brighter.

Other Uses for Garden Balsam:

1.      You can use the mixture to make dyes for clothes.

2.      In the olden days, Koreans would plant them around their homes to ward off bad spirits ie.
         Cholera,  and other diseases.

Korean Movies and Songs that Refer to Garden Balsam:

1.      Daddy Long Legs – 키다리 아저씨

2.      A Millionaire’s First Love

Naver How To Links:

      1.   How To Do It - What is the 명반? I don't know.

      2.    How To Do It Again - This Time With Salt Added? – is that salt added to the mixture?

3.    You Can Buy The Mixture: 봉숭아 물들이기 – you can buy the flower mixture rather than making it on your own.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens

http://tour.sancheong.ne.kr/eng/subpage/festival/festival_s2_2.jsp

http://mylinguistics.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/orange-colored-nails/

http://jejulife.net/2008/10/24/bong-seon-hwa-dyeing-fingernails-a-yearly-traditional-korean-custom-by-sherrin-hibbard-jeju-south-korea/

http://article.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.asp?ctg=12&Total_ID=1642512