Holy shit. You OK? Yeah.
Aw, don't cry!
I'd say probably about 70% of all my e-mails in work are people
who have got some kind of scar that they want to get rid of.
I hope that my tattooing changes people's lives.
Even if it's minuscule.
Even if it's just it gives them one extra smile when they wake up
and look at themselves in the mirror that day.
Holy shit!
This will be so easy cos it's not even raised.
OK. The only bit that's raised is sort of this bit here.
Yeah, yeah. Which will be the bit where we have to go a bit slower.
Like, maybe this little bit here.
But it's going to be so easy.
I wouldn't worry. I might flip that and bring it so this leafy part
covers that, and then I'll arrange, like, some cherry blossoms
sort of coming down here and maybe, like, a few of the dog rose,
like, there. It's going to look good. I'm really excited.
I was at a dead-end job but life was really good.
I had loads of friends.
I was really fit. I used to go running all the time.
I used to go to the gym.
Then for no reason at all, it just kind of...
I started hearing voices.
"You need to cut yourself, you need to cut yourself."
So I did. I thought...
I was being really blase and just...
cutting where most people weren't going to see it.
And then towards the end,
I just didn't care because
I didn't think I was going to be around to live with the scars.
Long sleeves, that's that top there.
And then I've got
that, which has long sleeves again.
A lot of people are shocked.
They don't really know how to react, as well.
I think that's one of the biggest things.
They don't know whether to comment on it or to not comment on it
or... Like, you can see them looking at it,
but not wanting you to see that they're looking at it.
This one's pretty.
I could see that she was having a tough time.
I can't remember exactly when it was,
but I just remember saying to her,
like, "Did you do that to yourself?"
And she just said, "Yeah,"
and we just didn't say anything for the rest of the night.
Just cuddled and didn't say anything.
And then I think you just started talking to me one day about it.
Frankie asked me to marry her last February.
It was on Cromer Pier.
She took me, we had fish and chips,
and she brought out this scrapbook that she had made for me.
And then the last page said, "Will you marry me?"
And I said yes.
It's important for me to have my tattoo before the wedding,
so that I feel confident.
I don't want to look back over the pictures
and see the scars in the pictures.
That's it.
From the position I'm in now,
my life is amazing and I'm planning my wedding,
and me and Frankie have got a lovely house and we've got lovely family
around us, I can't imagine doing that to myself now.
I don't want to be an 80-year-old and still having these scars.
I'd rather have a really decent tattoo.
That might have gone a bit wrinkly, but it will look better than scars.
When I did see Poppy's before and after pictures of her clients,
I just knew that I
needed to get it done.
Ready? Yeah.
How's that? Awesome.
Yeah? Sorry my machine's really loud.
No, it's fine. Don't worry.
Have you tried on any wedding dresses? I haven't.
My sister keeps nagging me that I really need to.
Yeah, she really wants to go with you, doesn't she? Yeah, she does.
Tattooing over scarred skin is quite different to tattooing over
healthy skin. Obviously, a lot of scarring is raised.
Scars do bleed more. You do have to take it a little bit slower cos
you don't want to sort of blow out through that scarring area.
A lot of clients I've had have spoken to me about why they've got
their scarring or how long they've had it.
Or some people don't want to talk about it at all
and that's absolutely fine. Not everyone wants to talk about it.
I don't judge anyone.
What's the point?
Aw, don't cry!
Although I see it every single day, it still shocks me...
..how much I did it.
Oh, it's a bit inky, I'm sorry.
I love you. I love you.
That little look that people give themselves in the mirror after
they've had their tattoo done.
Cool, yeah, we're done.
That's my favourite thing.
Don't look and I'll wrap it up.
All right? OK. Go on, you can do it.
Oh, God. All right? Ready?
Aw! Holy shit!
THEY LAUGH
I keep looking at it and thinking,
"That can't be my arm, that can't be my arm."
And now it's something that I really am going to enjoy showing off,
rather than hiding away.
I didn't think I was going to get this far, so...
Yeah.
It's like the end of that part of my life, it's gone now, so...
Every time I do a tattoo, regardless of what it's over, what it's for,
who it's on, I want that person to look at that and love it.
For a lot of people that I have tattooed, especially over scarring
from them self-harming,
they do have a whole new outlook because there's
a part that they can just put to bed now.
They can let it go.