Yahoo News 'I tattoo people's scars for free - everyone deserves to feel good about themselves'
A Nuneaton tattoo artist has offered to cover people's scars for free and says "everyone deserves to feel good about themselves". Kayleigh Marsh, aged 30, has only been offering the service for a week but has already received thousands of messages. Although she specifically focuses on domestic abuse and self-harm survivors, she says she’s happy to cover other types of scar tissue with “anything pretty”.
She was inspired to help after a moving appointment with a client who feared her scars were upsetting her child. She ended up offering to give her 23 tattoos for free after the client confided in Kayleigh and broke down in tears. "The girl had only come in for a cover-up,” she said.
“But I saw she had quite a lot of old scars. I couldn’t help but say ‘what’s all this?’ She was getting tearful - and I just wanted to make sure she was OK. I offered to cover them all up for free - it made me feel like I was doing some good.”
READ MORE: Police issue update in Nuneaton rape investigation
READ MORE: Dog owners rave about affordable treats ideal for training that are 'big hit' with fussy pets
She went on to explain: "I’m covered head-to-toe in tattoos - and I get my scars covered all the time, it makes me feel more confident. I had a scar on my ribs covered up the other day, and it just made me feel better.
“Being a tattoo artist is like being a therapist, sometimes - and I think hairdressers could probably say the same. You spend three, four hours with your clients - and they talk to you about anything.
"Sometimes you make a difference when you’re not even realising it.”
After the moving appointment last week, Kayleigh noticed she had 20 unfilled bookings for the rest of the year - mostly during the evening. So she decided to advertise her new service - tattooing people’s scars for free, with as many as they like.
As a result, she received “thousands” of messages, and has since managed to fill 10 of her empty slots. "I’ve had over 1,000 messages since I advertised on TikTok," the former Coventry resident said.
"I’ve taken 10 bookings from people with domestic violence scars, self-harm scars, all sorts. Complete strangers have called me - and we’ve both ended up crying down the phone to each other. I’m just glad I can make some people feel better.
“I’ve only filled 10 of the slots - I’m wanting to reserve the last 10 for people who need it the most urgently. And they can have anything they want done - anything they think looks pretty."
Kayleigh loves having the opportunity to have open conversations with her clients and thinks other tattoo artists should be doing the same.
"It’s a lot easier for people in need to talk to a stranger,” she said. "People talk openly to me. We’ll go backwards and forwards - and people leave their appointments feeling better about their lives.
“You never know the impact you have - you might have just convinced someone in an abusive relationship to tell a friend, or family member.
Now she hopes others will follow suit, saying: "I want to encourage other tattoo artists to do the same thing.."
