KALI, 29, from Manchester, has tattooed over 70% of her body over the last 14 years. Kali's alternative look has been a point of controversy within her family due to her Jewish-Indian heritage, but this hasn't stopped Kali from living the life she wants to live. Kali told Transformed: "I've spent around £50K on my tattoos but was disowned by my Indian family for the way I look. My Indian family don't speak to me and my Jewish family are orthodox Rabbis, so they won't speak to me because I look like this." In addition to her family, Kali also gets negative judgement from the public, which is a daily occurrence that she's had to learn to live with. She said: "One time I was getting on a flight and I was sitting there by myself happily, then an old man walks past, stopped, looked at me and said; Why would you do this? He looked at me again, made a noise and left. That's standard, it happens all the time!" Today, with the help of makeup artist Meg, Kali is having her tattoos completely covered and will be embracing her Indian culture. This is the first time Kali is having her tattoos covered up, but how will her boyfriend and best friend react? Will they still feel the same way about the new Kali? Will they prefer her without the tattoos? Or will they realise the tattoos need to return, pronto?
Follow Kali
instagram: Kali_storm222
Follow Makeup Artist Meg:
https://www.instagram.com/megvioletmakeup/
Videographer: Paul Chambers
Series Producer: Kim Nguyen
Video Producer: Adam Fleet
Casting Producer: Destiny Taitt
Editor: Vanessa Nascimento
Follow Kali
instagram: Kali_storm222
Follow Makeup Artist Meg:
https://www.instagram.com/megvioletmakeup/
Videographer: Paul Chambers
Series Producer: Kim Nguyen
Video Producer: Adam Fleet
Casting Producer: Destiny Taitt
Editor: Vanessa Nascimento
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I was disowned by my Indian family for the way I look.
00:0470% of my body is currently tattooed.
00:07I get judged really often because of my tattoos.
00:10Today, I'm transforming by having all of my tattoos
00:13covered up to embrace my Indian heritage.
00:18Oh, my gosh.
00:19I made the right decision covering myself in tattoos.
00:22I'm not sure my boyfriend's going to like this.
00:24Without the tattoos, who knows?
00:25Maybe he won't love me anymore.
00:27Oh!
00:28Bamboo.
00:33Hey, I'm Carly. How's it going?
00:35Hello, lovely to meet you. I'm Max.
00:36Can I see your makeup?
00:37Yeah, come on in.
00:40My name's Carly, and I've been getting tattooed for over 14 years.
00:45What I love about tattoos so much is that I get to express myself on my skin.
00:50I got my first tattoo when I was 15 years old.
00:54I got the word mum on my wrist.
00:57It's not visible anymore. It's covered.
00:5990% of my tattoos are just cover-ups.
01:02About 70% of my body is currently tattooed.
01:06I have spent quite a lot of money over the years.
01:10Probably around $50,000.
01:13I love tattoos.
01:16Today, I am having my tattoos completely covered up
01:19and embracing my Indian culture.
01:21It's been a while since I've seen myself not tattooed.
01:24We're covering the tattoos
01:26and then create like a nice traditional Indian kind of glam.
01:31One of the first biggest challenges is finding the right shade of red
01:36to neutralise the darker colours of the tattoos.
01:40What made you want to do the transformation?
01:43Well, I'm definitely interested in seeing what I look like without tattoos.
01:47I haven't seen that for a while.
01:49I thought that would be exciting.
01:52Growing up, my father was Orthodox Jewish
01:56and my mother is Indian.
01:58So that was quite difficult.
02:01My Indian family don't speak to me.
02:02And then my Jewish family are like Orthodox rabbis
02:05obviously don't speak to me because I look like this.
02:08From having so many restrictions
02:10and from having been so suppressed in a way,
02:12I think it's what made me go so far the opposite way.
02:15The tattoos didn't cause the fraction.
02:17The fraction was already there
02:18because I wasn't going to be traditional,
02:21I wasn't going to do what they wanted me to do.
02:23I'm going to let it dry down just for a couple of minutes
02:25so that then when I go in with a concealer,
02:28it's not going to smudge everywhere.
02:30And so that is the next step.
02:36I was 18 years old when I first tattooed my face.
02:40Everyone told me you can't get a job
02:42and I said, well, I don't want to work for someone else.
02:45I'd wanted my face tattooed for quite a while
02:47and my mum thought I was getting my wrist or my hand tattooed
02:51and then we got there and I said,
02:52mum, I'm actually doing my face
02:53and she was fully supportive of it
02:55and she wanted to get a matching one at the time.
02:57I wouldn't let her.
02:59I get judged really often because of my tattoos.
03:02The other day I was getting on a flight
03:03and I was sitting there by myself on my flight,
03:06happily already seated,
03:08and an old man walks past with his wife
03:10and he stopped and he looked at me and went,
03:12why would you do this?
03:13And just looked at me, went, oh,
03:15and then walked off and I'm like, that's standard.
03:17Like that happens all the time.
03:19People just come up to me and say,
03:20why have you done this to yourself?
03:22Why have you ruined your body?
03:23It doesn't matter to me anymore.
03:25RCMA Translucent Powder.
03:27It's just really gonna keep everything in place
03:30and make sure that the makeup doesn't smudge or move.
03:36Why was your most painful tattoo?
03:38The top of my foot.
03:41This is a very full coverage foundation.
03:44Is it cold?
03:45A bit.
03:48Oh, I love the little bee.
03:49Yeah, and I didn't even know that Manchester
03:51was a bee thing.
03:52I got it from Gucci.
03:53Most of my tattoos have meaning.
03:55Most of my tattoos are actually snakes.
03:57I was dreaming about snakes like every single day.
03:59I got told that these dreams were
04:01in the Kundalini awakening inside of you.
04:03So I just started putting snakes all over my body.
04:06This is like therapeutic for me.
04:09I'm actually having fun.
04:13So who are you actually revealing the look to?
04:16I'm gonna be revealing the look to my boyfriend
04:19and one of my friends.
04:20Are you nervous about what they'll think?
04:22No, I'm not nervous about what they'll think.
04:24I'm like more excited to see what my boyfriend's
04:27reaction's gonna be.
04:30I think my boyfriend and my friend
04:31are gonna be quite shocked.
04:33Like, my boyfriend loves my tattoos.
04:35Without the tattoos, who knows?
04:37Maybe he won't love me anymore.
04:39It's just a bit cold.
04:42Okay, should we get you a new dress?
04:44Yeah.
04:49Are you ready?
04:50Three, two, one.
05:07That is scary.
05:10So strange.
05:11I made the right decision covering myself in tattoos.
05:16I would totally do it.
05:18I would totally wear this thing.
05:20I would wear the sari.
05:22Like, I don't really like makeup,
05:24so I think that's actually throwing me off the most.
05:27How do you think your boyfriend and friend
05:29are gonna react?
05:30I think they're gonna be completely shocked.
05:32They're gonna be like, where's Carly?
05:34I'm really excited to see her with no tattoos.
05:37I think it'll be really interesting to see
05:39because she does have so many and they cover her body.
05:42So I'm just really excited to see her
05:44look a bit different, you know?
05:46She's so defined by her tattoos and I really like her.
05:48And I think this will be really interesting
05:50to see what she looks like.
05:54Whoa!
05:56Hello!
05:57Hi!
05:58Yes, you look really nice!
06:01What do you guys think?
06:02I love it!
06:03Yeah, I like it.
06:04It's really nice.
06:05Aw!
06:05Mwah!
06:06You look lovely, actually.
06:08Oh, you look so gorgeous.
06:09You look lovely, darling.
06:10Aw, thank you.
06:11You look lovely.
06:12You look so nice.
06:13You look really good in the sari.
06:14Right?
06:15I was coming to see you, but I love your tattoos
06:18and I think you should embrace them.
06:20Lose the makeup, eh?
06:21Yeah.
06:22It is weird to see them all covered up.
06:24But I'm not a fan of the tattoos.
06:26I like, yeah.
06:27I thought about doing this because I just wanted to see
06:30what I would look like without tattoos.
06:32So many people on the internet, especially,
06:34are always saying, oh, you've ruined yourself.
06:36You look better without ink.
06:38And I think I looked better before,
06:39but I like to positively say I look good both ways.
06:42You look amazing.
06:43You look beautiful.
06:44I love what they've done, and it's nice to see,
06:47yeah, you with no tattoos.
06:48I think we both, they see our darling.
06:50Yeah, I know.
06:51You look like a tattoo card.
06:53Yeah, fade, yeah.
06:55That's the thing, man.
06:56I cannot wait to get this makeup off.
06:59It's so thick and clunky, but yeah,
07:01I'm excited to see my skin again.
07:06I thought everyone was gonna be a bit more dramatic,
07:09but it was really positive.
07:11And I think my reaction was probably the most shocking.
07:15If there was an easier way to do this,
07:18I would be totally up for no tattoos once in a while.
07:21But the process of getting to look like this
07:25is just too long.
07:27Looking like this and without the tattoos,
07:29it makes me feel like I would really fit in anywhere.
07:32But I think for my personal self, my family,
07:36it wouldn't have really changed anything.
07:38I think they would have treated me the same regardless.
07:40So many people have told me I've ruined myself
07:43by having tattoos.
07:44And I'm so happy just being myself
07:46and expressing myself the way I am.
07:48And having tattoos, I love myself fully expressed.