‘Why are people so judgemental, I have every right to be myself’

A mum with more than 800 tattoos covering nearly all of her body is struggling to pull together a Christmas dinner for her children, as supermarket staff are scared of her extreme appearance.

Melissa Sloan’s ink covers most of her body, including several across her face. Although the 47-year-old loves her body art, she admits it often causes issues in her day-to-day life.

She has previously explained how over Halloween she is forced to “hide in the bushes” when she takes her seven children trick or treating. Now she has revealed even getting her Christmas dinner ready is difficult.

She said: “’I can’t just pop into my local supermarket and shop for my Christmas dinner. People will stare when I go to pick up the cranberry sauce and turkey for me and my kids, and I just don’t want to deal with it.

“I feel like I scare the supermarket workers, too – they have given me terrified looks as I’ve walked by in the past. It’s meant to be a time of joy and celebration but right now, my Christmas dinner is in limbo. All I want is to be treated like a normal person.
Going to the pub is way out of the question, too. I attempted to have a Christmas tipple recently but had to leave before it turned to violence.”

Melissa is no stranger to having to hide away her face, however. She has been banned from numerous venues owing to her appearance and even avoids food shopping because people won’t leave her alone.

The situation has escalated to the point she now sometimes wears make-up when outside to cover up her ink. Melissa added: “It’s a shame people can’t just understand my facial art and not instantly become cautious.

“I’m forced to hide away and hide the real me. People should accept that my ink is a form of self-expression. I’m still me – Melissa. I just display my creativity on my skin to share it with the world , instead of keeping it under wraps.”
Every inch of 46-year-old Melissa’s face is covered in ink, with intricate designs of flowers and crucifixes covering her cheeks, chin, and forehead. The mum-of-two, from Wales, decided she wasn’t happy enough with one layer, so she started inking over the old designs until she’d covered all of her face twice.

Since, she’s done it a third time and thinks she must have the most ink out of everyone in the world. She added: “I’d like to be a record holder, it’s just something different. I’m trying to get into the Guinness book of records.
“I’ve got three layers on my face, I probably have the most tattoos in the world, and if not then at the rate I’m going on I probably will have in the end – I keep going over and over them.”