“I Tattooed My Face So I Couldn’t Get a Normal Job”

Here at Inked, we’re all about promoting the phrase “Tattooed and Employed” to the fullest extent. However, we also try to make our audience aware of the consequences of being visibly tattooed in today’s job market. Although many companies have scaled back their dress code requirements and it’s much more common to see someone sleeved up in the workplace, there are still risks when inking body parts referred to as “job stoppers.”

Job stoppers are tattoos on the hands, neck, and face which still present limitations in liberal work environments. There are a select few professions where these tattoos are openly accepted and in many cases, a tattoo artist will refuse a client for these tattoos if they don’t have a steady job or a commitment to the lifestyle of being heavily inked. But, for one woman who at the time was 24-years-old, she got her face tattooed to intentionally prevent her from being qualified for a normal job.

Meet Kaleigh Peach, a now 26-year-old tattoo artist based in Birmingham, England. She began getting tattooed at the age of 18 and eight years later has approximately 60% of her body covered. In an interview with BBC, Peach revealed that at the age of 24 she got a face tattoo on the very first day of her tattoo apprenticeship: 

“Basically, I got it so that I couldn’t get a normal job so I would have to persevere with what I was doing. I got ‘cursed’ above my eyebrow. I used to be quite critical of myself and see the glass half empty. I used to think things happened to me for a reason and I would punish myself for things mentally. Then I got a rose on one side of my face, which is to do with romance and beauty, then leaves on the other side, which symbolise new beginnings for me in my life.”

Peach used her face tattoos as motivation to not only complete her apprenticeship but to become a thriving tattoo artist. Luckily for Peach, she’s in a place now where she can afford to tattoo her face, as she has a stable career in a multi-billion dollar industry. However, we’d be foolish to advise that anyone else follow her lead and get their face tattooed on the first day of job training. Although Peach’s story has a happy ending and she was able to use her ink as a motivation to make her dreams come true, not every field is this forgiving.

What do you think about Kaleigh Peach’s memorable face tattoo story? Would you tattoo your face if it would help motivate you to succeed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.