The Thomases certainly have their own style when it comes to body art. As the couple lay out on one of the beaches in the southern part of the island soaking up the tropical weather, I couldn’t help but notice the extravagant body art that romanced their bodies.
Andrew and Hayley Thomas, of the UK, said they are on a short vacation and are loving every bit of what the island has to offer.
I asked Andrew why sport a tattoo of this magnitude. He said, “I actually decided to cover some of my old tattoos which I had for about 30 years and I ended up with this."
With his arms fully covered with floral tattoo designs down to a long-sleeved length, upper chest and back sprawled with interesting ones as well, I had to ask him about the time and money spent, the pain endured and how the public perceives him when bearing his tattooed body to the world.
“I’ll answer the last question first," he said. "People stop me both back home and here and look in amazement at the designs and ask a lot of questions. People have lots of tattoos back in the UK, so it’s not too unusual seeing me like this, but more so when I go abroad, people tend to stare and they become fascinated with it.
Another thing, I don’t think because you have lots of tattoos people should judge you as to who you are and what you can or cannot do, but unfortunately that’s the way it is. I mean, I dress well when I go to out, go to work. I manage a construction company back in the UK. I serve people with kindness, respect and professionalism. I work in an office where you have to be properly dressed and that’s what matters at the end of the day.”
His wife nodded in agreement and added, “For example, I am a doctor’s secretary back home, and I can do my job as well as any other. Having tattoos should not determine how you are treated and who gets what types of jobs. It’s all about your capabilities and professionalism. I love my tattoos. I won’t change them for anything. The uniform I wear doesn’t show my tattoos, and even if it did, it doesn’t change the way I do my job.”
It appears as if this couple loves flowers, because Hayley’s tattoos depict a floral designs that starts at her upper back and ends at the ankle. She also has inspiring words from Shakespeare scribbled on her lower back.
Speaking about his designs, Andrew said, “When I went to redo my tattoos, all I knew, I wanted flowers, and I just let the guy do his thing, create something nice around a floral theme, and this is what I ended up with. I’m not removing my tattoos ever. I spent a lot of time and money doing this. It’s about 4,000 pounds to do the whole thing, and 40 weeks of visits, three hours at a time at the tattoo parlor. So this is it for life.”
He admitted, “It’s painful. If anyone said tattoos are not painful, that’s not true. For me it’s mostly at the ribs and chest, but there is a cream you keep putting on and in a few days you are doing better, and you avoid going into the sun for a while.”
Hayley said the leg area was most painful. In terms of the hygienic aspect, she said they chose the best artist in the UK, and they are pretty sure and comfortable with the safety methods used. “In the UK they are very particular about how they do these things, new needles every time, and these parlours are well licensed and inspected, so we are comfortable," she said.
Andrew and Hayley love their tattooed bodies, for keeps, so if the public perceives them in a negative light, they will have to deal with it and try and change that perception for the better.
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