**EXCLUSIVE**
By Mahima Kaur
THIS WOMAN found her peace in tattoos and piercings after a lifetime of bullying.
Lisa Strange (33) from Finland was just SIXTEEN-years old when she got her first piercings and tattoos.
She now has over HUNDRED tattoos with NINE on her face alone. She is getting two more face tattoos in the coming weeks.
She was made to feel insecure by bullies for TEN-long years at school until she decided to change her lifestyle radically by embracing a goth look by tattooing and piercing her face.
She realised that if she was to be bullied anyway, she might as well live in an alternative way that made her happy.
“I was bullied a lot in school for ten long years,” said Lisa
“Even when I looked ‘normal’ I was bullied.
“This made me feel really insecure about myself and I hated myself.
“I started to believe in the things my bullies told me every day.
“I had a very bad self-esteem and I thought that I was disgusting.”
When Lisa turned 16, she decided to take matters into her own hands and had her first tattoos and piercings.
“At that point I just decided that ‘What the hell, they will bully and isolate me anyways so why not have my own way,” she said.
“From that point I started to dress pretty rock-and-roll oriented.
“I got my first piercings and a tattoo when I turned 16, when my friend made a stick and poke star on my right foot.
“I was always inspired by Rock n’ Roll and punk looks and alternative cultures will always have a special place in my heart.
“I feel much better about myself now and after each tattoo I feel a bit more myself.
“I guess you could say it’s almost a spiritual thing for me to get tattooed.
“I don’t regret any of my tattoos, never have.”
Lisa currently has almost hundred tattoos and over twelve piercings but still wants more of both.
“I have never sat down and counted my tattoos, but they are almost hundred,” she said.
“I have nine face tattoos, but I am getting two more in the coming few weeks.
“I can’t even estimate the expense on my tattoos as I have been tattooed in so many countries and in different currencies.
“Some were cheap while others were expensive, but I have a lot of tattoo artist friends so I usually end up getting a good price.
“I also have twelve piercings out of which eight of them are on my face.
“I used to have a lot more piercings but I took a lot of them out when I started getting more tattoos.”
Even though Lisa now did what she had always wanted, people were not so receptive of her modifications, especially because of her gender.
“I have definitely noticed that being a heavily tattooed woman is a concept that makes some people uncomfortable,” said Lisa.
“Men, especially, tend to get uncomfortable.
“Other than that, people take my tattoos pretty well and most of the time I get to hear compliments on them.
“One time I took a city train in Copenhagen and this older guy with strong hippie vibes sat next to me.
“He remarked how despite him not liking facial ink, my he loved my forehead tattoo.
“Even when people say some rude things, I am more amused than annoyed.
“I am past the phase of being bullied and very happy and satisfied in my identity as a tattooed woman.”
Lisa has always had a deep love for water and sea and she took it to the next level with her mermaid lifestyle.
She is a tattoo addict, a musician, book lover and mermaid who used to work as a make-up artist who lives with her musician fiancé Ole K. Lilleeidet (29).
Lisa lives with her partner who she adores and together they have built a happy home.
“We live in Finland with our two cats Judas Pus and Lauritz,” she said.
“Ole and I both play different instruments and sing.
“Our home life is a lot of jamming together and rubbing lotion to each other’s healing tattoos.
“I’d say instruments and my books take the most space in our flat and I love it.”
ENDS