Who will you not paint?

Tash wrote:I have said this before and I will stick by it. We work with the skin as our medium, it is in our best interest to educate ourselves on what is contagious and we should saty away from, and what is a safe non-contagious... if perhaps ugly skin condition.
Also and this is equally important - I know my childs skin... if I say it's ok to paint her.... who is the face painter to tell me if my childs skin will tolerate the paint of not... it's my call.
So if they have given permission to paint their child then the pressure is off us to do the right thing....
I have painted kids with what I thought was ecsma on their cheeks and got told it was wind burn.
If you keep you kit clean - none of this should bother you.... we lose dead skin constantly... so you are getting "healthy" dead skin in your paints all the time.
I'm in this business to make smiles... not make a kid with a condition feel worse. Ever.
It makes me sad to realize that when I was a kid none of you would of painted me.

I totally agree Tash!!! My son has ecema off and on, I have taken the time not only to educate myself about the paints, and the designs, but I have done alot to make sure that I know what skin problems are inappropriate. The other thing that I thought about doing was making a release that the parent has to sign, complete with pics before and after.... just to protect myself. But like I have said before, I have only been doing this as a biz for about 2 or 3 years... before I was only a volunteer, and didn't really know what I was doing... But being on the other side give us a full perspective! Until you are on the other side you can't really understand!!!
But you have to do whatever you feel comfortable with! I just know that I will do everything I can to make that little one happy... that is appropriate... It's about the kid not the parent!!!

tamarielpaints wrote:As for acne/pimples, if it's clustered into areas, I'll paint in a different area of their face. I usually say 'i can't paint a full a,b,c on you, but i can do x,y,z'. For the most part though, I've found that teens with bad acne are spectators rather than actually getting in line. Many many teens have told me 'I don't want to break out more' and instead sit there and watch me for hours...

Tash, I feel for you! I take lysine supplements to keep my cold sores at bay. Without it I have one after another after another until I have a scar on my upperlip. No one would ever paint me or be painted by me because they're so freakin ugly.
I just don't paint broken or irritated skin. If someone has a cold sore I still paint them - ELSEWHERE.
However, I will make a concious effort to keep a small hospital kit (in hospitals you can't use your brushes or double load -everything has to be disposable) for these cases.

I had the same thought a couple of times! I had a kid who looked like he just got over Chicken Pox and i did not know what to do,.. and another had a weird eye infection of some kind! I don't want to hurt the kid's feelings but I agree with all you are saying.. i will be more strict with my things next time and refuse for their health and for my Materiel!!
I think it was a good thing you did by giving the girl a body paint instead...if I were the mom, i would be grateful instead of upset with you!! But c'est la vie!

In my case..I get kids with lice most of the times..and sometimes Im just caught up busy and Im half way painting when I see them in their hairs. I got a mom once, she was standing next to the kid holding her hair, and I said its ok I have bobby pins, and just as I was to put them on I saw she had tons of them... I told her mom I wasnt gonna be able to paint her face since she had that on her hair ( I pointed it and tried my best to be discreet) mom made a big scene screaming they were dead..OMG! Kid was crying, of course she was embarrased.
Thats one thing im really scared and get the goose bumps when I come across with , I can't wear ponny tail because I get instant headaches so Im always wearing my hair down. I dont know how other way make the parents understand that I can't paint their kids...
Regarding the eczema, I just tell the parents that my paints might irritate their skin and make it even worst, they always say "Its ok to paint" My answer: I will not be held responsible if my paints end up irritating their skin" I def dont paint on broken skin, on cuts , burns , eye infections , and when they have runny noses.

OMG Mirandas!! That's gross!! I can't believe it!!! You just made me see another side of FP!! lol!! thanks for the "heads" up...on lice! I'll keep my eyes peeled.