A teenager has spent all of her savings opening her own business which is bucking the trend in the face of continued challenges facing Wales’ high streets. Elle Williams ditched sixth form and university to take on an intensive course in the specific but thriving industry of paramedical cosmetic tattooing and opened her own premises Black Rose Permanent Makeup and Aesthetics in Chepstow town centre in November.
Elle, who has Tourette’s and has suffered bullying from a young age, tattoos anyone who wants permanent cosmetic work but specialises in tattooing victims of domestic abuse, people who have undergone chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and people with alopecia. She explained how she is at her happiest when working with clients who have experienced traumatic medical issues after realising the significant positive impact she can have on their lives.
“I knew from a young age that I wanted to do something bold in my life, something different,” Elle recalled, proudly studying her impressive, bright new space which she’s spent a month renovating and where self-employed beauticians and masseurs rent rooms from her too. “I had to think outside the box because I always thought I was quite limited. I was very creative growing up and really into art at school and dance and musical theatre too. But school was very difficult and the style of learning didn’t come naturally to me because of my Tourette’s. I had physical tics which meant I would sometimes throw pens across the classroom when I was stressed – especially during exam season. The tics were very bad at times – I’d often stop myself from breathing and would ram by elbow into my side until I was bruised. No-one really understood me and I got bullied a lot. I thought I wasn’t going to get anywhere in life because no-one took me seriously.”
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Even after Elle underwent intense behavioural therapy to help her with her tics and left school, attempting to pursue a career in theatrical makeup with a college course in Newport, she soon lost her confidence and believed she would “never be able to do something super-intricate”. “I liked a lot of the course but I had some bad experiences with my tics and it put me off,” she recalled. “I thought I’d be stuck in a retail environment or office job for the rest of my life but I got my qualification and started looking at areas I could get into with that experience.
“I looked into lots of different things and came across cosmetic tattooing online. I was lucky that an extremely popular trainer agreed to train me up and I invested a lot of money and time into training in the permanent makeup world, which is constantly evolving. The minute I started training I knew it was what I wanted to do. All of my tics just went out the window because I was so relaxed while I was doing it. It’s actually really therapeutic.”
The teen spent a year alongside her course working in a salon and living with her mum and stepdad, saving every penny she earned. "It was hard because I was paying hundreds monthly for one small room but I did manage to save enough to take this place on. That was always my aim," ambitious Elle said.
After a month of renovations, made more difficult when the business flooded in October, the 19-year-old says she has been stunned by the volume of clients she already has – the majority of whom have been women who want permanent eyebrow tattoos and scar camouflage following medical treatment. “We’ve had a few challenges, that’s for sure, but that’s life running a business,” she explained with a maturity way beyond her years. “I wanted to open in October but that was postponed because of the amount of renovations we had to do. But I was happy to wait, spend the money we needed to spend, and get it right. Since we opened I have had a lot of clients who have cancer and alopecia – mostly women between 30 and 60. I've had so many people inquire that I wondered how much I could really help.
“A friend who has alopecia also reached out and said she was losing her eyebrows. She came in and now she's got permanent eyebrows and they look really natural. So many have come to me with alopecia – it shocked me the amount of people that do have it. I love tattooing people with alopecia because the skin grabs the pigment beautifully. They've spoken to me about how cosmetic tattooing has changed their life, how they don’t have to get up in the morning and pick up an eyebrow pencil."
No day is the same, Elle said, with clients sharing a variety of issues in the hope she can help them. “One woman came in recently for cosmetic work and we started talking about her cleft lip. I told her I thought I could blend it with some lip blushing and it’s worked beautifully. There are so many different things you come across. I’ve had people come in who have had a skin graft and want the skin blended. I use a medical needle to get the scar tissue to break down a little bit and then I colour correct and tattoo over it to blend. It’s amazing to see their faces afterwards. To be able to do that for someone is a brilliant feeling.”
While all of her savings have gone towards the business and her inks alone cost her £60 each, Elle says she doesn't regret anything about her decision to go it alone - even in the current climate. "I had more money working in retail for sure," she laughed. "But I love what I’m doing now and I wouldn’t want to do anything else. Yes I’m taking a massive hit considering the usual charge is £200 to £300 a session but I don’t have the heart to charge. I have work done for cosmetic reasons. Yes that helps my mental health but I choose that. These men and women feel they need to have cosmetic treatment to be themselves again. It’s a huge change that has happened to them almost overnight which has impacted their self-confidence through no fault of their own. They shouldn’t have to pay hundreds of pounds to feel like themselves again. A multitude of clients come in for cosmetic work which keeps me ticking over. Body piercings I also occasionally fit between clients."
She is currently working on a campaign to help men feel more comfortable to discuss cosmetic tattooing having noticed a clear reluctance in men to seek permanent makeup treatment. “A lot of men tell me they feel intimidated because it seems like a beauty salon," she said. "Many people tell me after coming here that they have felt scared to reach out for cosmetic tattooing because they are frightened of being judged. It shouldn’t be like that. Years ago anything cosmetic, but especially this, was a taboo subject but it’s more accepted now that you can do whatever you want with your body. Some people come in and tell me they want huge thick eyebrows. I would never judge them. I can advise them on what I think is best for them but if huge thick eyebrows is what they want and it helps their self-esteem then that is what I’ll do. The point of cosmetic tattooing is for someone to wake up in the morning and feel more put-together."
Her maturity is exemplified when she tells of her memories announcing her Tourette’s diagnosis to students at her school during an assembly. “I had to announce it like that because I was getting picked on really badly,” she recalled. “I was getting told off by some teachers who were misunderstanding my condition too and my tics had become really bad. It’s probably all down to my Tourette’s and difficult experiences from such a young age that I’ve been able to do this. My diagnosis when I was nine made me independent and made me grow up quickly. It made me understand myself better, understand my triggers, and deal with them.”
Asked whether it is due to the bullying she suffered from a young age which has also led to her deeper connections with people who have lost their hair or who have been scarred after treatment Elle replied: “I’ve struggled in the past and didn’t always get the help I needed. Whether it’s an abuse survivor, someone suffering with cancer, alopecia, or anything, I feel like I understand them in a way.”
While her friends finish university and college of an afternoon Elle is now working late into the evenings most days but says she “wouldn’t change a thing”. “I’m working 12- to 13-hour days and not making a lot of money but I love it and get a lot of joy out of it,” she grinned. “I usually don’t finish until 9.30pm and I'm always happy to be back in the next morning."
Despite her brilliant achievement in starting the business she still gets the feeling she is often “not taken seriously”. “People don’t take young people in business seriously because they think you’ve had funding and that you’re going to give up within a year,” she added. “But I’ve not had any funding at all. I’ve invested my savings into this place and I’m not going to give up now. I’m in debt from training courses – there’s no way I’d throw all of that away. I’d love one day to start training courses to help young people and make courses more accessible for people trying to get into this industry. When I’m 26 I can say I’ve been doing this for a decade. Not many people at that age could say that about their work. It would be nice to show people what I can do and what they would be capable of doing if they put their mind to it.”
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