What to expect when getting body painted
From cosplayers to models, being body painted for the first time is a new and weird experience. Here’s typically what it looks like in our studio, and what you can expect. (Plus, some tips to make sure your experience is awesome!)
1. Preparing yourself
There are a few basic things to make sure your body painting goes super smoothly, so we’ve broken them up into a few basic sections:
Preparing your body
The first and most obvious thing is hygiene. The morning of your body painting session, take a nice long shower and make sure to shave. For women, this usually means their legs, armpits, and bikini area. For men, this usually means shaving down a lot more than they’re used to. Depending on what your body painting is, the best thing to do is ask your artist.
The other thing to do, which is often much less though about, is making sure you’re well rested, hydrated, and fed. Remember: you’ll likely be standing for most of the time. For most people, that’s a lot harder than it sounds! A good breakfast is key, and bringing snacks or a water bottle will help, although we’ll also have them at the studio.
Planning for success
For whatever event you’re going to, plan ahead to make sure you’re dressed (or undressed) appropriately. Most conventions have rules about covered nipples for men and women. Most public events want at least full-bottom underwear and bra. We’ve had clients who have had to cover up after being body painted, so plan ahead so your costume doesn’t get wrecked by censorship.
Bring the right clothes
Being transported from our studio to an event usually means you’ll want to get dressed. Having something loose to wear that’s okay to get paint on is a great idea. Body painting is also a cold sport. We’ll have heaters, but bringing thick socks, slippers, and a knit hat will do wonders. (Yes, even in summer!) You won’t realize how cold you are until you’re mostly-naked and we’re adding cold paint to your body. Brrr!
2. Come on in!
When you come into our studio, you’ll have the option of coffee or tea, water and snacks, and to adjust the temperature however you’d like. We can chat a bit about what you want, but ultimately you’ll have to take off your clothes (for most body paintings, at least). This is usually the hardest part for people who aren’t used to being naked in front of strangers, so we have some dividing walls so you can take them off in private, then come out undressed.
Our goal is to make sure you’re comfortable physically and emotionally, if at any time you want to stop we can. But, most of our models find the process a ton of fun and really freeing. You might be surprised!
3. Stay comfortable: be honest
Staying warm and comfortable throughout the body painting is important, and hard. Once a kink sets in it’s hard to undo; once a shiver sets in, it’s really hard to warm you up. Be honest about changing the temperature to your preferences and if you need a stretch break, take one. Don’t be a hero: tell us as soon as you need something so you can last (happily) throughout the body painting.
4. Wearing your paint around
Depending on your event, your body painter will give you some tips to keep it on and looking great, as well as safety and removal. This varies from event to event, but generally we will seal your body paint with hairspray as a protective barrier.
5. Removal
Most of our paints are water-soluble. Our painters will explain this to you when you get painted, but generally you want to (1) get into a shower, and start the water running in front of you. (2) Start by taking shaving cream (which is basically pre-foamed soap) and lathering your leg from the knee-to-foot. (3) Rinse of this area first. (4) Repeat the area if needed. (5) Work bottom-to-top. Next, lather your bikini-to-knee then rinse. Then, your bikini/butt/hips. Then, your lower torso. Then, your chest. Finally, your arms and last your face.
Trying to step just straight into the shower will create a colorful mess that will take not only longer to clean off of you, but your whole bathroom!