A Mortician'southward Beauty Secrets

Photo: Courtesy of Jamie Reed

Jamie Reed, known on the blogosphere as Embalming Queen, takes her task as a caretaker seriously. Except this Glee-loving, Lady Gaga–worshiping embalmer-mortician-in-grooming, is a caretaker of the dead.

When I take hold of Reed on the phone on Friday, she is on her way from mortuary schoolhouse to the coffin races, a Cool Runnings–similar event for the funeral-industry set, where participants race in handmade coffins and wearing apparel up in costume. "It'll be a really good time!" she explains. Like the race, Reed has the ability to brand her twenty-four hours-to-twenty-four hours task, restoring and beautifying dead people using cosmetics and formaldehyde, sound non morbid, and well, sweetness. She'due south more like to Jamie Lee Curtis's Shelly in My Girl than Rainn Wilson'southward Arthur in Half dozen Feet Under. I mean, how many morticians go excited near a Hello Kitty Edible Arrangement for their altogether? Here, she talks about the art of contouring a expressionless body, that time she used Chanel makeup for her work, and the importance of a "memory movie."

How did you get started in embalming?
My background is in biology. I was actually gear up to become to medical school and I did become, simply it turned out not to be right for me. I asked my college adviser, "Now, what practise I exercise? I have a biological science caste and involvement in man anatomy."  And he said, "Why don't you become an embalmer?"

I concluded up going to school in Kansas City and graduated final yr. You have to apprentice for a yr. I merely got my embalmer'due south license, but I'm still working on my funeral director license.

What was your reaction when your college adviser suggested you get an embalmer?
[Existence an embalmer] is not something very well known. But I'm going to start promoting it more. It'southward a actually great marriage of art and science. Even at present, I similar doing makeup. I like fashion. I like those types of things.

But I too beloved taking care of dead people. I did an internship at a medical examiner's office where I did autopsies. I love seeing the human body from the inside out. I accept this odd, quirky personality and accept ever felt a little socially awkward. I feel and so much more comfortable with twenty expressionless bodies than with twenty people who are live.

This has actually helped in dealing with families. This wasn't my life'due south dream, but it is slowly condign information technology. I think to succeed in this industry,  y'all have to have this sense of empathy or this drive to really help people when they are at their lowest and most lamentable. Because, you run into a lot of sad.

What is your day-to-mean solar day similar?
I piece of work at an embalming company, which is dissimilar than a traditional funeral home. We are the go-between. Funeral homes contact the states. For example, they call and say, "We had a patient pass abroad at a nursing dwelling house. Can you go and pick that person upwards and embalm them?" Our job is completely on call.

We use machines that cut into the neck, near the collarbone area. They're hooked up to the carotid avenue, out of the jugular vein, which is how we push all of the claret out of the torso and push formaldehyde and embalming fluid into it.

I don't know if you've seen a lot of expressionless people or have touched their hands earlier, but they're business firm. Embalming firms the skin. Nosotros want to get as much claret out and equally much embalming fluid into the skin.

What techniques do you employ to brand the torso wait, well — not dead?
Applying makeup on a torso is different than putting it on living skin. I accept used regular cosmetics for embalmed bodies, but the skin is then house, there's no mode to work in your foundation. Using an airbrush gets you streak-free, overnice coverage.

I took a class from an embalmer near airbrushing on a body and learned almost shadows. Normally, yous look at people continuing directly up. They take natural shadows on their confront. When people are expressionless in a casket with their optics closed, they don't have their natural shadows.

I apply something chosen hot chocolate — it's a brown powder that looks but like what information technology's named for, and you lot utilize it to add in shadows. I'll shadow in crevices around the nostril, upper lip and nose, and chin. All the places where there would be natural shadows.

And then sort of like contouring for live people. How do yous determine the vision or expect for your bodies?
You ever want to ask for a moving picture. Most of the fourth dimension, you get a pic circa 1960. Or get i that is extremely small and grainy. Or literally, I got one that was in black and white. I don't know. I've had skillful luck merely going with my gut.

What is the goal or desired wait when you lot work on someone?
I desire them to wait as natural and as peaceful as they can. You don't want anyone to look strange, harsh, or uncomfortable. Equally much as possible, you want them to look like they're sleeping.

A retention picture is the internal snapshot of the moment when you go to the funeral abode. It's when y'all encounter your loved ane in the casket for the offset time. If you didn't do a good chore equally an embalmer, that family will accept this horrible memory picture. I want my families to walk upward to the casket and say, "That's my married man. He looks at peace. He looks like himself." That's what I shoot for.

But it's a weird balance. When you do makeup on yourself, you want to hibernate certain things and make them get away. But if I'm working on someone that's 82 years old, I don't want to brand their imperfections go away.  You take to be careful almost what you take away, considering sometimes you lot get in trouble with the family. You want to give them their color back and yet look like themselves.

How practise you approach the challenge of adding colour?
We use some blazon of mascara that will add volume. The black and the eyelashes help the optics to stand out. We besides pencil in the eyebrows to requite it some life. I haven't used eyeliner just considering the people I'm working with — those old ladies are non eyeliner ladies. But I'm sure if eyeliner was important to them, I would practise that.

For the lips, we tend to use but regular lipsticks and lip glosses. Every funeral domicile has a lot random makeup. Nosotros have that bucket. It's usually things families have brought in that we can't give back. I try to expect through there. I'm trying to figure out how to do lips better. Embalming can make their lips look sparse or like you lost your lips altogether.

Right, y'all can't exactly use a lip-plumping product on them.
Right. It doesn't take any effect.

Practice you have a preference for colour cosmetic brands?
I don't have a favorite in item.  Some families are very item about their makeup and will bring information technology in. For one lady, they brought in two numberless of makeup and it was all Chanel. I was like, "Hot damn, lady!"  That was exciting.

What is the restoration procedure like when someone died nether traumatic circumstances?
We've had a couple of those. There was a pastor that was doing a proficient deed and someone shot him in the chest and he died. That one was really hard. This was a human who had done and so much for everyone else. I did a little restoration on his face and spent three days with him. I got attached to him.

At the showing, his wife and kids were at that place. Finally, the married woman came up to me and told me I had done a good job. She was pleased with the mode that he looked and I just … broke down. In mortuary school, they tell you that you aren't supposed to cry in front of the family. Merely I don't know where these tears came from.

She talked about how he always collected people throughout life. For her, it was special that even in death, he was nonetheless collecting people. She was almost glad I got that attached to him.

I'grand sure that people accept this misconception that embalmers and people who work in the death industry are creepy and common cold. Simply from your blog and speaking to you on the telephone, I can tell you're a warm person. Are people surprised when y'all tell them you're an embalmer?
A petty bit. I hateful, I have a purple Mohawk. And I love information technology! At the small-scale funeral home I piece of work for, the human being I work for is Mormon, and he's so squeamish and great. We've gotten to know each other. He thinks my regal pilus is beautiful. I never would have idea. I know the pilus can exist a little out there. But the families, they're in good easily if they do stick with me.

Near people when they initially detect out, just first in on the questions. Common reactions are, " Information technology's scary. Aren't you afraid that there is a expressionless body in the back?" I'm like, "No. Information technology would be scary if something sat up nether that sheet." I haven't run across anyone repulsed by what I do. I practice become a lot of people that say, "I'm glad you want to do that because I don't think there are many people that would desire to do that."

A Mortician's Beauty Secrets