Woman covered in tattoos shows what she looked like before extreme ink

dailystar.co.uk:

tattoos said she's lost count of how many times she's been inked – and her look is so different that she even gets asked for selfies on the street.

Lily Lu has been a world-renowned tattoo artist for years, and she's bagged a few freebies along the way, which has played a big part in aiding her tattoo budget.She loves getting inked – so much so that her entire body is plastered with intricate designs – and she's even had more tattoos layered on top of original designs to up the ink.READ MORE: Tattoo models cover up extreme ink with foundation and look unrecognisableSome parts of her body are now covered with up to three layers of tats, and she admits the process becomes more painful each time.Lily, from Germany, told The Mirror: "I pretty much ended up with 100% of my body covered, so it's in no way possible to count the tattoos. "It's more than three layers over my entire body and I still collect a new one from time to time."For me, most of my tattoos have a deeper meaning – they are a memory of my past, like in a tribe when you earn a different piece for different stages of life."I walked a path on the edge of society for almost two decades and my ink symbolises multiple stages of me letting go of the normal ideology of life and the reality society teaches us."Lily said over time she's learnt to walk away from what other people think – she said she treats her tattoos "more like a book", which are packed full of memories, tales and stories.She admitted strangers would sometimes say hurtful things to her, and some wouldn't even go near her due to her extreme ink.But now people seem to be more accepting, and she doesn't face criticism as often.