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Lisa was in trouble, there was no way she would be able to meet this months rent, it had seemed like a dream come true to be able to get away from her "doting" parents and go away to university, finally being able to exert her independence. However, the dream had quickly turned sour. Many of the other students were from relatively wealthy backgrounds while Lisa’s folks, while not poor were far from well off. She had hoped to pick up some bar work to help fund her living expenses, but hadn't reckoned on the competition for these positions being so fierce. The house she was living in was by no means extravagant, a shared student house the grotty end of the town she had to pass some disreputable areas on the 20min bus ride to uni each day. It was while on this bus ride that she spotted the sign in the window of the "makeover bazaar" looking for models. The only other bit of the sign she read as the bus sped past was the subtitle "Good rates of pay" She was distracted all day at uni, unable to concentrate on the lectures, the rent would be due by the weekend, she couldn't impose on her folks for the money so she had to find an alternative. She hadn't realised that you could get paid for modeling hairstyles, she had thought the idea was you had a fee hairstyle as payment. It couldn't hurt to enquire more she thought and skipped out of class early to walk home, so she could pop in and find out more.

When she reached the shop she studied the notice, there was a paragraph of small print stating that models must sign a wavier accepting whatever style was given. You had to sign up for a complete makeover which could include any aspect of your appearance and finally Models were expected to maintain the "look" for a month after the show to give the shop increased exposure. The pay was simply listed as "enquire within"

Nervously Lisa pushed open the door "Umm Hello" she said to the receptionist, a girl of about her age with a platinum blond angled bob, "I'm enquiring about the models wanted poster?"
"Take a seat and I'll get someone to come out to you" the receptionist said motioning Lisa towards the seating area.

Lisa sat and played with her hair, she was 5'11" and was told by friends that she looked a little like Billy Piper, while she knew she was no beauty queen she was attractive without having to wear masses of makeup and had a good body. Her mid blond hair was down over her shoulders having grown out of the shoulder skimming bob she had worn before coming to university.

From a door behind the receptionist a man appeared, "Hi " he said walking toward Lisa with his had outstretched, "I'm terry, welcome to the makeover bazaar." Lisa stood and took his hand, "What do you know about us?" he asked.

"Nothing" Lisa said, "I just saw the sign, and thought it might be fun and, well, I could do with the money too."

"It's Ok" Terry said "that's nothing to be embarrassed about, the standard modeling fee is £1000, and we offer a further £500 as incentive to keep the "look" for a month which is paid at the end of that time. As it says in the poster its not just hair, we may give you a wardrobe, new makeup, sometimes even piercings or tattoos. Our makeover shows are all themed, and this dictates the look you'll get. We have 4 shows a year with the next one coming up in a weeks time, we still have spaces for models for this show so if you are interested then i can leave you with the forms to go over. We do need a signed waiver before we can take you on as a model."

Lisa took the clipboard Terry offered and glanced down at the page, at the top it said in bold type, Disclaimer, she skim read it, "allow all and any changes..... may radically alter my appearance..." the second page covered the additional rules for getting the full £1500 "...must attend the shop at least four times a week in full dress..." she swallowed and signed at the bottom of the page, what was she letting her self in for she wondered.

The first show was in a weeks time which was handy as far as Lisa’s rent was concerned, in fact if she got the full £1500 it would pretty much pay her rent for three months. Leaving her free to get on with her studies without having to worry too much about money.

As the day of the show neared Lisa started to fret, a letter arrived with two days to go with the details of when she would be required and some information about the show. The theme of the event was Goth and after the filmed makeover, Lisa and the other models would be taken to a tube station for a series of photos and video shoot to be used in various adverts around the world.

Crap, Goth, Lisa thought to herself, trying to picture herself as a Goth was difficult, it wasn't something she had ever felt drawn to, all that black and a morbid fascination with death didn't appeal too much. How was she going to feel having to look like a Goth for the next month? Still at least it didn't sound too extreme, trying to picture the Goths she had seen around she expected to be getting black hair and pale makeup and she supposed with a slight shudder maybe a couple of new piercings, but at least it shouldn't be anything too permanent.

The big day arrived and Lisa got up early to get a shower and wash her hair (As instructed) before heading out to the shop for the 9am deadline. She went in and was asked to sit and wait with two other girls, whom she supposed were also there as models. She introduced herself to them, the first whose name was Debbie was a plain looking girl of around 19, she seemed very nervous so Lisa assumed it was her first time too. The other girl seemed much more confident. She introduced herself as Sam and when Lisa asked she told her that it was her third time modeling. Sam’s hair was a couple of inches long and bottle blond, Lisa could see that she had many earrings and what looked like a tattoo peeking up above her collar, but what it was she couldn't tell.

A short time later the three girls were called in. The room they entered was bustling with people, most in white smocks. Some fussed over racks of clothes others prepared trays of items or bottles and containers of liquids. Each girl was ushered to a chair. Lisa was met by Terry, "Are you ready for a bit of a change?" terry asked. Lisa nodded as terry placed a cape around her shoulders. Its going to be a long day he said, we'll stop for lunch at around 1.00 and hopefully be finished in plenty of time for the shoot to start. The photographers are booked for 8.00 and we should be wrapped up by midnight. If you can its a good idea to get some sleep during the makeover segment as the evening tends to get quite busy.

Lisa nodded, she didn't feel tired at the moment, in fact she was quite pumped up with adrenalin and sleep was the last thing on her mind. She noticed there was a schedule printed out and sellotaped to the mirror in front of her, she couldn't read all of it but could make out some of the headings, Hair - Piercings - tattoo - wardrobe - Makeup. She expected the first and was looking forward to the last two but the second and third title gave here some cause for concern. Terry returned from the back with a gown covering his clothing. Colour first he announced and helped Lisa out of the chair to one of the washing stations along the wall, a junior helped wash Lisa’s hair then after a towel dry Terry started brushing on a thick purple paste. Lisa was given a magazine and left under a dryer to process. she could feel the paste burning slightly and mentioned this to one of the assistants. She checked it and told Lisa not to worry it was fine, the bleach would feel slightly hot but it was fine. After 40mins Lisa was deemed done and lead over to a sink where her hair was again rinsed. From the strands she saw out the corner of her eye it was pretty light, she doubted it would stay blond however as that really didn’t fit her idea of Goth! She was lead back to her chair and terry and one of the assistants began pasting Lisa’s hair with the contents of tray full of small pots of colour. Lisa guessed there were at least a dozen different pots on the tray and these were being carefully painted on to specific sections of hair, eventually Lisa was again sent off to process with foil covering her entire head. She carried on reading her magazine, with equal parts intrigue and worry. After half an hour she was again lead to a washing station and rinsed, terry seemed please with the result and took her back to the chair for the cut. Lisa finally got a look at the colour and was taken by surprised at how bright it was, the bleach had made the colours pasted on afterwards really pop. Much of her hair was black, or possibly very dark purple she wasn't sure. However, there seemed to be ribbons of colour braking up the dark hair with vivid blues, violets and pinks. It looked amazing, nothing she would have dreamed of having herself but she was pleased with the result so far. As terry was combing through her hair he asked her what she thought so far. "Fantastic" she said, "I really like it". There’s a long way to go yet" terry told her and smiled.

After combing through her hair he began sectioning it, first he took a strip from front to back, about three inches wide over the top of her head and pinned it up. Next, he combed a parting roughly an inch above each ear and followed the line of the top around to the back. This split her hair into five sections. To Lisa’s surprise terry then took out a set of clippers and proceeded to shave off the two side segments leaving her with three sections of hair separated by two large bald segments. At least she thought they were bald, however terry obviously didn't and was now spreading shaving cream on to the short stubble
This was removed with razor leaving Lisa with two strips of shiny white scalp. She reached up to feel the freshly reveled skin; it was surprisingly cool to the touch, and very sensitive! The drastic change to her appearance was still sinking in; as Terry started backcombing her remaining hair and spraying it with firm hold hairspray. Shit its some sort of mohawk, she thought to herself, how am I going to be able to keep this for a month! As terry worked the colours that had been put in her hair began to make sense each side of the center and side fans were outlined in stripes of the brighter coloured hair with the centre section being made up of the darker purple colour. Once Terry was happy that the hair was standing up properly, he began trimming the hawk to length. The top he carefully cut so that it stood about twelve inches out from Lisa’s head all around. The coloured sections either side of the top he cut down to half this length. The sides he fanned out and trimmed to about 8inches.

Lisa couldn't believe the change a haircut could make, she appeared to be a completely different person already and the she had only been here 3 hours. As she moved her head around the first thing she noticed was the weight of the hair sticking out from her head, I'm going to have to be careful going through doors she thought to herself, what was I thinking signing up for this! As she stared at her reflection it began to dawn on her that she would have to face her friends and family like this, Shit she thought to herself again.

Terry returned to her side obviously pleased with the results so far. Right he said we'll take a quick break and then press on, still lots to do. Lisa was shown into a room out the back, obviously some sort of staff lounge. A table was laid out with food which Lisa wandered over to and picked at. After a few mins the door opened again and an amazing looking girl walked in She was completely bald apart from two locks of bright red hair shaped like horns standing straight out from her head. A fresh looking tattoo still partly just outline curled around her right ear, this depicted a dragon and was tattooed in a black tribal style.
Her ears were completely covered in piercings, and it was this that made Lisa realise it was Sam she was looking at! "How do I look?" Sam asked, grinning. "Amazing" Lisa replied, "did you know this was what they were doing?" she asked indicating the tattoo. "No" Sam said, "but after last time I'm not shocked by anything anymore", to illustrate she turned around and pulled down her top to reveal the back of her neck, here Lisa could see a pattern of scales that ran from the base of Sam's head down her neck and as far as Lisa could see all the way down her back, extending out across her shoulders. "These took a little getting used to Sam said, but my boyfriend loved them and they are pretty unique. I got so many cool comments on the beach on holiday last summer when I was in my bikini. The theme for that shoot was reptiles, i had my hair buzzed short and dyed green with scales shaved into it, it was wild."

Just then Debbie came in to the room, with a glance Lisa could tell that she was on the verge of tears. Her long dark blond hair was now a black topknot above a completely shaved head. Lisa could see that she had also visited the piercer and now had a line of perhaps a dozen studs in her left ear. "Are you OK?" Lisa asked as both Lisa and Sam went to her and lead her across to a couch. Sam fetched her some water while Debbie wiped away the tears that had now started flowing. "I'm sorry" she said and sniffed. "I didn't really want to do this but i needed the money so badly. I don't know what my boyfriends going to say, he loved my long hair", she felt her head and started crying again, "...and its going to take years to grow back" she said between sobs. Lisa was surprised that she herself hadn't reacted in this way but she actually found herself consoling Debbie, "don't worry" she said, "at the very worst you'll have to get a wig, we'll certainly be getting one too" she said with a wry grin. Debbie looked at Lisa and Sam and started to smile and within a few moments all of the girls were laughing.

The laughter cleared the air somewhat and all three girls decided they had best get some food down them as it would be a long day. Over the buffet Lisa asked Debbie why she needed the money so badly? Debbie explained that she was getting married and her folks couldn't afford to contribute so she was trying to fill in the gap. The weddings going to be a freak show now though she said running her hand over her scalp and gently around her ear. Oh god, what’s Tim going to say, there may not even be a wedding! Don't be silly Lisa said, if all Tim saw in you was hair and un-pierced ears then you are better off without him. When is the wedding? she asked. 3weeks Debbie said sadly, not even time to grow my hair out to a pixie cut!

The girls sat and chatted some more, Lisa was impressed by Sam’s outlook on the whole thing, she described the attention she got the last time she was a model with obvious glee, She told how people would literally stop her in the street to take her picture. She said that initially she had been quite reserved and shy but after her second makeover she had decided to really enjoy her new looks and try and make the most of it.

It was soon time to return to the work room, Lisa caught sight of her reflection in one of the mirrors as she came in which gave her a start, the last half hour had made her forget the changes she had already undergone and it was now her turn in the Piercing chair. She sat down with some dread, she had only ever had her earlobes pierced, and these she had taken out while going through a bit of a tom boy stage at school. The chair reminded her of a dentist as did the trays of instruments next to it. The piercer a woman named Sue came over and introduced herself, though Lisa wouldn't have mistaken her for anyone else as there as no one else in the room with 2" holes in their ears and barbell between their eyes.

“Just relax” Sue told her, “this is actually going to be pretty painless, because of the number of piercings we are doing in one sitting I’ll give you an anesthetic which will effectively deaden all of your nerve endings in your skin for a good few hours. It will also help with the tattoo later so its well worth doing. Everything will feel slightly numb afterwards but this will have worn off by this evening. It is a very fine syringe but I will need to put lots of small shots in to make it effective” she said. Sue turned her back on Lisa and started preparing a syringe. “We will start on you ears” Sue said and began to inject tiny amounts of liquid into Lisa’s cheeks and temples, Lisa prepared herself to flinch as the needle went in but apart from a slight stinging sensation it was fine. After using up the contents of three syringes on Lisa’s face Sue advised her they would need to give the anesthetic a few minuets to work. Sue went to make them both a coffee, while Lisa poked experimentally at her face. Sue had placed a lot of anesthetic around her ears, which Lisa had expected, and a number of injections had gone into her lips, which worried her somewhat.

Sue came back with the drinks and asked Lisa how she felt? “Getting numb” Lisa slurred. “Fine” Sue said, “if you feel OK we'll get started?” She pulled up a stool and tray of implements and sat next Lisa. “Ears first” she said, “nothing in at the moment which is good, its always harder to try and work around existing piercings. Terry has asked for some pretty involved ear work on this side, so it is going to be a bit sore after the anesthetic wears off I’m afraid. It will also need some careful aftercare too, but if you get any problems at all just come in and see me.” With that she put on a pair of gloves and disappeared around to Lisa’s side. Every now and then Lisa felt a slight tugging on her ear but it was barely noticeable and after a while she actually felt herself drifting off to sleep. She was awoken by Sue gently tapping her shoulder, “all done she said, do you want to see?” Lisa nodded still slightly groggy from being woken. Sue held a mirror up in front of her but she couldn't see herself in it anywhere. The reflection in the mirror was of some freak with multicolored shaved hair and lip rings. Lisa licked her lips which were quite dry, the girl in the mirror did the same, her tongue sliding over the rings at each side of her lower lip. The last few hours started to come back in a rush. Sue turned the mirror to show Lisa her ears. The right had three black studs in the lobe, however the left had received a little more attention, the lobe had a large hole in it with a tube fitted within it, Lisa noted she could clearly see through it and estimated the hole to be at least 1" across. The edge of the ear was completely lined with rings, she reached up to touch them, “there are 12 rings around the edge” Sue said so expect it to be a little sore!

While Lisa started at her reflection, Sue went to see if the Tattooist was ready for her. It was beginning to dawn on Lisa just what she had let herself in for, she had assumed the tattoo would be the most permanent aspect of anything they may do but the piercing in her earlobe didn’t look like it was the sort of thing that would heal up quickly by itself. Sue came back and took Lisa across to another chair, introducing a woman named Maz, what this was short for Lisa wasn't sure but the tattoos which covered both of this middle aged woman’s arms left her in little doubt what she did.

After getting comfortable in the chair, something which involved positioning her head so that her hawk was above the chairs head rest, Lisa sat back and tried to relax. She had never had a tattoo, or any real desire to have one. Some of her friends had had the typical dolphin or butterfly tattoo but it was not something that had appealed to Lisa, now she was very worried that she was going to get something which would make those tattoos look quite tame. “You’re not doing anything o my face are you?” she asked with a tremble in her voice? “No love” said Maz, “just 3 little ones for you today.” Maz took her right arm and rolled up her sleeve, then she carefully shaved the area around her right wrist. Taking a piece of paper which Lisa learnt was a stencil she transferred the image of 7 connected stars to Lisa’s wrist then pulled up her tattoo gun and after telling Lisa it shouldn't hurt too much she began tattooing. Lisa watched feeling slightly detached from the whole thing. Nothing had been said to her about the design or placement, which she knew was in the contract but it seemed much more barbaric now she was actually experiencing it. She watched as the stars were outlined in black then coloured in red, yellow and violet each star was a good inch across and the whole thing was very visible on her wrist. I'm not going to be able to hide those she though with some dread, realiasing they would peek out below any sleeve she was likely to wear. Maz finished quite quickly then started reproducing the same design on the other arm. The Final tattoo consisted of four more larger stars on Lisa’s chest just below her clavicle each one three inches across so that from a distance they appeared to form a necklace.

Maz announced she was done and Lisa stood to check her reflection, not for the first time today her appearance shocked her, the tattoos were very visible and their simple design really made a strong statement. For what seemed like hours she stared at her reflection unable to take in all of the changes of the last few hours, The shaved and dyed hair was the biggest visible change but the tattoos were perhaps the most permanent while the huge hole in her ear the most barbaric. Maz brought her back to reality with a hand waved in front of her face and pointed her in the direction of the makeup and wardrobe room. This was one of the few items on the agenda that Lisa wasn't to worried about and gladly enjoyed the distraction.

Makeup consisted of a light foundation and dark eye makeup as Lisa had expected, Her clothes were shown to her. It was primarily black with a smattering of leather and some quite kinky looking bondage style PVC items. She was shown how each item was worn and which items could be worn together to make an outfit, this was stressed as Lisa was to be wearing this collection for the next month it was important from the suppliers point of view that she always wore it to its best advantage. There were around 40individual items which could be combined to make 15 complete outfits and a few variations as well. She had 4 pars of Boots from thigh high black leather to big clumpy work boot style items as well as a full range of underwear including a number of corsets which she eyed nervously. Eventually The team broke for a bite to eat before heading off to the photo shoot, which was to be held in a disused tube station, for reasons Lisa didn't really understand.

As she was cueing for the buffet she felt someone tap her on the shoulder, she turned to see Sam beaming at her, I love your ear! Sam squealed, what do you think to it? where are you're tattoos? Sam's enthusiasm lifted Lisa’s mood somewhat and she showed Sam her tattooed wrists, which elicited a "cool" from Sam. It was plain that Sam had spent much of the afternoon with piercer as her face now sported a lot more jewelry than before, Her eyebrows were lined with rings, six on each side and her nose had five rings in it, two in each nostril and one in the centre. But it was her mouth that had come off the worst, with six rings in both the top and bottom lips. wow, Look at your piercings Lisa said indicating Sam’s face, I know Sam exclaimed, its a bit more than I wanted, they are going to sow my lips shut for the shoot but they are letting me have something to eat first! Its going to hurt tomorrow but at the moment the anesthetic is still keeping it fuzzy. My boyfriend is going to love it, he has been on at me to get my lips pierced for ages. she said, with a wink. Ohh you got venoms Sam grinned at Lisa noticing her lip piercings for the first time. Lisa couldn't help but smile, the despite the huge number of piercings Sam now had in her face she was still as bouncy and upbeat as ever.

Lisa looked around for Debbie, she had been in the tattoo chair before Lisa so Lisa was interested to see what she had had done. They didn't have to look far as she was sitting across from them at a table with a plate of sandwiches, as she saw them look her way she gave them a wave. Once they had got their food they sat down next to her, Lisa was surprised to find she was in good sprits. Hi again Lisa said, how’s the afternoon been? Cool Debbie replied, look, she pulled up her skirt to reveal a tattooed band around her thigh with a heart containing the name Kevin. Isn’t it neat, I hope Kevin likes it she said, Lisa stole a quick glance at Sam, they shared a look and then agreed that Kevin was certain to love it. Did you get anything else done? Lisa asked, Debbie pulled her sleeve up on her right arm to reveal a complete sleeve of leopard spots running from the back of her hand up to up over her shoulder. Wow Lisa said with some feeling, that’s um impressive? Debbie grinned, its not too bad she said, at least it will cover reasonable easily with makeup. She did the one on my leg as a sweetener for it.

Lisa and Sam tucked into their food, Sam particularly seemed to be putting it away like their was no tomorrow. It was soon time to pack up and head off for the shoot. The venue was a disused tube station and it quickly became apparent that they were going to be their some time. The set had been dressed and the photographer was pleasant enough but the number of costume and makeup changes meant that the novelty soon wore off. Lisa saw Sam and Debbie several times, Sam only to wave to as her lips had been fixed together with six new rings binding the top and bottom piercings together. She still seemed to be having a good time though. Lisa found that the best way to handle the event was to think of it as an acting role, she had done a bit of am dram in her time so on the way to the shoot she had been coming up with a back story and personality to match her looks.

Lisa's alter ego was an intelligent girl who had not really been stretched by the education system and tended to escape in to her own imagination rather than face reality; she had fallen in with the Goth culture as she considered herself an outsider anyway. Her real passion was art and this had lead to an interest in tattooing, which she was pursuing as a career, despite her parents desire that she should be a vet. She had come to love the drama of the gothic dress and as they also embraced tattoos, she felt able to express herself fully. She dressed in extreme fashions entirely for her own benefit having little interest in men or relationships.

The evening eventually drew to a close around 2am, the girls were given envelopes containing cheques and details of follow up appointments and taxies were called to get them home. Lisa sat next to Debbie who had fallen asleep her topknot now braided into twenty or so thin snakes, which lay across her face. Sam sat opposite and gave Lisa a strained smile, Lisa guessed the large amount of new jewelry in her face was starting to hurt, Lisa’s anesthetic had worn off some time ago and her ears and bottom lip both felt very warm and tender, Lisa could only imagine the pain Sam was in with her lips still fixed together. Eventually the taxies turned up and the girls said their goodbyes.

It was ten thirty the next morning when Lisa got up and staggered out to the kitchen, it was ten forty when Lisa fully woke up to the sound of one her flat mates screams " OH MY GOD LISA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!" "shit" Lisa said, the previous day had seemed like a dream but as her eyes focused on her newly tattooed wrists it came back to her in a rush. "errm Modeling" she replied to Abby’s question. "Jesus look at you! You’ve had your lip pierced! Are those real tattoos!? What are your folks going to say?" Lisa’s hand instinctively went to her mouth, then to her hair, feeling the shaven stripes running front to back now with a hint of stubble, she realised that having slept on her hawk overnight it probably didn't look its best, something she would have to take care off before she went out. "I'm an adult" she said slightly defensively, they will have to get used to it. (What she actually thought was, they will probably disown me!) "So what happened?" Abby asked, and made tea while Lisa recounted the events of the previous day. After the tea Lisa showered spending some time on her hair, it took a couple of washes to get all of the hairspray out but to Lisa’s disappointment none of the colour came out with it. She very carefully washed her tattoos and figured it was best not to attempt to wash the piercings, she had been given a salt soak which she applied after the shower but apart from throbbing still they all looked ok. She found the lobe piercing was big enough that her finger could go right through the hole, she had to admit that although she would never have dreamed of having it done, she was actually starting to like it, with her old hair it would have been a neat hidden wild side she could have shocked her friends with. However with the rest of the makeover there was little chance of hiding anything!

Back in her room She started to pick out the clothes for today, she had instructions to only wear the clothes provided but even so there were some that were more subtle than others. Eventually she settled on a closely fitted top and black leather trousers, she struggled with the top before realising that it was to be worn over a corset. This was actually something that she had enjoyed from the makeover so back on went the corset and after tightening it as much as she dared The top now fitted as it should. This just left her hair and makeup. She blow dried her hair, happy to find it dried in half the time in used to take. Sitting in front of the mirror she was also pleased to see that with her hair down, apart from the very obvious layering effect it actually didn't look to odd. It appeared to be mostly purple in the sunlight light coming through the window but streaks of blues and pinks were also visible through it. She was very pleased that none of the shaved areas could be seen unless the hair was lifted up.

As she looked at her self in the mirror after applying a little dark eye make up she actually found herself thinking this could be a lot worse and for the first time since the makeover she seriously considered singing up for another modeling session. 

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