How people REALLY look in death - media Vs reality 

My mother just passed away at home and as soon as I saw her, I knew that she had passed. She looked asleep, but her skin colour was more of a greenish colour. Both of us have a green base colour to our skin, but it was quite obvious. She passed peacefully. Thanks for educating me, made that moment much easier for me

Thank you, smart Ladies. A few weeks ago my precious son died. It was made easier because the funeral director was kind and professional. I still need answers and your videos have helped so much.

My dad was a healthy 38 year old man when he VERY unexpectedly died in his sleep at his home in 2004. He had been laying in bed on his left side from the moment he died until around 9 p.m. that night when he was discovered. We know he was alive at 5 a.m. because he made a phone call around that time, therefore we believe he probably passed away around 6 in the morning, ultimately making it about 15 hours that he was laying there like that, clearly giving the blood a very long time to pool. The livor mortis was so severe down the entire left side of his body, including his face, that it was a VERY deep dark purple. It was actually so dark that the mortician couldn't completely cover it up on his face and arm no matter how hard she tried and she was exceptionally skilled at her craft. Though I'd seen livor mortis in person multiple times by that point due to my career in nursing, I had never personally seen it so dark but the funeral home, who obviously works with people that have been dead far longer, hadn't ever seen it to that degree either. They, too, had seen purple before, but everything on his left side was so dark that it was damn near black. And, unfortunately, embalming and make-up couldn't hide it, but we still opted for an open-casket funeral, nonetheless.

I just finished my first week as a removal tech! Your videos helped me know what to expect going in the field and let me say I love it!

Now I get why these ladies are a hit. ❤One former journalist and one experienced mortician. Add crazy hairdos. 😂You are my favorites. 😊 My regards to Calvin. 🎉

My mom looked terrible when she died but it is cause she had cancer her stomach was so far in you could see her ribs her neck was sunken in he cheeks were sucken in she had nothing under her skin it was all gone not something you want to go thru i will tell you that it is just so terrible to see your loved one like that but im the one who took care of her up until the end cancer is a ugly

Your videos really help me cope with the trauma of the death of friends and family, and any person really. Thank you ❤

Having lost my Father when I was six years old to a heart attack I think about things like this. You are very reassuring that our loved ones are treated with care. Thank you for care as a last act of kindness to the dead.

Thank you for your content! I appreciate the factual, straight, no nonsense commentary. Keep up,the great work xx

Having worked in nursing homes and hospice can confirm that color change is not nearly as drastic as people think it is. I do say there is a change and it is often my first clue that the person has passed, but it’s incredibly subtle. You really have to know the person well and know what you are looking for to even be able to spot it at all. I feel like a more accurate explanation is that the change is not one of over all paleness but of exaggeration of their normal skin undertone. So people who were warm toned in life will go very slightly more yellow, people who were cool toned very slightly more blue/green, people who were true neutral will go ever so slightly grey. It is still a normal human skin color. Often times families don’t notice because that isn’t what they’re looking for. They’re looking for “white like a ghost.” Always threw me off when we’d have someone who was very jaundiced because all the yellow hides that subtle color shift.

Your videos are very lovely, I know I'll be losing my grandfather sooner rather than later and this all will help me cope. I watch this channel a lot now. He's 90 and we're starting to notice a lot of confusion, it all happened so fast.

I really enjoy your videos very much. My father was an embalmer and funeral director when I was born. My mother told me that I basically grew up in funeral homes as we lived in the living quarters above the mortuary. It seemed my father was always on call as in most instances, US funeral homes also operated the ambulance services. Of course, this was in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Please keep up the great job on your videos ladies.

I have 2 skeletons..annie rexic,and Emmy balmer..they also like to travel..

A big thank you to both ladies for so readily talking about something that is so normal and happens to everyone, but no one wants to talk about death, they don't even want to say the word, instead, they say s/he "passed" and the first time I ever heard that expression, I didn't know what they were talking about -- passed what? A truck on the freeway? I just never heard that term until later in life. My father was a physician and the term for "dead" was usually that "s/he's gone." It's what we most commonly used in the hospital to say to family also. And that's also the term my veterinarian used when putting a beloved old pet to sleep -- "s/he's gone." I certainly knew that the word gone meant that they were never coming back! So to have many of the enigmatic questions being answered so readily, honestly, but tactfully by these ladies is very refreshing and very helpful. The normal layman wouldn't understand pallor, rigor, lividity, etc., but Tracy, the mortician explains things in simple terms which is so helpful, very tactful, and very appreciated and informative to those who don't have a medical education and have those questions that wouldn't be answered normally, which is going to be most people!

I am a former EMT who worked on a volunteer ambulance service for a small town in the Midwest for several years. So I've seen a number of deceased people shortly after they were stricken, but we always attempted to bring them back via CPR while transporting them to the hospital where Advanced Life Support measures would be undertaken. In all cases, the (then) patient (soon to be declared dead) was a deep blue/purple color due to lack of oxygen and no circulation. Once we started CPR, and used oxygen enriched air via an ambu bag, they would slowly start to become slightly more pink as the oxygenated blood began to somewhat perfuse through the body. We were not a Paramedic level service so unfortunately we were not trained to perform any advanced life support measures. However, upon arrival at the hospital the patient was always immediately intubated via a laryngyscope and endo-trachial tube which was inserted directly into the airway with 100% oxygen, which all went directly into the lungs. CPR would continue until a "Lucas device" was placed which takes over the very hard work of the manual chest compressions, and does a far better job pumping the blood than manual chest compressions do. At the same time, the patient is also placed onto a heart monitor so the E.R. staff can assess whatever heart ryhthms or lack thereof are present, so they can continue treatment. An I.V. is started, and drugs are introduced in order to stimulate the heart, depending on what rhythm is on the EKG. If it's asystole (flatline), epinepherine (adrenalin) is injected to hopefully start the heart back up. There are a number of other drugs that are also given, and if the heart is not flatlined (lying silent without any type of actual beating), it is in some sort of fibrillation, or quivering type motion, and the paddles are applied, a burst of electrical energy is introduced into the body in an effort to "shock" the heart back into a useable, pumping rhythm again. They will continue to increase the joules per kilogram of electricity per "defibrillation" attempt over and over again until the patient finally "comes back", or is declared dead. But while these heroic and always dramatic measures are being undertaken to hopefully save a life, once intubated and effective CPR is being completed, the deep cyanosis (bright blue/purple in color) of the skin eventually pinks back up, and as the blood becomes more oxygenated and pumping through again, the cyanosis disappears completely. So it's not until some time AFTER the decedent is declared dead that the cyanosis goes away, once the blood begins to slowly leak down to the lower portions of the body and it returns somewhat back to a more life-like appearance (although anytime I've seen the patient within hours after death, they still appeared much more pale than they did in real life). I've also worked a number of traumatic injury calls, where the patient died, but not because of a medical emergency cause of sudden death, but instead a traumatic injury such as bad car accidents and the like. In those cases, the patient went into full cardiac arrest due to the nature of their injuries, which usually resulted from blunt trauma, and they basically bled out internally. I've never seen a single traumatic injury death result in a save, but the same measures are still taken. But in most of those cases, I don't recall the patient being as cyanotic as they always were when they experienced a medical emergency, but my guess is that it's because they were bleeding internally so much that the blood is no longer being effectively circulated through the body, but instead is pouring out of the internal injuries into the body cavity itself. But in all cases that I was involved in, the experience was quite traumatic for all involved but especially the family and loved ones. In cases where the family was already there when we would arrive, they were always very upset and traumatized, and their memory of their loved one in his/her last moments was forever seared into their brain. But by the time of the viewing, they were all able to be successfully embalmed and cosmetized, having open-casket visitation and funeral. In the case of my own grandfather, who died at 82 years old in 1997 from a massive heart attack from which he immediately collapsed onto the floor due to immediate cardiac arrest, I did not work that call (thank God!) But as always, they attempted to bring him back albeit unsuccessfully. Whoever did the embalming on him did a TERRIBLE job. He was way too heavily cosmetized, giving his entire appearance a bright, almost fluorescent hot pink coloration, and upon my first viewing of him I was appalled at how overly made up he looked, and therefore he looked more like a made up clown than he did as himself in life. Far from appearing to be sleeping, he looked very gawdy and terrible. The embalmers didn't even bother to brush away the stray makeup out of his hair, as there was highly visible hot-pink powdery looking makeup still all over his hair, especially by his ears. You could also easily see where they inserted the I.V. upon his resuscitation efforts, because the insertion site appeared to have some brusing around it, which was touched up with a HUGELY obvious amount of extra makeup, which just made it even more obvious which wasn't helped by the light pinkish/blue spotlights they had aimed down onto the open casket from the ceiling above. I wanted to complain to them and ask them to get rid of such gawdy hot pink makeup because it made him look not at all like himself, but decided to just keep my mouth shut, and get through the visitation and funeral. Fortunately the casket was open for a brief time in the church, where people could pay their final respects. Without that awful bright pink and blue spotlights shining right down onto him, he didn't look nearly as bad under the normal church lighting which made that final moment slightly more tolerable than it was at the visitation which was done at the funeral home.

Please keep up your wonderful postings!! We enjoy them fully!!

Love your videos and that you are addressing questions a lot if us have.

Hi, from Arizona ❤ This is so absolutely wonderful! My dad worked as a mortician for about a year. I had all kinds of questions. Thank you both for being so gracious and knowledgeable. ❤❤❤

Its good you set the record straight v movies facts . Some people do get scared from watching the horror movie . Your RU-vid epersoides will not take the fear of dieing but it will give them a bit of peace on the true process of what happens to our bodies after the end of life .Keep up the great work about your work as a mortician. Hopefully you both are doing well and stay safe and give my mate Kal a great big hug for me.👻❤🐰

I'm a floral designer and deliver flowers very often during the wake..We have a Church that doesn't use a mortician..wounds are wounds and they close the casket..they put a large piece of black lace over the face, if they have been shot in the face. I pinned a boutonniere on a young man and I was shocked..I live in DC.. gang violence is awful.

I'm a new follower and loving your videos. I'm so glad I've found your channel you've answered a lot of questions I've had. Can I say how much I love Kalvin (sorry if I've spelt his name wrong spelling isn't my strong point) he's a brilliant addition to the team and I love the cushion behind you. looking forward to the next video from Shropshire, United Kingdom

That's what upsets me about the UK; the autopsy opening. It seems like everywhere else does the Y cut but in the UK, for some reason we do a gullet to groin straight cut and it's so hard to cover that. Especially when the pathologist has been rough and ends up tearing the neck further up or doing a longer cut 😿 I used to go mad trying to cover the ragged tears.

Ah, the new Dynamic Duo! Thanks.

Another great video from my favourite Aussie-Geordie! Thanks ladies!

I recently found you and I so enjoy your channel!!!

Love love loveeeee you ladies! Best RU-vid channel going x

I attended the funeral for a friend of mine and did not know that in her culture the body is not embalmed nor is makeup and such used for presentation at her funeral. I'll spare the details for those who don't want to know, but it was horrific. Everyone was also wailing and screaming at the top of their lungs, to add to the shock.

Hi trish and Tracey hope you're both well 🥰 what an interesting topic, enjoyed the video 👍💚

I Lov you both very much. Thank for introducing us to Calvin. Glad he loves to travel. Reminds me of the movie weekend at bernies only no skin. Lol. Trish I was with a newspaper for 15 years so I relate to journalism and Trish you are amazing. You are always so informative if the mist kind professional way. It takes a special kind of person to do your job and I can tell you love it. Most people are so afraid of dying I’m so glad you are here to answer the questions most ppl find taboo too ask. I admire you both so much and I so much love your channell. I lost a sister to cancer a few years ago and that is how I found your channell. Now I never miss a video. You have such empenthay with all of your clients. I hope I don’t meet you for that reason but I would Lov to meet you guys in person. My daughter works for a cemetery. Thank you for always keep your clients confidential and that you for the channell. God bless and keep you both. Xoxo

Watched two aunties, mother and father die. In each case, a minute or less just prior to their last breath, the facial skin tightened, changed colour, a jaundice like tone and shortly afterward the jaw slackened. Both my father and his sister were medical professionals, dad was a specialist physician and aunty was an anaesthetist and we cared for them both at home. Mum and her sister were in special care wards. We were fortunate to be with them at the end. Dad took me to nursing homes when in my younger years and I got to see and experience other deaths then too. It is very sad, but it is also just the process of life and death which we all experience in different ways.

Very stylish today ladies. Always look forward to your comically informative vids. Luv ya work girls. Have a wonderful weekend. Happy mothers day kalvin. 😅😅

Fascinating

This is always super interesting. Thank you

Hello my friends!!!! I love your videos!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!

Hey ladies! From Oklahoma City, OK!!

Wonderful as per usual ladies ❤️❤️

Very interesting as usual! You guys are so awesome!!

Hi Tracy and Trish. I saw a video on another channel where they said the viscera bag is placed at the foot of the coffin or casket, but putting it back into the body cavity would seem more practical. Can you show us what a viscera bag looks like in a future video please? I imagine it looks like this👜💔🫁🥐🥩☣😉. Love from Andy

Thanks again for this amazing informative video ladies 😀, I am a big fan of your channel! Oh and Tracy I got to say it again you have such beautiful hair, how long is it actually?

😂we love cal !!!!! ❤❤❤❤ funeral director here!!! ❤❤❤❤❤just graduated in Canada !

my father's skin looked like yellow marble , and he had only been dead a short time. his eyes where also open.

hi ladies from me from South Africa!Hi kelvin.I am so Glad I found your channel.i love it and I am learning so many things.

Great video!!! 🖤

I was applying makeup to a family member , although she passed February, funeral was April due to a postmortem, when i was doing face make up i noticed the face foundation was cracking as i applied it , what would be the course of that? the more i tried to take off reaply foundation it still looks peeling , when doing the hair i lifted head at back i could feel as though it sort of joined obviously for brain removal, i also noticed a strange smell would that be because of ortopsy and part's put back inside thank you for reading ladies keep up the good work your the best channel I've found in explaining what happens when we die , great name are you dying to know of course we are, as Tina Turner sang your simply the best 💕

Thank you ladies. I really appreciate the matter of fact way you discussed this. I was 18 when my father passed away and, although he mostly looked the same, the part l remember most vividly (apart from the shock and the grief) was that he looked and felt like he was made out of wax.

Love your open n honest answers wich was always kept in the dark wich made death more scary. Being a aged care nurse for decades held to many to count resident hand while they passed. I would be asked by some residents what was going to happen to them. I would explain our part up until the funeral home came picked them up for preparation for funeral.

Thank you for this❤❤

omg I love both your hair styles vantastic

I saw two people before they got cremated for the first, and buried for the second. They both look like they were made of wax, but still look like themselves. I still pray for their soul to this day. Death is part of life. We all have to endure the separation, and it is awful to be the one left behind. But at the end, it is a path that we all have to take one day or another.

Thank you ,yall are great

I saw my brother a couple of days after he died by hanging, just before he went away for post mortem. He looked normal, at peace, pretty much like he was asleep. I noticed his nose wasn’t quite the same, instead of being straight it had a slight hump. I didn’t need to see him again but I went to support my Mum and Sister the second time, this time it was 3 weeks since, sadly this traumatised me as he looked terrible as to be expected. Skin colour grey/green, sunken dark eyelids, protruding facial bone structure and thin dried out lips and nose. It is portrayed much worse on films He wasn’t messed about with and had a none invasive postmortem, basically bloods and scans. I’ve always been death positive but these last few months have been a real test.

Just discovered your channel and I’m enjoying your content. You answer the type of questions we really are “dying” to know. I noticed that you showed a live model being made up in this video. I always wish I could see actual deceased bodies in videos like yours. I find it fascinating. Do you not show them because it’s too upsetting for some viewers or because of RU-vid or legal regulations? (Of course there’s the respect for the family. I would expect consent for their loved one to be shown.)

Thank-you sweet ladies for answering this question. Have a lovely day. 😊

I think you have omitted to say when you look at a un- alive body you can tell immediately they have passed because the ESSENCE of who they were has left. There is no mistaking the “soul “ has departed.

My dad was a funeral director & embalmer for more than 20 years & I remember he used to use my girls world doll to practice his make up skills

That was somehow comforting but obviously educational.

Thank you for your videos....

Great explanation, quite educational thanks

You gals seem like you’re so much fun! I think I missed my calling and should have gone into mortuary science rather than barbering. But, almost 40 years later at 57 years it’s probably too late to change careers now.

Poor Cal. Two women and he can’t get a word in, like ever! Smh…

Hi Tracy. Are you from County Durham? I recognise your accent!

If the viscera is in a bag in the body during an autopsy; how do you embalm them? I would think they would decay and smell if untreated.

A question, do they collect the precious metals after cremation and does it have any monetary value and who gets the proceeds?

Hi ladies, I am wondering how deceased people are transported from interstate? Say VIC to Brisbane? Do they have to be embalmed? Etc? Thank you

Great vid thkssss🎉🎉🎉🎉

The movies always show the eyes closed and mouth closed. That's not how it really is. They always close the eyes and they stay shut. In my experience, the muscles relax and the mouth comes open and the eyes are at half mast.

Aloha Ladies and Kalvin😊❤

love every single video you lovely ladies do also very informative too most likely be make up would make their lips look blue

Hi ladies, the few I’ve seen look almost like the wax museum. Thanks for your informative videos, love them! Do you still receive messages via Instagram?

Calvin is always smiling :D 😂❤

Hi! Do you ever use perfumery on the bodies? Michael

Why is no one saying that the mouth hangs open?

When my mother died my brother and i left the room so the nurses and doctor could confirm. When we were told we could go back in a space of 5 minutes only we all stare at a person whom we didn't know from my round faced mother yo a thin faced gaunt face shock us all

Love that skeleton pillow in the background ❤

My mam was 92 when she passed and very wrinkly. When we went to see her her skin was very smooth. Does this normally happen? Love your videos. Where is local?

I love your videos

i have a question on when embalming & closing of the mouth how do u close the mouth up if the person has dentures? My grandmother just passed & she had her dentures put in im curious on how thats done also not even 2 hours after she passed her eyes were completely white her tongue was a ash grey too is there a reason on y that happen so fast

Hi guys from Sunderland xx

Yay ps I am a cosmologist as well !!! Love you Ladies !

Blue lips happen if someone died from asphyxiation, a lady in my town died with blue lips because she couldn't breathe.

Dead people look like themselves, but dead. Hard to mistake it. I sat with my husband as he bled out from an internal aneurysm. In my opinion, no matter how skilled the mortician, made-up people look kind of strange. More like a painting? Just my opinion.

Aloha from Hawaii, Cal, Tricia, and Tracy!!! Did you notice that Cal's skull is blocking the pelvic section of the skeleton pillow behind you? 😅😅😅

This was a good one. Are you guys sisters, married, mom and daughter? Just wondering.

I've seen a Calvin lookalike at my chiropractor's office. His name is George. I hope the photos claiming to be Calvin aren't scammers like George. I have always suspected he was up to no good. His smile doesn't reach his eyes. Very suspicious.

My baby died from cot death many years ago now but still like it was recent. When I pulled the covers of her she was bluey/ purple and had what looked like pus from her little face, ears, nose, eyes etc. why would she have pus?

I have a question after the death of my day over 11 years ago. He disappeared and we hadn’t seen him in 17 years but had to organise his funeral… how do you cope with strange funeral situations? I remember being very angry as a result of his absence and wanted a cardboard coffin! My sister wanted all the trimmings and my brother just wanted to tick all the boxes and be practically done with the whole situation! Very different views and possibly very awkward for our funeral directors 😮😅😬 I feel like we dragged her into some weird family dynamic. How would you deal with situation and how would you deal with it us in that situation. It was the first time we had seen him in 17 years and he wasn’t alive… I’ve had it on my mind since his funeral and it all being so very weird and out of body experience even to this day! I’d love to hear you talk about this ❤

When my Mom passed away she turned very yellow. Does rhat gave anything to do with internal organs dying?

Tracy….where are you from? I detect a Geordie twang? I’m a Northerner myself.

MOMENTO MORI ! ! !🤔

I have a question. and I hope it doesn't sound too silly, but I've always wondered WHERE does the blood drain to when it's taken out for the embalming? Does it just go into our sewer system?

Grazie.

I'm so scared of dying

How long does it take you to finish a body preparation?

Hello my son died on a motorcycle and his head was really damage. My question is why they had one eye higher then the other eye. I was tollally hurt. Why they did that to him. That's my last vision of him😂

Is there a diagnosis for somebody who's fascinated with death or dying or process of death or after life..that's me..😮😮 From Durban, South Africa

Hello!!

good name for Kal x

They look like me.

❤

I saw my dad when he passed, when the make up artist retouch his foundations, his skin was blackish. 😢