My wife beat cancer of the tongue 3 x. By the time she past from her 4th fight, her jaw had been replaced once in a 15 hour operation, had her face flitted off her scull 2x in operations, the cancer had eaten out a 5” x 5” hole in the front of her neck, and her reconstructed chin had turned inward and downward into where her neck had been (which had been hollowed out by the cancer). I fully expected to have a closed casket funeral but I handed Kathleen ( the woman who removed my wifes body from our home and was a close friend of hers in life as well as our Desairologist ) a photo of my wife on our wedding day and said “do your best but no worries I’m not expecting miracles” I went to view the body and saw the face of the woman I married 18 years before. I got a miracle. It was incredible. She even cut parts of her wedding gown we were burying her in and sewed a scarf which covered the surgical scars around the base of her neck. I swear the work was perfection. you have no idea what a healing comfort this was even 9 years later. This is one of the most loving and important jobs in life, forever thankful.
Wow, that is so touching 😢 I have been a cosmetologist 23 years. This interests me especially knowing the family has a softer goodbye that is less traumatic. 💖
@@SnowFamilyOf4 we're a very religious family, I don't know what your particular beliefs are so I can only ask you that you take these comments from the perspective that we have I Find your profession to be one of the most holiest on the planet. You have my deepest thanks and prayers for your success and well-being My scripture say that death is our greatest enemy, and the grief in the damage that it brings to those who remain, you're on the front line softening that blow,
@@salvationsplace I am a very Religious minded as well. I lost my third child, he was stillborn at full term a week after a healthy gender ultrasound. One day after my baby shower. The hospital gave us as much time with his body that we needed. We spent 24 hours with him in the hospital holding and loving him, family came to see him. The experience was so deeply traumatic but the professionals involved were angels on earth. I remember the woman who took his body to dress and prepare for burial. She had her work office in her home. She told me she sung to my baby boy while she dressed and prepared him. I will forever be grateful for her beautiful soul and complete respect for the grieving family.
My husband died in a car accident. The kids and I needed to see him before we laid him to rest. The mortician did a wonderful job fixing him up. The job you do means a lot to families.
I'm so sorry to hear about your husband :( I wondered if it brought comfort to the family for this much effort to be put into making over the body. Now I know that it does. May eternal rest be granted unto your husband and peace be with you.
About 8 years ago, my cousin was killed during a robbery and got shot in the side of his face. His mom is severely cardiac and I - as the person who got to see his body first in the mortuary - and the rest of the family were very concerned about her seing it and have an attack (she was sent to the emergency room when she got the news). Thanks to mortuary makeup, his mom got to see her son for the last time and spent time with him in a way that she recognized his face. I was extremely thankful for the mua allowing them a proper goodbye. 🙏
Mari Santarem ~ Viiixxxen ....okay, now I feel a little small about the comment I made. We have a young death in our family, too. And yes, people who do this are indeed very very special and talented. No complaints when my mother and father passed. Lost a 27 yo nephew who no one saw. And my best friend who died at 37 from mouth cancer. She had a wig on, which I wanted to pull off and throw it out the damn window. She Never wore a wig. A doorag, but no damn wig!!🤗😃🤣😂😁GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR GOOD MEMORIES, MAY THE OTHERS FADE....TRULY, Danielle in Philly.
My son was murdered 4 1/2 years ago. Being able to see him and spend time telling him goodbye meant the world to me. He had been out in the 110 temps for over 12 hours during the investigation, but he looked like himself and I was grateful for that.
I cannot imagine the strenght it took for you to survive it. I hope there's justice,as much as there can be any for taking a life,and I hope you find peace and closure. My best friend was murdered and it nearly broke me...I cannot begin to comprehend your pain. I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart, internet stranger.
Im so sorry about abour son honey.. Im sending all my love, hugs, and comfort to you and your family.. Just remember that he loved you SO much, you sound like an amazing mama and he wouldnt want you to be heartbroken.. What comforts me alot, is thinking of what the loved one would have said to you if they KNEW they were going to pass soon.. I guarantee you he would have told you he loved you so much, you were the best mom ever, and THANKYOU for everything you did for him.. and to be happy 💕💕
its so disrespectful but i wanna see it on real bodies, i feel like the craftsmanship that goes into it on a 3d wrinkly slowly decaying body must be incredible
Agreed. I also agree that it would be interesting to see a real case. I would probably pay to see it. Not because I have a gore fetish or something but because I am intrigued by the artistry that can be used to restore a person to a state that will bring comfort to a family. I had a dear friend who passed from a gun wound to the face. I would have loved to have seen him one last time. I was told there was no way that they could have "fixed" him up. I don't know what the limits are to something like this, but I can definitely appreciate what they are doing for the loved ones of the deceased as well as for the person they are working on.
I want a feature length documentary on Caitlin's life. It would be really cool and interesting to see how she got into death. It would also be cool to see how she came to own a funeral home.
@Jason Marsden the part where you're hoping they wheel in a super mangled face for a satisfying restoration might be. its not like they're restoring antique paintings for private collections
I promised my Mom that I would do her make up if anything happened. We used to do each others make up, so I knew what she would have wanted. The funeral director let me use a nice room. I think it was a viewing room. They did do the base so it would all flow evenly. I invited her best friend. We brought champagne and music my Mom loved. The rest of the family thought it was morbid and that I had lost my mind. They said for sure they wouldn't be there because it was too much for them. Well guess what!!! That room was full of the family that was against it. In the end, she looked like an angel. All of her friends (that didn't know I did it) said how beautiful she looked. I kept my promise and I have no regrets.
That isn't morbid. Families used to dress up their loved ones and take pictures with them one last time. Even that isn't morbid because that was a commonality in the culture of that time. That was so nice to hear.
Not morbid at all! What a beautiful, lovely way to say goodbye. Good for you for keeping your promise even though others didn't understand it at the time. ❤️
What a beautiful memory! Much like the wakes the Irish always held. They were celebrations of life, not death. There was food and wine and laughter and music and rejoicing. It's always seemed such a pity to me that the customs were lost and changed by other cultures who thought of the Irish as pagans and heathens. I'd love to have a real 18th century Irish wake when I go, but of course, everyone think such talk is absolutely scandalous.
My sister use to do the makeup and hair here at the funeral home...most times she had to do at night cause to many distraction's during the day...alot of time she was alone said was quiet and eerie but she loved her job and did her best to make them look good for family...she did it for nearly 6 years before passing away herself of a brain aneurysm at 32..they did a good job with her to...she looked good ...always miss her but always proud of her for what she did for others
My grandma passed on Thursday and today I went and did her hair,makeup,and nails. I didn’t want a stranger getting her ready. It was actually comforting being able to care for her. She took care of me in life and it was only right that I care for her in death.
Could you give some advice to a person on how you were able to get that done? The person said his grandmother wants him to do her makeup when she dies. The person channel is Alexander's Dimension. They are in the comment section.
Insert morbid chuckle. TBH, I know a lot of cosmetologists that also moonlight working with funeral homes. It actually is a good field if you're not squeamish and it is always in demand. Death really is the one thing you can always count on in life and it's nice to know there are people that are doing their best for the deceased.
My cousin was murdered last February and the description of the night she had to endure was extremely violent. The MUA at the funeral home was a make up artist for sephora for 10yrs and she did a amazing job on her. I cant imagine how it must feel to have to reconstruct someone and then make them look like themselves, it sounds like one hell of a job and I'm happy people with such patience are able to do it.
@Cypress Esparza I’m sorry for your loss of your cousin. My mom said that when she saw her deceased mother at the viewing she was disappointed with the makeup job the funeral home had done, that it was obviously makeup and a very poor job. Her Mom died from a cancer so there was no damage to her face and in life her Mom didn’t wear any makeup anyway except for a little lipstick. 💄 Her Mom died in the late 1950s. I attended the viewing and funeral of a young man who got lost in a sudden snowstorm on a local mountain and died of hypothermia in 2005. Whoever did his makeup did a terrible job also. The face was too dark, the lips were too red and his hair had been sprayed into a hard helmet. He was just 15 years old.
When my uncle was murdered, they carved his face into mincemeat. My grandmother still wanted an open coffin and God bless the people who restored him, really gave her comfort.
Im impressed with the amount of skills this woman has. Like, from make up to hair to using a fking drill and putting a human skull back together...most underrated job on earth!!!
I had to plan my moms service. I brought you up to the director and he said and I quote " oh you are a deathling ". He let me go in do her hair, and nails, and help dress her. I think he knew I knew I could because I watch you. So thank you I got to spend some quiet time with her body. He even asked if I wanted to be present when th he began her cremation but I didnt want to.
We had a cousin who flipped his truck - a guy cut him off, and my cousin went into the ditch. Unfortunately his window was open, and he didn’t believe in seatbelts. His arm got caught between the truck and the culvert, and the left side of his face was sanded off, eye out, etc. His wife wanted an open casket, and they ended up putting a silk drape over the face and an orangish light. Don’t do that. Please don’t. His daughter had nightmares for months. Just keep the lid down and remember them alive.
My friend was involved in an auto-ped accident in February. He was in a coma for nearly two weeks before succumbing to his injuries. He had quite a few surgeries on his brain done and I think they had to remove part of his skull. His family chose to do a closed-casket service, and honestly, I’m thankful. while i’m sure they would’ve made him look okay, I just wanted to remember my friend the way I knew him.
Nellie Olsen I don’t understand how anyone would want an open casket after such a tragic accident. In all the funerals that I’ve ever been to, if the deceased had massive damage to his body, the relatives would choose to have a closed casket viewing, or to just avoid the viewing, cremate the body and then have a group gathering for prayers.
@@CommanderWiggins That would be me after I die. :) If the mortician gives me a bad makeup look I'm going back to haunt them and constantly criticize their cosmetic skills.
Ahhh the famous and ever present mortuary blue eyeshadow! Uggh. I can almost forgive it when it's a dude doing the make up, but when I find a woman has done that I just want to give her shaken baby syndrome.
Omg mortuary makeup is so important. My mom was bedridden, I was so worried mom wasn't going to look presentable for funeral viewing. Mom had been sick for awhile and just wasn't able to keep up with normal grooming activities that were very important to her in life such as having her hair colored and style. I then requested her to have a root touch up, styled ,makeup and nails done. The funeral home was happy to carry out her last wishes and she looked very beautiful. I was so happy mom was going to be remembered the way she wanted to be remembered.
I'm noticing that in my job, I also use brushes on dead bodies. The difference is that we intervene long after the funeral: archaeology is reverse desairology!
At med school, in anatomy class, my teacher told us, by the end of first year, to write an thank you letter to the corpse we used to study. She was heavilly botched and very yellow for the weekends spent in formol, and i tryied my best to "dress her up" for the reading of the thanks note. Found my old wig (that looked like how her hair should have being) got her some age appropriate clothes and because her face was not dissected, it kinda worked like a wake. When everyone got there to the final class, she was looking very decent. Teacher loved it. Everyone read their letters and it got quite emotional in the end. We ended up requesting her to be cremated (and not be striped for the bones, as most of the corpses were) and they did what we asked. Her ashes were still on the anatomy lab last time i checked, in a nice little box. We called her gloria in thr end.
What a lovely story. This is a classic example of death embracing the positive. Instead of death perception being all fear, violence and sadness. More people need positive death stories.
Thanks guys. I remember that story because i tryied to make her face less yellow and failed completely, had to wash her head and assemble it back. The lipstick worked better, tho. And the old wig covered a lot of things. She was my second cadaver and the first one we never knew what happened to him, but he was not in the lab anymore and i felt bad about not knowing and people not knowing when i asked. Like he didn't mattered. I was surprised by my second teacher actually take the last class to honor the corpse and make us reflect on that.
My Mom was only 66 when she died from evil cancer. It made her look 86!!! The mortician knew my family since my small town only had 1 funeral home. They made her beautiful!!! Rob took off those 20 years and then some!! She looked so beautiful people cried. It’s been 23 years, but thanks again Rob M.💕🙋🏽♀️
I lost my dad to cancer, I know the life it sucks out of you. It’s shocking to see the pictures before and after the cancer. It makes me sick he had to suffer through it
I'm so sorry for your loss, and I can relate. I lost my beautiful Mama at 66 to that disease on Valentine's 2013. I couldn't, I just couldn't bare to look at her lifeless, emaciated, war torn body; we had her cremated so didn't even attempt to go the makeup, coffin route. Even if the most gifted makeup artist did my mother's makeup, it wouldn't cover up what "it" did to her after such a long and valiant fight. She didn't deserve it and I'm sure yours didn't either. My condolences to all loved ones left behind.
I was just binge watching your videos and then this notification popped up lol. I have a story for you: Yesterday, in my 12th grade english class, we were having a book talk about our free reading books and I was rereading Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and I was expecting awkward silence from my classmates because "ew death no go away mortality" but almost everyonr had questions and we had like a 20 minute discussion about it. I told them about natural burial and home funerals and everyone was like "YOU CAN DO THAT!?!?!?" and they were all completely fascinated. I was shocked, but also happy that I could spread the knowledge of this. If you have a surge of new 17 and 18 year old viewers, that might be the rest of my class cause I told them about your channel. Thank you so much for your videos
@@AskAMortician I was so excited, even the really loud and obnoxious guys that sit at the back table were asking questions like, "How long does a body keep on ice?" and one even looked up your channel in class (with the teacher's permission) it was so amazing and I think a lot of people were interested in the home funeral and natural burial. They were very enthusiastic.
Was sitting Shiva last week and was telling everyone about this channel. My uncle, who is a lawyer, didnt believe any of what I was telling him. So yes, we sat watching Ask A Mortician at another uncle's funeral. Good times indeed.
Sadly you may have a influx of death phobic parents that dont think that should be taught in schools. In our current society it seems that people get offended so easily.as a parent that watches Caitlyn with my 10 and 8 yr old thank you. We need death education everywhere.
One of my close friends died in a car accident a bit over a year and a half ago. When I heard it was open casket I was afraid to see the way she looked. I don't know the desairologist at my local funeral home, but I wish I could thank them. She looked so peaceful, almost like she accidentally fell asleep after putting on makeup.
Same here. I was like wtf youtube is doing recommending me this stuff but then i stayed and now i am glad i get to know the work of people like these, they really help people so much with their job. Amazing.
well uhh, right below this video on my recommended was “can i have a dead man’s child”. sooooo, yeah that youtube algorithm thoo 😂 update: both videos were actually very surprisingly wholesome :)
The artists that worked on my grandmother did an amazing job when she passed in 2004. My poor grandmother was very bruised from blood thinners and her face was very gaunt and sucked in, and her hair was so thinned from meds and age. And the artist made her look like she just stepped back 20 years in Time and had a relaxing weekend at the spa. So major kudos to what these artists do!
As a hospice nurse I cared for someone for a few months, and the person died, of course. I was stunned at how beautiful the person looked at the funeral, never having seen that person healthy in life.
Im a makeup artist and my grandma loves getting her makeup done by me, she recently told me while I was doing her makeup that she loved how I hade her look because she feels young and beautiful. She wants me to do her makeup for her funeral and It was a really tough thing to think about since she's only 65 but it's a reality ill eventually have to come to terms with when she passes away. She suffers from Alzheimer's disease and I don't know which paperwork we need to get done before she's on a more advanced stage of Alzheimer's. I would appreciate some advice to make my grandmother's post death wishes true. Thank you so much for the content you put out into the world and for educating all of us on such a serious and tabu topic. best regards, -Alexander.
Oh my gosh Cailtin needs to see this, you should tweet her. If not, depending on where you are you could go to citizens advice bureau where they'll look into this for you for free. I'm in the UK and it's not expensive to make a will, you could mention it to your grandmother and include that wish in the will.
If you're in US you can have your Grandma fill out an advanced directive asking for whatever she would like. In any case talk to the funeral home and see if they will work with you. If not, try a different funeral home. Honestly it's not in any way illegal, it will just depend on the funeral homes policies, which is where the will or advanced directive helps.
Can you talk about still born babies? Like what is different or what is the same as far as preparing them and burrying them? Also, it wasn't that long ago that if a baby was still born they wouldn't let the parents see or hold their baby in the hospital. My grandma had a still born baby in the 60s, they knew he would be still born going into labor and the nurses quickly whisked the body away and she never got to see him. I had a still born son last year, and we knew going into labor that he had already passed. The nurses had an outfit for him to wear, let us take as much time with him as we wanted, and even had a professional photographer volunteer who comes in to take pictures of the baby with parents for free. I believe it was called, "Now I lay me down to sleep photography."
I'm so sorry for your loss. My family had a similar experience with my eldest sister's unborn daughter passing suddenly a couple weeks before her due date. She opted to deliver in a natural birthing center attended by midwives and also had a volunteer photography come to take some really lovely pictures, and once she and her husband had enough alone time with her the rest of us were allowed to spend time with her. As horrible as the whole thing was, I am relieved that the system treats families with more care and respect nowadays. Being able to hold her and kiss her goodbye really helped us all though it.
i am sorry for your loss. my daughter went into early labor with her twins and they were born alive and passed quickly. she kept them in room with her for few days. there are people who knit tiny hats and a photographer who did pics as well. so special,
I'd like to know this too, as both of my older sisters in 1976 and 1982 were stillborn. My parents had Rh incompatible blood types and my mother was never given the proper medication during her pregnancies (including with me).
@@laura121684 That's why my grandma had her still born baby as well. They had a shot developed, but if you were already exposed and your body created the antibodies, (which happened to my grandma in the 50s before they invented the shot) it no longer works. It's only preventative unfortunately. I too have RH negative blood, but that wasn't why my son passed away. We never got any answers.
I feel like this is the perfect job for beauty gurus that are antisocial. “What do you think, Mrs. Smith?...”. ... ... ... “They are always speechless. I love my job!”
My grandpa passed away a couple of months ago. He had a massive heart attack and fell down the stairs. He had been sick for the last 4 years. The people at the funeral home made him look so good. They made look like he's never been sick
Can you do a video about handling the bodies of children and babies? What is different? What is the same? Is it psychologically harder for you to work with them? Any other details you can share or think of?
Gets me everytime when I have a patient thsgs younger that passes from an illness or an accident. It's tough takes along time to get used too. Working in medicine I've seen many things but when you have a child pass its difficult. I rather deal with an older person than a kid. Takes time and a lot of mental prep, but that's part of the job when you work in medicine and you learn that it's a part of the process of life. 😔😁
I can see it now. This video gets shared. There is a rash of RU-vid beauty gurus who find out more about the subject and make videos. Then there come the palettes sponsored by these people specifically designed for the dead. The idea is funny, but a good idea at the same time.
you must not know dick about starkid that’s true.. it’d be cool to be able to see things like that without having to do it illegally or pay a lot of money
Big respect for mortuary aestheticians. A relative committed suicide by hanging... thank God the makeup covered most of the bruising of his hands and face . A very young individual, his grandparents would have been even more traumatized than they were. Thank you Monica Torres for your skill and dedication!
My mother STILL goes on about a relative that had to have a closed-casket funeral. As a whole, the family just hasn't gotten over it. Monica Torres and those that do similar work would have spared her and the family that agony. Such work is really, really meaningful to the bereaved.
Closed casket for my grandmother. I saw my husband in his casket and sort of wish I hadn’t. He looked like a dummy. You could tell the soul or spirit or whatever was gone.
Speaking from personal experience, sometimes, it's more merciful to the family/friends of the deceased to just not let them see the body. Sometimes, there isn't enough "material" left to be able to make them look as 'normal' as possible. It's horrible, and painful not being able to see your loved one again, but sometimes, it's just the least bad option. I'm sorry your family wasn't able to have an open casket if that's what they really wanted. I hope you all were able to find some healing and peace afterwards.
My ex-boyfriend’s step dad, to whom I was always close, was adamant: CLOSED CASKET. Well, when the day came some outside members were pressuring family to make it open. As if in a final act of his own determination, his body was simply too swollen and discolored. I know they all had a chuckle about it and are all content with their memories of him in life. I would have gladly attended his service, as our families go back 6 generations and when we split his mom and stepdad told him they were keeping me. Unfortunately I had a spinal injury that prevented me from travel. It was a work day, so I live-streamed the funeral in my classroom while working. I remember staring at the casket and hating it for taking him from us. Irrational, yea, but it needed to be furious at something.
I love the ratio of views:likes. :D The numbers are so much closer than on an average youtube video. Everyone wants to see this. Just everyone, Caitlyn really underestimated her viewers, she could have easily gotten so much more than 50,000 within a few days.
I work in special makeup effects and we use similar techniques with wax, which I'm sure originated in the funeral industry, but in a lot of cases. We are obviously going for the opposite in a lot of traditional zombie and trauma looks. Instead of reconstructing, we use the wax to "deconstruct". This was very interesting to watch.
yeah, i'm pretty interested in sfx makeup(+have a friend who actually is a sfx makeup artist) and i was going to comment that the techniques and tools look more similar to it than what beauty gurus do and use
Kelly Brown um yea. I feel like it would look unnatural on a living person as well. There are so many better materials to work with that aren’t super expensive.
@@maggiee639 definitely. I always keep ben nye in my kit in case I need wax on set.. I would be sweating bullets if I had to use morticians wax but maybe I just lack the skill. I wonder if morticians wax is harsh on living skin or not.
You should hop on over to Amy's slaton's next for her makeup tutorials.) If you don't know her, you must. Then try to imagine her doing this job. Your morning will be complete. Or whatever time I day possible
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this channel to hit so hard, emotionally. I don’t have a lot of emotions, generally speaking. Seeing these women care about dead people makes me think that maybe someone will care about me and respect me and think about my family when I die...and I didn’t expect that to be so emotionally significant. At the same time, I appreciate that they don’t coddle people with their information. When it comes to death, it is what it is, but at the same time, it’s not without humanity, empathy, and kindness. I never really thought about death until I found this channel, but now I feel like a stronger, healthier person. Thank you Caitlin 💕
My great uncle had been decomposing for 3 weeks before his body was found in his home. For some reason, his kids decided to have an open casket. (To each their own, but I definitely wouldn't have.) I have a feeling the mortician wasn't very experienced with this level of restoration because he looked HORRIFYING. His makeup was very visibly cakey and flaking off in spots. Also, his eyelids were partially open. Pure nightmare fuel.
My Dad was found dead after several days, he was an alcoholic, been on a massive bender and then aspirated his vomit. After we had to sort out his house full of maggots and flies and faeces, my brother wouldn’t view his body, and he advised me not to. I think he knew the mess he was gonna be in. I was 17, and as always, thought I knew best. I’ll never forget it as long as I live. As I stepped into the room I hadn’t realised he’d be right there in front of me, I just assumed I’d be able to approach the coffin slowly. Instead I screamed and literally dropped to my knees. It was fking grotesque. I don’t know if they’d done too much make up, or not enough or what, but I was absolutely terrified. His face was bright yellow and purple and blue, and I mean as bright as a child would paint if you asked them to paint that colour. I could see the lumpy suture line in his hair from the post-mortem while his younger brother was kissing his head. Of course at that time I didn’t know any better and we just paid in full, no questions asked. Lordy if it was *now* I’d be refusing to hand over a damn penny til they put him right! Like you said in your case, it was the stuff of nightmares. And he was only dead for 3-5 days max, not weeks. I can’t even imagine how that must’ve been for you. Was there a bad smell? That’s what I remember most about his house that we had to go in n clean up, the flies, the maggots and *that* smell 🤢😱
@@fairlyvague82 I am so sorry to hear that. It's heartbreaking that they didn't do a better job, or at the very least, tell you there was nothing they could do and recommend a closed casket. In my case, my great uncle lived a few hours away and, fortunately, I didn't have to set foot in his house. I can't imagine what you had to go through.
People like Monica really help make funerals and body viewing less traumatic for a lot of people. My great aunt died a few months ago and whoever prepared her body did a lot of great work like Monica does and I know it was comforting for our whole family, especially her sons, her daughter, and her brother.
This brings back so many memories... losing my brother when he was 19... going to the viewing and him being plastered with makeup. Horribly. My mom asked for remover... we cleaned him up. Until he looked like himself. Slightly bruised but more himself. It made her feel better. Less is more. What you do matters.
Hi there my sister died as a result of an accident prescription overdose and we had the viewing just before she was cremated. When I saw her she was smurf blue colour it shocked me!!! I’m wondering is that hard to cover up as I saw this video with your blue glove or did the funeral people here in Oz (Australia) just couldn’t be bothered with her?!! Bye the way just love your videos!!!!
I have a EXTRAORDINARY amount of respect for her career. This is the toughest thing to do-reconstruct a person to look as if they are resting, not dying from a violent experience
I do not comment on videos but I want to thank you for what you do. One of my friends was shot in the head, and she was the first corpse I've ever had to view. She looked so peaceful and like herself again. Since then, I had always been wondering what goes into extreme trauma repair so I can feel like she had the best care. Your videos have turned my relationship with death into a learning opportunity as well as comforting closure.
Wow things have changed. I grew up in a funeral home. I remember when I was little dad was going to school to learn reconstructive work. He would have a clay head they would smash up, a picture, and he had to rebuild the face.
One of the biggest gifts this channel gave me was the awareness and then the basic skills to do my mom's post mortem care. Even though it was bare minimum as it was just for me and dad to see before they took her from the hospital, being able to do her makeup and dress her to see her as she normally was is an experience I will always treasure.
I used to work in a dementia ward so I've seen a lot of people die. Usually when somebody had died (most of the time because of pneumonia) they look malnourished, actually dead. Then a week later, before the funeral, I got to see these lovely people again except they actually look like the pictures in their room! Amazing how people like Monica can transform people like how they used to look. It's a very important job and so important for grieving properly!
@@anitasteele4052 Vladimir Komarov was burnt to a crisp during a re-entry crash in the Soyuz 1. Literal hunk of char. His widow insisted on an open casket funeral to show what the Soviet government had done to him.
toddsmitts , I have always wondered about this. There are photos online of the Apollo1 astronauts that I wish I hadn’t seen and also Vladimir Kosmarov. There are also photos of the Soyuz 11 astronauts getting CPR, and a stamp that was issued in there honor, but with their pictures as dead bodies.
Also can I just say how pleasant and refreshing it is to see two ladies who have seen some unsettling things ( by the person who hasn't experienced death in a gruesome manner) in their careers, to be very professional and a joy to watch! Well done ladies!
My sweet grandfather died back in 2013 and somehow, they totally butchered his makeup. The jaundice was still very apparent and he looked cakey.... Turns out my poor gran didn’t read the reviews and we got the WORST person in our city. It absolutely sucked, but that made me appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into doing this as a profession. Thank you for what you do.
LittleMissFairy Bread I understand that! I can imagine how hard it is. I think they just picked the wrong shade for him. It’s kind of funny looking back on it now, because we’ve come a long way in makeup!!
This was seriously very informative and interesting. My dad committed suicide by a shot to the head 27 years ago and I’ve always wondered how they fixed it so he didn’t look like it happened. So thank you!
Crystal H reading this while thinking of doing what you me dad did. I lost my dad and miss him dearly . Rather be with him then with no family or friends at this point. Now I know what they will do ...
@@khaleesikimber7380 Don't. Live for your dad. Go out and do activities you would want to do with him and think of him or even talk to him while you do. You will be with him eventually but not yet. Live this life while you can so you have some good stories to tell him when you see him again.
Kimber Ly my brother also committed suicide in 2017. He left his wife and children to clean up the mess he made. You will not be helping yourself or the people who care about you. I don’t know what you’re going through that you feel this is the only way but it’s not the only way. 800-273-8255 is a number you can call. Call them. Call a friend, call your family. Talk to someone.
The "shot in the head/face" scenario is not so far-fetched. One of the most depressing aspects of being an inner city ghetto/barrio school teacher was the number of children's funerals I attended. These were students that I had either taught or were known to me, some as young as five. The local funeral homes took turns caring for the bodies of these children (either gratis or for the small stipend the city/county gave toward burying the innocent in gangland slayings) and, frankly, they didn't really do an esthaetically pleasing job. In one case, a little boy, barely a teen, had been shot directly in the face. The mortuary patched his face with what looked like patching plaster just troweled on and covered over with layers of paint.
@@missdee212-- There are eight million stories in the naked city--and they all ended up in our classrooms. (With apologies to the writers, producers, directors, and actors on the 1948 movie and the 1958 TV series, "The Naked City". The population of NYC in 1948 was just under eight million.)
any time my fear of death threatens to get the better of me, I watch a few of your videos and feel soothed by the fact that death is just a part of life
Please do fly back to Phoenix and be the "dearly departed" model for the Ms Torres. While it's one thing, for demonstration purposes, to give a briefing on the tools used by a specialist in this area, I think that showing the makeup process from start to finish on an "iconic corpse", if you will, would be more realistic.
My mom recently died suddenly in a plane crash. These videos helped me understand more of what happened after her passing and have given me comfort. Thank you
My husband's cousin was murdered. Her sister had to redo her makeup before her funeral. She said her sisters looked awful and she couldn't let their Mom see her that way 😔😢 Thank you both for caring so much. I wish all mua were like you two. 👏👏
To be completely honest, one of my fears is that I'll die without my makeup on and whoever handles my body won't be able to get my winged eyeliner right.
All I can say is thank you! I was 11 years old and my family, like 6 or so families were busy in October of 1968 baking cookies, wrapping gifts of magazines, toiletries, foot powder and such to send to Viet Nam, so the troops, my brother included would have gifts for Christmas. I must have been getting in the way as I was told to go play outside. October in Maryland was a nice time of year. My neighbor and best life friend went out front to roll down the giant grass lawns we had. I will remember the funny green Chevy Biscayne pulling up for the rest of my days. Two Marines got out, one holding a bible and the other with strips halfway down his arms. They came up on the porch and rang our door bell. The next thing was a scream from my mom, I still hear and I saw her fall into the arms of one of the Marines. I knew, even though I was 11, I knew. My brother was gone. We found out later, he had taken a almost direct hit from a mortar and they told my mom, there couldn't be an open casket. My dad, being a career Naval officer, flew to Dover to bring Roland home. While there, he had talked to one of the morticians on base that agreed to make him presentable. There was a clear bubble over the top of the casket so no one could touch him, but I have to say, for it being 1968, they made Roland look asleep. Of course you could tell, he had no arms, but they used something to fill the Uniform sleeves and the side of his head wasn't right, but it was something. I am so appreciative of the skill of that Military Mortician for giving us what he could. Monica, thank you for helping families. Myself, will be going natural burial, however I wind up. Bless Be.
@@itseasybeezy I live in São Paulo Brazil. Here, you need to go to school, mine lasted one year. Plus I'm a bachelor in Industrial Design and the morgue's Manager is my mom's friend for years and I got the job due to lack of personnel in graveyard shifts. We work 24/7 non-stop and I've had 36 hours shifts, but there a comfy couch on the breaking room I take my naps there sometimes.
I’m so happy to see someone else doing makeup on the deceased like I do! All of the old guys at work question why I do things but also make me do all the cosmetics now 🙃
I did my grandma her make up yesterday. I’m really glad I did and that I could do that for her. With the make up she looked more herself. It is still a lurid thing.. the whole death aspect. May my grandma Rest In Peace 💜😢
A new subgenre of the beauty community is born - Post Life. When will you be releasing your "Dignity" makeup product line? Will it be available at Ulta? Is it Jeffree Star approved?
Wish my friend's family would have gotten someone better to do his wax mask. Yup you heard right. My friend died in a drowning accident but his body couldn't be found for 3, 4 days 😞 Welps, one could imagine how a body looks after being submerged for that amount of time. His mother, who was always a little out there, insisted on an open casket funeral. Let's just say the mask completely did not do his memory any justice! It was a stuff of nightmares actually! Which was a shame because he was such a handsome man at age 25 when he passed away. He was half Puerto Rican half British with piercing blue eyes. 😟 I will never forget. 17 years later and it was like it happened yesterday. R.I.P. Billy.....
@@sarawyndspryte471 Or his poor mom she never really got over his passing cause he was her only son (she has 3 daughters as well) but yeah I guess the good never last long in this world 😞
CEDL4072 They don't. 😞 My dad passed at 47 (brain tumor), my mom at 66 (liver failure) and almost 3 yrs ago, my husband at 51 from a heart attack in his sleep. He was in full rigor mortis when I awoke and discovered him gone, I asked the mortician & he estimated Ron had been dead about 5-7 hrs; yes, I was asleep beside him the whole time and DIDN'T KNOW. The funeral home did a good job of fixing the lividity on the right side of his face (he was laying on his side) and I even took a pic of him in his casket. Some family & friends were kind of horrified I did that but I reminded them of the death pictures in Victorian times & early 20th century.
My loved one hadn’t paid to be embalmed in her pre funeral plan, in less than 6 hours after I requested her funeral directors had her laid out looking just as her self. It meant a lot to see her like that since she died in a hospital gown. Thank you for your content you’ve really made this easier for me 💛
when my aunt passed, they forgot to put mascara on her, so we asked the funeral director, he found some but got it on her cheek, and he actually did spit on his finger and wiped it off, while me and my aunt's bff was standing up there watching him. She shouted "holy crap, did you just spit shine her" but we laughed, my aunt would have found that hilarious! So no harm done
Why are you using a prolific sex offender/pedophile picture and name please?? Yes everyone and anyone can use whatever pic or name they choose....... Just interested and hope you will reply /answer my query. P. S. Thanks for reading this.
Something was missing and it got me thinking: how much wax and plaster would it take to make Bentham's head look presentable? Could you do it with makeup alone?
@@amandamfds Oh no, I mean no disrespect, I just want to be considerate of how his surviving friends feel about his presentation. He died in what century? nvm, lookin' good, Jer, carry on.
My grandmother died over a month ago. Before we went to her wake, I had felt a lot of tension wondering what my grandmother was going to look like. Thoughts in my head wondering "what if she doesn't look like herself? What if they put too much makeup on her and she looks more like a wax figurine, rather than herself?" Come to find that her makeup looked SO natural and that my grandma looked like she was just sleeping. Even her hair was curled real nicely which she would have GREATLY appreciated, seeing as she would NEVER leave the house if her hair didn't look perfect. I really got even more of an appreciation for the people who do the dead's makeup, it's a job that really requires skill and extra care. Thank you for what you do..
If I could just say to any morticians, GET A PICTURE of the person in real life. Study it. Do their hair like THEY did it, not like you'd do it. :) And I loved this video.
I have to say that in all four of the open casket viewings I have been part of (in separate funeral homes) a picture of the deceased when living was used in the preparation for viewing.
@@marianalopez3132 They did this for my mom. My sister gave them the photo. She looked more like herself than she had in years due to aging, over 100 years old.
I’m getting emotional because I am remembering how beautiful and natural my grandmother looked at her viewing. It was such a bittersweet day, September 24 2017. There were soo many floral arrangements and pictures everywhere and her huge family all gathered and we just talked and told stories. Thanks for all that you do!
