Body art is almost as old as man himself and even before human beings wore clothes, they decorated their body’s in various ways. If you stop to think about it, most of us do it, even now.  Take, for example, the simplest forms of body art which are jewellery hanging from ears, necks, wrists and ankles. Then there is makeup of various kinds including painting, often decorated nails and coloured hair.

Body painting is very common and big difference between this and many other forms of body art is that the paint is only temporary. The intricate designs often take many hours to apply and are washed off in two minutes in a shower.  Body paintings range from face painting to all over decoration.

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Taking this a step further we get to tattooing, piercing of various kinds, and the more extreme branding, scalpelling and scarification.

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Most people are familiar with tattooing in all its forms whether it be full body, or small discreet patterns on normally unseen areas.  Tattooing is actually becoming more and more popular in many parts of the western world, although it did originate in tribal cultures in Polynesia and Africa. The art itself has come a long way from the days when it used to be done with pigment and a sharp stick.   Extreme body piercing can be seen here.

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 Piercing is also accepted even though it can in itself be quite extreme, but things like branding, scalpelling and scarification are not seen as often.

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Scarification is literally cutting patterns into the skin to cause scarring and the raised scar tissue forms the design.  Scarification is explained here.

Scalpelling is similar to piercing except that instead of using a piercing needle to make a small hole, a scalpel blade is used to cut a much wider hole in the ear lobe, lip or wherever required.

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Branding is another form of scarification in which the design is burned into the skin instead of being cut into it. Strike branding is done by heating metal hot enough to sear the skin and stamping a design on with it. It is just like the method used to brand cattle.  The very latest way of branding skin for decorative purposes is by using a laser which allows very intricate designs.  Tattooing ink is often rubbed into the burned tissue.