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I know that in our subcultures most of us use face paint and body modifications in one way or another, but where did it all originate from?

Do you use face paint or any body modifications, if so why do you choose to do so?

For me I am into body modification for many reasons, both mental endurance and physical endurance of the acts required to function during such things.

As well as the meanings of thousands of years of symbolism behind the tattoos I have, and will continue to get. Keeps those primal currents alive through my blood, and body, allowing me to work on the same levels of the ancients with all the time and energy they had, building into what my own works.

i totally abuse my black eye liner and sometimes red i use grey as blush and pale look is just me all natural

far as body mods i cant use piericens no more due to high body infection rate due to cancer and lung disease

i have tats of gargoyals skulls dragons and unicorns all of my mythology favorites

If you believe certain myths, face paint/make up began with The Fall in present-day Iran. The story as I remember it off the top of my head anyway, was that certain technologies were taught to Mankind through the Fallen, Cosmetics being one of them.

I've got a couple of tattoos and a piercing. I got the tat to honor someone close to me, the one to honor my own spirit, and the piercing was about facing a certain fear and pretty much represents having gotten over it.

None of the choices were made with subculture in mind though.

I am very into tatoos Im in the middle of having my whole right upper half covered in tribal designs.. Someday I may have most of my body covered.... Most of the designs I choose to have tatooed on me I created myself others are ones I just liked and added to the whole.... Either way Im taking a bit of whats inside and displaying it proudly on the outside..... I also must say the pain of the tatoo can become rather addictive... One is able to reach new heights of awareness while endureing pain.....

i only have two tats, and they are things that are very personal for me.
i use face paint to change my image....from conservative average joe, to goth vamp dark angel.
lol

To modify one's face or body either with face paint, tats, or whatever one may chose to me is a work of art. I have a butterfly tattoo and I learnt later butterflies are transformation. I have made many transformations in my life. Maybe that is why out of all of the tats I could chose from, this one was the one that I most wanted.

I believe what we chose to do with our body is a way we express ourselves through our own inner art work.

i have thought a few times of having a dentist modify my canines to fangs full time...i just dont think my job would approve, and ...sigh....i have to be able to look conservative when im a work....

wish i were a full time musician or somesuch so i could be more what my heart is!

I have tiger stripes down both of my arms, filled in also. I love them.
I have my eyebrow, labret, tongue, ears, and nipples pierced.
I get pierced and tattooed because my nerves are shot to hell, after being paralyzed more than once in the last 5 years. So, I attempt to find new ways to feel more than constant back, neck and leg pain. :) And I love every moment of the piercing process. It is, of course, amazing.
The tiger stripes are going to be complete once my body is covered. It's who I am.

I have only a couple piercings. I do intend to get a few more, other than my ears. Although where, I'm not sure.

I would like to get my lip (very far side, by the corner of my mouth) or possibly tongue pierced. But I'm worried it'll feel too weird or interfere with things such as intimacy or eating or whatnot.

I really have my heart set on clavicle piercings though. But I'm wondering whether surface piercings or dermal anchors are the better choice.

more or less everyone on the planet uses body modification. putting on clothes to make up to how u cut ur hair is a form of modification. so why everyone gets all stressy about subcultures i dont know we re just doin the same as everyone else just not quite how they like it

I got my first tat in honor of someone that died. In memory of him. I have continued to get them because I believe that they are a beautiful way of showing my art, feelings, heart and spirit. Not to mention that after that first one I was an addict.

My piercings are quite simply. I was longing for the pain. Being a sado-masochist the experience was and is really quite exhilarating.

Face painting, tattoos, piercings and body modifications have been around almost as long as mankind has been around. Tribal cultures all over the world have and still do these things. I watched a show about the history of tattoos on the discovery channel a while back and they showed a 5000 year old mummified body with a tattoo that you could clearly see and it was a fairly detailed tattoo also. There is evidence of them in tribal cave paintings that date back even farther. I would say that the history of them all predates any kind of written or pictorial history so the true origin will probably never be known. As for modern tribal customs some of the reason are war marking, ascension to manhood/ womanhood, telling of personal history and or a sign of belonging to the tribe. There are many other reasons those were just a few. There is one tribe that still wraps their babies heads tightly with leaves and vines so that they will end up with a cone shaped head because they believe that a cone shaped head is a sign of intelligence.

In my case, i am into tattoos. I do not have many all over my body, but I do keep the theme the same; which is dolphins. The reason behind that is because I have been a swimmer my whole life and it was the only thing that ever really bonded me to my grandfather since he was an Olympic swimmer. Soooooo, one day watching the National Geo channel, I learned about dolphins and from age 5 or so, I was hooked.

The only other thing that would up on my body is vines and ivy to show that I still have a bind to this realm and horses because I am as free willed as the dolphins but just as graceful as I am formidable on land.

I most definitely use body modification. For one, I LOVE piercings. While at the moment I only have my ears pierced three and four times each respectively, I have had my lip and navel pierced as well. Both were taken out for the purpose of a job. I have many tattoos and piercings planned for when they will work with me rather than against me [[i.e. I can get and keep a job with them]]. Personally, I like modifying my body because one, I think it is aesthetically pleasing. It makes me feel more beautiful. Two, it makes me feel a little less mundane and a little more unique. Creativity comes into play as well. I have always liked being an "outside the box" type of person, so I dye my hair funny colours, get things pierced, and dream of inking myself. What can I say, I'm a full-blown, natural-born weirdo. =]

the native culture uses face paint all the time. we've used it to celebrate and go to war. i have a tattoo dedicated to my kids and i have my nose pierced . i did that on a whim.

Chrysanthemia: I would recommend the dermal anchors
myself, I don't wear goth makeup, or any for that matter, but I do have numerous Tattoos in the planning, and have been giving serious thought to suspentions

I have a few modz but nothing 2 big as of yet ~grins~ my latest n biggest would be my implanted fangs and as for the reasons for my piercings and mods it's an alteration of my body that brings me joy and makes me more comfortable in it.

i use tattoos and body peircings. i have 13 tattoos and 3 peircings. my labaret, tongue and nose. my tats all have symbolic meaning to me. they are placed on my body in ways that make it so unless i chose to let you see them, you would never know. i am getting another one tommorow for my birthday. it is going to be of 3 hearts with angel wings to signify my 3 children.

it sounds wonderfull i also thought it would b a great honor 2 bear my chil upon my body but my waz done over my heart with her baby footprins cuz she tends 2 walk ova me lol not really but she is a tad bit spoiled

I do have tattoos but I guess you could call me a wuss because I can not stand the pain that goes along with the Modifications of ones body

I counted the other day all the piercings I want and the total was 38... of which right now I have 5.
Once I reach 18 at least I will be able to get them done myself.
I want at least 6 tattoos too - and they're all very personal and remind me of certain things.

As hasalready been said, I guess I wanna test my endurance a lot and see how far I can take it.