 everyone and welcome back to another vlog. Today's vlog is all about tattoos, hair colours and I don't think this is just the UK, I think this is across some of the countries as well so I just really wanted to cover this topic and hopefully provide some sort of information for you. So I've only had two negative comments about my tattoos in the 11-12 years that I've worked in healthcare so I was on placement and luckily it's always at the end of my placement on my last days. So I think I'm very, again, no offence to anyone, this is my own personal things that I do. When I'm out on placement or when I was out on placement as a student nurse I angle my tattoos in certain ways so the people it's not the first thing that people notice because I like people to get to know me for who I am and build that trust with them before they firstly judge me because I've got a tattoo, if that makes sense. So I'm quite fortunate that when I've got my tunic on it does cover my arms so you don't see the top ones, it's only the wrists and when I'm doing things I do it automatically I think because no one ever notices them but this one day I'd care for this, actually the two comments come on the same day from the same bay so maybe they were talking about it I don't know. So I really bonded with this one patient and his family in particular his wife like we really got on and it was just lovely really really nice and on my last day there I was sort of I can't remember what I was doing I think I'd given her a cup of tea so my arm naturally went like that I'm sure it was a cup of tea or water or something anyway so my arm naturally went like that as I passed through it and she went you've got tattoos Claire, oh I didn't expect that of you. I was like what do you mean? Obviously you didn't say that but in my head I was like is that a good thing or a bad thing really not too sure and I literally just brushed it off I was just like oh yeah I've got a couple of tattoos you know something I've had done over the past and that was it there was nothing more said about it but that comment I was just like oh no one's ever said this like how do I respond and then again I was helping another patient in that bay and they noticed my tattoos and they're like you've got tattoos do you like them and I was like yeah they're all right you know I've had them so there's not much I can do about them now and they're like they're a bit common though aren't they? Very common. I thought are you calling me coming or coming as in people have them a lot now I don't know again I just laughed it off and I was like okay no problem and what do I? I don't reply to these sort of comments I just see it as people will have their opinions on them it doesn't affect me in any way it doesn't bring me down it just happens I shall get off and I move on so officially as a nurse or a student nurse or any healthcare professional every single trust and every place that you work or you go to or university even will have a uniform policy and I think nine times out of ten they're public you can look up your trust policies and procedures and so have a look at those and see what they say about tattoos I know Birmingham in particular there is a tattoo policy and it literally just says tattoos are okay as long as they don't offend anybody no problem however if they did offend somebody I don't know how they would do that I'm assuming they would ask you to cover it up maybe but if it's on your wrist you can't really have anything on your wrist but there are different makeups and things like that that you can buy that cover tattoos maybe they would get you to do that I don't know but I just know that in Birmingham I've read up a few of the trust policies and procedures and they all say that you're okay to have tattoos in nursing okay as long as they don't they aren't offensive now hair color hair color I think is a little bit different so on the policies it says that your hair should be natural natural browns gray ginger and redheads blonde strawberry blonde urban whatever color your hair color is naturally is how they say you should have it however I do know people with different colored hairs I know people with bits of red in it like bright red like this color red I've seen people with bits of blue pink in the hair and I've never seen anyone luckily have a problem with it and I think a lot of trusts are okay with it however again you need to read up on your local trust policies and procedures and you know it is a profession so we do kind of have to abide by those I'm not saying it's right but if there's a policy or procedure in place for you you kind of you have to follow it and but that doesn't mean that we can't ask questions about it so if you see a policy or procedure for a trust you want to work out and it says absolutely not you're not allowed any funky hair colors or anything like that and ask ask the management ask the chief executives ask your ward just ask is it okay because they might just be like oh actually that's a real policy we don't mind so there's no harm in asking people and asking why that is and to do it in a professional way don't go in there all guns blazing I've got this color hair blah blah blah no please do it professionally and politely and lovely we are professionals after all so yeah I don't think there's any harm in asking and I think some trust a lot of trust now are a lot more lenient and they're okay with different hair colors I've seen on Twitter especially a lot of people share these things so like different doctors are showing their tattoos and then different hair colors I think it's amazing I think I personally I love it if I was a manager or a chief executive or something like that everyone would be able to have different colored hair if they want to they could have tattoos again as long as they're not offensive different tattoos and things I think is great I think it stands for individuality it represents you as a person it although some tattoos might be a mistake who knows but I think I think it's brilliant I think it just makes people who they are it makes you unique and I personally I don't mind it so yeah so I hope that's a little bit helpful I don't know if it is or not but I know a few of you have asked me to do a vlog on tattoos in particular as a nurse so I thought I would just cover it and hopefully it's gonna help a little bit there's not much more I can really say other than just check your local policies guidelines and please don't be afraid to ask a question if you think that something's not right or whatever just go for it and just one final note if you are in a trust or if you've had any of these and positives or negatives please comment below and let's just get a conversation going about it maybe and if you know that your trust does allow tattoos or hair colors comment here as well so that other people can see just so that they can be informed if that makes sense so thank you so so much as always for watching don't forget to subscribe if you haven't subscribed if you don't want to don't worry about it I'm not gonna get offended but thank you so much for tuning in and making it to the end of the vlog