InkTales Podcast
InkTales Podcast
Megan's Journey: From Military to Green Salon and Meaningful Tattoos
From a cozy green salon in Lowell, Massachusetts, Megan, the innovative owner of Eyeful Beauty, shares her transformative journey. Raised on a ranch in eco-friendly California, Megan's commitment to sustainability shines as she reveals how her salon recycles 95% of its waste, turning hair into an unexpected hero in plastic reinforcement and oil spill cleanups. Her story takes us from the wide-open spaces of Northern California to diverse postings as a military police officer in the Air Force, revealing how her service deeply influenced her life and the meaningful tattoos she wears.
Listeners will find themselves captivated by Megan's personal tales that intertwine community and creativity. What started as a temporary stay in Boston blossomed into a permanent life filled with unexpected romantic twists and a salon with a community-centric heart. Megan shares anecdotes about the salon's welcoming embrace, offering beauty services for every budget along with humorous exchanges about quirky gym owner hairstyles. Each tattoo she sports tells a story — from a koi fish symbolizing personal milestones to shared ink adventures with her sister, emphasizing growth and familial bonds.
Tattoo enthusiasts and military aficionados alike will appreciate the rich tapestry of Megan's experiences, especially her military-themed body art. Discover how her fascination with zombie movies led to a unique tattoo, or how a pinup girl riding a .50 cal gun commemorates her Air Force days, including a memorable engine-replacement challenge in Iraq. These stories are not just about ink but about resilience and adaptability, with each tattoo serving as a permanent reflection of Megan's spirited journey through life, love, and entrepreneurship.
Hi, you're listening to the Inktails podcast, a show where I go out in the city, meet new people and get the stories behind our tattoos. I'm Tenoch. Come join me on my journey. Today on the show, I'm in Lowell, massachusetts, with my guest, Megan Megan. Welcome to the show, hi how are? You. I'm doing great. Thank you for having me. Oh, no problem, we are here in your shop, we are. So what is the name of your shop?
Speaker 2:So I own Eyeful Beauty. We've been open for 15 years. We are a salon barbershop so we cater to our community and everyone in it. So, yeah, we are also a green salon. So we recycle 95% of our waste um, which is important to me and making sure that we're um as an industry as a whole. We kind a lot of waste, just making sure that we're taking care of our part when it comes to that.
Speaker 1:What made you interested in becoming a green salon? What got you into that?
Speaker 2:Just recycling. Originally, I'm from California. I just feel like they're really big on recycling. I also grew up on a ranch, so like we had to always like take our trash outside and you know, um like actually like take it on a trailer in our truck, you know, to the dump and um sorting it and stuff like that. So I've always just been used to it. Um, and when I came across a company that would actually take our sorted trash, I was extremely excited to partner with a company like that. So, yeah, they take everything. They take the hair, they take extra chemicals that are like leftover in the bowl. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty cool. Do you know what they do with the hair?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they do a lot of things, so they actually made those plastic trash cans right there. They say that the plastic with the hair inside the plastic it makes it actually one of the strongest plastics that you can find. They also use it for any sorts of like oil spills. They'll make like what they call a hair loom and just imagine like a nylon sock or something like that, and they stuff it with hair and then they throw it out in the ocean and the hair will actually naturally absorb the oils out in the ocean.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's really cool. That's a really good, uh like invention. That seems like it's very useful, absolutely, especially, uh, you know, being able to recycle the waste instead of creating something new that'll just create more waste, you know yeah, unfortunately, hair doesn't break down.
Speaker 2:Um. So, just like, imagine a mummy even like sometimes a mummy still has hair, uh. So, uh, it's not like great that we're like throwing all this hair out in the land, um the landfill, so being able to recycle it, and especially for something good, yeah yeah, I never thought about that.
Speaker 1:Like, what happens to the hair when you cut it? Where does it go? Because, like you said, it doesn't break down, so not really it doesn't break down very easily, that's for sure. Normally they just what throw it in the trash.
Speaker 2:Yep, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so tell us a little bit more about yourself other than the salon, and maybe we can get back to how you ended up starting your salon. So tell us more about what you like to do, who you are, a little bit more about where you came from, from California.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. I'm originally from California. I was born and raised in Northern California in a little town called Grass Valley. We grew up on a ranch and I grew up raising livestock. My sister did pigs, I did cows, we had chickens, dogs, horses the whole nine yards. And I love that life I do. But it wasn't until September 11th I decided to join, or after September 11th I decided to join the military. I went into the Air Force and I was an MP in the Air Force. So I did that for eight years. I did a tour in Iraq and due to that tour I did get an honorable discharge, but I also got a disability because of it. So a lot of my tattoos, which we'll talk about later, are very military. They have the background behind them is a lot of my military life, for sure.
Speaker 1:So did you go into the military with your virgin tattoos? Oh yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep. Then I was like 19, so it wasn't even like. It wasn't like the typical 18-year-old move.
Speaker 1:How did you like your time at the Air Force?
Speaker 2:I loved it. I thought the Air Force was definitely one of the coolest things I ever did. I met some of the most amazing people and they're still my friends to this day, even if we don't see each other for eight to ten years. Every time we meet up, it's just amazing how connected we are, so they are definitely some of the people that I was with during that time are some of my best friends. Uh. So the military was awesome. The experience was awesome. I also went to Korea, which I loved. I just the culture there was so cool. I loved the food, I loved the shopping, um, so I loved Korea. And then, from Korea, I actually uh came here to Massachusetts and I was stationed at Hanscom, um, so that was like totally a different spin on where I had like come from prior in earlier in my career in the military. So, um, so they just deployed out of the space. So that's when I went to Iraq.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you were stationed in California, then went to Korea, came here and then Iraq, or how did that journey end up?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, so I'm going to skip that a little bit. So I was from California and I joined the air force, went to Texas for training and then from Texas I went to Minot, north Dakota, and then from Minot, north Dakota then I went to Korea, hanscom, so, um, yeah, texas is where we do a lot of our training, okay. And then, uh, you know know, I went to minot. Minot is a like nuclear base, so it's a missile base, um, and I was out on like the flight lines, like protecting the flight lines, and then when I came to hanscom, it was more of like a an office job that's a change of pace yeah it was.
Speaker 2:It was like so crazy. And then when you're not in the office job, you're in iraq.
Speaker 1:So that's at least how my tour went how was your, uh, what was it like when you got deployed to iraq? I never really get to. I've never had like a other than janelle, like a veteran on the show, at least that I can remember.
Speaker 2:It was a little surreal. So I was in the Air Force and my father would have been the first to tell you that I would have been safe. He's a Marine, so that I was safe from going to war, and you know my dad's very old school.
Speaker 2:So uh, I thought I joined the right branch to like not go to war, okay, and I know that this is like right after september 11th, so like we were like in war already, um. But so I joined the air force and the first thing that happens is I get deployed. So I'm just like, oh shit, so I'm in Iraq with the Air Force. We're there to help the Army and we don't deploy like the Army does. The Army will actually deploy as like a whole battalion, okay, and we don't do that. Deploy as like a whole battalion, um, and we don't do that.
Speaker 2:We only deploy as like um, individual, like what the army would call an MOS or like a certain career field, and we were all cops and we didn't have a cook, we didn't have a mechanic, we didn't have like any of the other things that like all the other people. So we're just kind of like thrown into this position and not going to lie. This is in 2025. Originally, we were supposed to go to Mosul. That got canceled because there was like a whole bunch of messy numbers.
Speaker 1:Wait, 2005? Yeah, Not 25. I'm like we're still in 24. No, no.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's like a long time ago. So, yeah, 2005,. Mosul was pretty hot and heavy right during that time frame. So they actually changed it, told us we're going to the baghdad airport. That didn't happen. And then we're in saudi, we're like supposed to be like going to Iraq and we like barely know where we're going. So, um, it was just weird, like. I just felt like, um, it was an interesting time to like be going there, especially as an air force security force member, to um, uh, you know, help the army and do something that we've never done before. So it was very interesting. We were told we were going to be running convoys and then teaching security force members how to or, sorry, as security force members, we're going to be teaching the locals how to be police officers. Members were going to be teaching the locals how to be police officers and, um, it just wasn't very easy for us to like go in and start instructing um, so we came across a lot of like roadblocks, but okay, sounds very challenging it was.
Speaker 2:It was a challenging time. You know we're also this is like 2005, so like we're three years past the invasion, right, so we're trying to kind of like help them, but I think they were still mad.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sure there was tensions of all sorts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it wasn't the best time to be there.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and how long did you end?
Speaker 2:up staying there Um. Our tour was around six months.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Total, with training, everything like, came out to be about a year.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you went there too long and then you came back to the States. Yes, okay To Hanscom.
Speaker 2:That's where you had your desktop, yeah, and then you came back to the States.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay To Hanscom. That's where you had your desktop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and at this point, like I'm really close to my enlistment to be up, so when I got back from Iraq I think I knew that I wanted to get out at that point. So I went to real estate school and cosmetology school, both at the same time.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I think I figured out that I really like buying houses but not selling them, and as an old artist, because I used to really be into photography and painting and stuff like that as a kid so I just really wanted to get back to the arts and for some reason, when I was Googling jobs and stuff, cosmetology just kept popping up. So I'm like, oh, maybe I can just make hair my medium Okay. So that's kind of how that went. I instantly fell in love with cutting hair when I went to cosmetology school.
Speaker 1:So it was your calling, right away it was yeah, it was pretty instant I loved it. Okay. So then you finished cosmetology school, and then how long did it take you before you actually owned your own shop?
Speaker 2:So I worked under two salons and I think it was like around year three or four, probably year three. I worked for one salon for about a year and then another salon for about a year and a half, and at that point I was just like, okay, I can do this.
Speaker 1:I honestly really wanted to do it in seattle.
Speaker 2:Seattle seems like a pretty interesting place to do hair. Yeah, I I I didn't think that I was gonna stay here. Um, when I got out, like, I thought I was just gonna like finish school, enjoy like boston for a little bit and then head back to the West coast. And uh, unfortunately I had a boyfriend and so I stayed.
Speaker 1:Is that boyfriend your current husband? No, okay.
Speaker 2:But thank God I stayed Cause. Then I met him later. Okay, Um lucky him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, I feel very lucky, um. So, yeah, I I ended up staying low. I found low. I thought, well, it was like this super cool town I'm from the country, remember, so like the bricks, you know the brick buildings and the cobblestone streets, and just like this downtown feel where you're like walking everywhere, I loved it. And they didn't really have any like higher end salons, um, and I didn't. I don't know if I really wanted to be like a high end salon, but I just didn't have that salon that like I imagined in like a city, and so I stayed and I'm here now.
Speaker 1:So do you? Do you consider yourself a high end salon in law, or how would you categorize yourself?
Speaker 2:Actually, uh, so we have a level system here, and so we have levels one through six, so we can cater to like anybody's beauty budget. Uh, it just depends on the experience that you are interested in. So, uh, we do have some stylists that are in the higher end, so there is an option for that. But, uh, when I think of like a higher end salon, I just think of like luxury, and you know, uh, not to say that we don't bring luxury to the table, but it's just a little bit more relaxed. Uh, it's kind of like I always call it like a community hub. You know, there's people walking in, there's people bringing their dogs. We got dog treats, we got dog bowls everywhere. Like you know, it's just kind of, um, like a community hub and I and I love that.
Speaker 2:So it's a little bit more relaxed. It's not so like uptight maybe, I don't know, not so bougie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say I'm like it's not as bougie.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm going to put you and Brett, our coach, on a hot seat on this one. Does he come and get his hair done here?
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, I'm so glad you asked. He used to.
Speaker 1:What happened I?
Speaker 2:don't know.
Speaker 1:Brett what happened?
Speaker 2:He says I cost too much.
Speaker 1:What Brett says you cost too much, brett, quality cost.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, he should know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's got the bougiest gym around. Yeah, we will not talk about how much it charges. But also not cheap. It's worth every penny, that's right. That's why we still go there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do. It is worth every penny. But yeah, and you know I will say I'm only behind the chair two days a week and I know that those two days are really hard for him, so I'll give him that.
Speaker 1:He's the owner. He can take any day off he wants. Don't let him fool you with that.
Speaker 2:Especially for, like, the amount of time he's in front of the camera. I mean, come on, man, get your shit together.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we got the hard question out of the way, so we'll start off simple, like I do with everybody else what was your first tattoo? Let's dig into that one.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I had just finished basic training and there was a tattoo parlor right outside the base and of course I walked my little happy ass over there and I'm not really sure why I picked a koi fish, but it's a koi fish and it's okay it's on my right hip, like not in a super obvious place. Uh, my mother is mexican. You might understand and appreciate this, but I just really figured I should probably hide the first one. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:We're on the same page over there, but then I just didn't care after a while. But yeah, so that was my first one. It was in a spot that didn't really show too much, but a koi fish represents strength. That was one of the things that I was like. Yeah, that's me.
Speaker 2:I just finished basic. So I have a koi fish and then I think my second one um, may have been my mermaids on my back. Uh, my sister and I. I came back from the military and I came, uh, my sister and I decided that we were going to get the same tattoos. So we actually have the same tattoo in the same spot, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 2:Are you guys twins or just we are not twins yeah, they are two mermaids and they're holding hands, so they kind of and all of my work is very traditional it's definitely like heavy lines and stuff like that, definitely like heavy lines and stuff like that. So so it definitely all of it kind of stays the same in that sense.
Speaker 1:So did you guys get this tattoo together at the same place, at the same time?
Speaker 2:We did. Yeah, and that place Corey Norris, I think, is his name.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And he is in Grass Valley. That was it.
Speaker 1:How did you guys like, did you feel bonded together a little bit closer? Or what were the feelings after Especially getting something you know with a sibling that's matching? You know, like I, have siblings, but we don't have anything matching. We're supposed to get one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my sister and I, I always felt close with my sister, but when I think we're really close in age too so we're 21 months apart and I think, as the older sister you know, she was always around, right, so she was only like a grade under me. So no matter where I went, she had to go. All her friends were her friends. You know, it was very much a small town kind of thing. So I think we did actually become more close after I left.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, and so when I came back from the military, I just I don't know she wanted to do that with me and I was all for it. So you said you got the one, the koi fish, when you were in the military. Did you get any other ones while you were there, or just the?
Speaker 2:koi fish, no just the koi fish.
Speaker 1:But that's what started everything. Yeah, okay, well, we'll stay in that general area. Let's go with the symbol that you have at the very top of your neck area.
Speaker 2:Let's go with the symbol that you have at the very top of your neck. It's my um, it's my uh astrology sign, which is a cancer my birthday is July 16th.
Speaker 2:I hate that one. Okay, tell me why you hate it, why you hate it and why did you get it? Okay, um, so now I'm in korea. So I have a feeling this might have been like my like fourth one at this and you're actually like going in order anyway. So. So now I'm stationed in korea and, um, I go to this guy. I swear I had to like it was probably his house, I have no idea. You had to walk through like a back alley to go up some shady ass stairs Like I hate myself for that one. He had me standing up and every single time he like hit my spine. I swear I saw stars and like I was standing up.
Speaker 2:I may have like locked my knees, but at one point I literally was wait, you were standing up the whole time I was standing up because I think he thought that I would be like less fidgety I don't even know and so finally I like ended up asking him.
Speaker 1:No, he doesn't speak english I was gonna ask him like does he speak english?
Speaker 2:no, no, I'm in korea. God, this is like the worst idea ever. Okay, I'm also by myself.
Speaker 1:How did you get to the picture? Did you just show him a picture?
Speaker 2:Oh, yep, Yep, I did, I was like you know, and he yeah, it's ugly.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, since we know you, you don't like it. I don't like it, but I don.
Speaker 2:I literally thought it was crooked and I was just like oh my God, to make matters worse is not even straight.
Speaker 1:It's not like you can fix it.
Speaker 2:I did get it fixed. My recent tattooer kind of like evened it out for me, okay.
Speaker 1:But yeah, my tattoos are so difficult to fix right, so it's crooked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially like a circle. It's a circle, everyone, a lopsided circle. Yeah, it's supposed to be, and that was the other thing I forgot about this. It was supposed to be a moon, because I'm a moon sign.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And I wanted like the six. You know, it looks like a 69, which is supposed to resemble like the body of a crab, you know, and it doesn't look like a moon.
Speaker 1:I thought it was like, just like a like, the representation of, like a water sign.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're not wrong.
Speaker 1:I was like oh, okay, something like that. Yeah, all right. So we didn't like that one. No, so same thing, we'll stay there, let's go with this. No, I think that one's going to kind of lead us into here, so we'll kind of stay away from that for now. We'll come back to it. Talk to me about this bear.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I forget he's there too. This bear oh yeah, I forget he's there too. I'm pretty sure that in my um, my other life, I was a bear, and a grizzly bear at that.
Speaker 1:Why? What gives you that feeling that you were a grizzly bear?
Speaker 2:No, I really do. Just like love grizzly bears. I just think that they're like these beautiful, massive animals that will tear your face off will tear your face off and also could be cuddly and sweet how'd they make that happen? Like little teddy bears thanks, disney right, um so, and then a little bit of like the california thing. So I'm rocking a whole bunch of reasons why I got that one. I think that one probably has the least background story. Just California bear Just liked it.
Speaker 1:I dig. That bear has a really like fierce-looking face, but still kind of like friendly. It's the eyes. How old were you when you got that one?
Speaker 2:Ooh, I don't know, Probably over, yeah, no, maybe like 28, 30, 34.
Speaker 1:Did you get that in California? No, no.
Speaker 2:Nope, that is actually. That artist actually did a lot of my work. So that's Josh Brooklyn and he's out of Lowell Inc.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. Well, since we're kind of like touching on California, tell me about the California tattoo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was, I think, after the moon incident. I got that one just because I've always I don't know California's my home. You know, I got that one just because I've always I don't know California is my home. Uh, you know, I don't think I'll ever go back there. Um, but it's just such a beautiful state, you know there's so much like you got the mountains, you got the desert, you got beautiful agriculture, you have ranches, you have mountain life, you have ocean life. It's just like, I don't know, it's a beautiful, freaking state and if you've never been you need to go yeah, I love california.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's great food is so good. I mean, people are generally pretty awesome, like good, great people watching yes, like, so, yeah, I, I just love it. So it says Cali, grown, I think, and then the heart is yeah, it's got a little heart. Yeah, the heart is over where, like the area that I was born, Okay, or raised. I should say Sorry.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of like on your shoulder blade. How did that compare in like pain, compared to the one that you got with like the circle and the mermaid?
Speaker 2:You know, it's so weird. I don't know like what it is, but I just don't remember any of them being painful until I was like 30. And then, all of a sudden they became painful.
Speaker 1:Threshold changed huh.
Speaker 2:It really did. Oh, I guess my chess piece was probably next right.
Speaker 1:Well, let's talk about that one. Yeah, let's talk about the chess piece, since we just mentioned it. Um, it's a pretty prominent piece, it is okay it's one of my favorites.
Speaker 2:I love it. Um, you know, they are, uh, zombie hands for our and they are making a heart sign with their hands, and I think you got some roses on it. Yeah, I got some roses. That's actually a cover-up.
Speaker 1:The roses are the cover-up part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had two nautical stars under them Also. I thought we were crooked, so that's why I got the cover-up. But yeah, there's nautical stars under them Also. I thought we were crooked, so that's why I got the card. But yeah, there's nautical stars under there. I actually always forget that there are stars under there until I see like a picture of myself.
Speaker 1:And then I'm like oh, my God. Yeah, because there's like two little stars over towards the end. Was that part of the original one or did?
Speaker 2:they add those. You mean these guys. Yeah, those are just part of the other one. They're part of the other one.
Speaker 1:yeah, All right. So let's talk about the zombie hands. What inspired zombie hands and why zombie hands? I'm like making a little heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because normally you see people with the heart and like rays coming out, you know, like the traditional one.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm Okay she knows one, um, okay, a couple things I I think that we're gonna have a zombie apocalypse someday, okay, so you just want to be ready, yeah, uh, so I'm just gonna throw that out there. No, I'm just kidding. Um, I love like zombie movies, the idea of, like you know, people escaping from some crazy lab, like I, just so. That definitely was the inspiration behind the artwork. And then it was like the hands are like kind of peeling back, that you get the skin is like peeling back, so you kind of see the bones. But and then I love hearts, I just love hearts.
Speaker 1:I can see why it's definitely one of your favorites. It's very artistic. It's like once you start looking at the details, like you said, the skin peeling back, the bones expose like the stitching kind. Of like Frankenstein, he has it all over his necks and stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah and then uh again. Like I like the hearts, I at the time I think I was, you know, a little on the emo-ish side throwing up my heart sign everywhere Like oh, that was a sad time in my life.
Speaker 1:So when people can actually see it, do you get a lot of questions about that?
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, yeah, yep, that one, and then my pinups on my calves always.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's go to the pinups.
Speaker 2:Conversation.
Speaker 1:Okay, before we go to the pinups, what kind of questions do you get on your zombie hands?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Are those zombie hands? I was like yeah, pretty obvious question. Yeah, um, yeah, I think they always ask if those are like zombie hands.
Speaker 1:I'm like yep that's the number one question just like weird.
Speaker 2:I was just telling my husband the other day when I was taking these pictures uh, for you, I'm like the one on my neck. I used to have like really short hair, so it was very like predominant, and when my hair was short I used to hate it so much because people would be like, hey, are you a hairdresser? And I'd be like, first of all you know that. And then like, and then I realized, oh, it's this tattoo on my neck that like is telling everyone I'm a freaking hairdresser. So, um, yeah, just people just ask really obvious questions sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess they ask obvious or really stupid questions about them, you know, but I don't want to say stupid. You still have short hair, by the way, just so people listening. She still has very short hair, but it's hiding a little bit more okay, so let's get to these pinups that you have on your calves, because obviously they uh attract a lot of attention and a lot of questions, so let's get to it.
Speaker 2:They're very patriotic. I want you to think old school pinup One is riding a .50 cal. If you don't know what that is, that's a really big gun that you mount on top of a Humvee. I worked in the armory and when I was in the armory I also got trained on all the heavy weapons.
Speaker 1:So part of the reason why I actually got deployed is because of my certifications the classic pinup on top of the 50 Cal with an American flag behind it. It's kind of. It's really cool though I love it that she's riding a 50 Cal, there's a big old flag. I'm like you, you can, it's typical. Like you see the nipples kind of protruding out.
Speaker 2:She's got her heels on.
Speaker 1:Yep, I can see why you get a lot of attention on that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm mostly men. I'm not going to lie, I have a lot of naked girls on my body. I realized this morning that I actually forgot my Betty page that's on my side, totally forgot about her. But she's another naked woman on me, um, but yeah, and then she's also wearing a beret. So I wore a beret in the military. So that was, yeah, that's me. That's like a, that's like a cartoon vision of me.
Speaker 1:What Like the anime version of?
Speaker 2:you.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. So what about the other one?
Speaker 2:So the other one, going back to that whole story, in Iraq we didn't travel with mechanics and so I was in charge of my MV and I was in charge of everything about it the engine, the mount, the radio, everything, the wheels, and at the end of the night we would have to like take our trucks in and service them and just make sure everything was good to go for the next day. Well, we had a bad trip engine with like old school army manuals, like nut by nut, just like it was crazy. It was probably the craziest thing, the craziest puzzle I've ever done in my life. We did have like a little bit of assistance from the army, but like they thought we were a joke, they were just like, oh God, here comes the army asking us questions again so it was just like they literally gave us like these three ring binders that would like laminated pages inside.
Speaker 2:Figure one do this, figure two do this. So yeah, I'm like really proud of that. I I freaking fixed my engine.
Speaker 1:That's a huge accomplishment, like swapping out an engine and fixing it, like with a binder, with a binder step by step.
Speaker 2:Hey, I'm like also not good at stuff like that, so like yeah, it was just a project. That's even a bigger feat than if you're not good at that, totally, it's nothing. Not where my, uh, my wheelhouse? How long did it take you to do that? Oh, we, I only had like two days like we had to like we were there 24 7 like getting it done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was insane that's a pretty, that's a pretty insane cool story like you can be like yeah, I swapped an engine on a Humvee in Iraq with a binder.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I will say it's easy, like if you just follow the instructions right. Like it's pretty they make it as easy as possible.
Speaker 1:I'm sure that's why they build them that way, you know, because you can't have super complicated things out in the field, otherwise you know you're never going to get anywhere.
Speaker 2:Well, you need your people to be able to do it Right. You know so, yeah, but yeah, it was very cool. So, I got my pen up on an engine and she's, like you know, hand in the air holding a wrench, being like hell. Yeah, I did this.
Speaker 1:Is that your other side of your military? Yeah, the mechanic and then the writing goods.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:That's really cool. All right, so take us to the Betty Page then, since we kind of talked about her.
Speaker 2:So I have a Betty Page on my side. It's just a classic photo of Betty Page with, like, her hands behind her back, or her neck, I should say, and you know that S shape body that she had, you know, with her legs kind of like crossed over to the side. I just love her. And if you go into my bathroom at the shop later, uh, you will see a wall that I have done of like old vintage pinups and my old shop used to kind of really resemble that. I had, like Marilyn Monroe, james Dean, all that. So I kind of like lost a lot of those, like that part of it, but I just really truly loved that era. I think I was born in the wrong decade, um, so I think that's kind of why I just love the pinups and also, um, the word Eiffel. So the name of my salon is Eiffel beauty. The word Eiffel is a name of a pin-up magazine back in the 60s and 70s oh okay.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Cool, that's a very interesting story on how you got your name for your salon.
Speaker 2:The wallpaper that I made in the bathroom is all the covers of an Eiffel magazine.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have to visit this bathroom and take some pictures so people can see it's pretty cool, okay, so I want to go to this other pinup slash girl that you have with like a rose in her hair.
Speaker 2:So that's my mother, that's my cartoon version and my anime mother, oh, okay. I told you she's Mexican, so you know, I kind of have like the classic, like frilly dress, the roses in her hair.
Speaker 2:You know she naturally has black curly hair, and then this is my dad, dad, the wild cowboy that she met that's crazy um, you know, I had him make sure that his nose was like a little crooked, uh, because my dad's nose is crooked, it's obviously like, uh, you know, just kind of an interpretation of my father. I've always imagined my dad as being this like young cowboy kind of thing from Kansas, and so, yeah, I've always wanted to put their signatures on the top. They are not together anymore. This is the closest they've been in years.
Speaker 1:Do you make them talk to each other?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Be nice.
Speaker 1:What do they say when you got them and were they together when you got them?
Speaker 2:No, they were not together. My dad, really, I would say just, you know, saying nothing means a lot.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think I got a bunch of nothing. And then my mother yeah, just, my mom's thing was always like how are you going to get a job? Or like what you know, you know, like what about when you get married, like you know you're, it's just going to be like showing, and so they always worry about that stuff I'm like, I got my own job, mom, like I mean I think she was even saying that after I opened my salon.
Speaker 1:What's funny is I think my parents asked me the same question one time who's going to hire?
Speaker 2:you.
Speaker 1:At that point I'm like Dad, I own my own gym, no one's going to fire me, they forget. And I'm like look at me, now I have a real job in the corporate world. Yeah, in the corporate world, exactly. And I'm like look at me, now I know I have a real job. Well, not like that In the corporate world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in the corporate world, exactly, and I have a lot of tattoos Nobody cares, nobody cares.
Speaker 1:Now, yeah, I'm like it's not like 1980, where everybody cared Like ooh.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I see like police officers doing details like so crazy. Yeah, like you have doctors that are tatted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's not the same anymore. No, no. When did you get the inspiration to put those on there? Was it like right, when you got your first tattoo, like midway through your journey?
Speaker 2:No, I think these two came after my calf tattoo. I feel like there was just definitely like a six-year period where I was just getting something all the time. I knew I just wanted to have some sort of dedication to my parents.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think when you love your parents, I think you always want some kind of tribute. You know, especially if you love, if you love tattoos and you love your parents, you always have something.
Speaker 2:That's why I like to make it just even more personal. I want to put their signatures on it, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I like that you did it in like a um, like that pinup style kind of rendition, because it's not. I think you have to have the perfect artist to do like a portrait to come out perfect, Otherwise it just looks weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But the way you did it it's like really like a beautiful tattoo, but it doesn't ruin the aesthetic of what you want. It's captured like in a great way, where you're like you can't ruin that.
Speaker 2:It's when they're, when they're doing it, because that's yeah, I will say um, my betty page is a portrait and it's. You're right, it's hard, it's, it's not.
Speaker 1:She's not perfect, that's I will say yeah, I think portraits is one of the most difficult things to get right. Yeah, Because every proportion's got to be like spot on, Spot on. You can't, because you can't correct that. Like if you do line work and you make it crooked, you can make the line maybe a little thicker Right, or you can fix it with something else. Mess up a portrait their mouth that smiles crooked is crooked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're going to make bigger lips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm crooked, yeah, you're gonna make bigger lips. Yeah, I'm like, no, my mom doesn't have those big old injected lips. Or I'm like, oh wait, when did she get like a wonky eye?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly slow on that eye, oh my god okay, uh, what about the tattoo on your hand?
Speaker 1:And why on the hand Hand?
Speaker 2:tattoos are always very, very. The most interesting tattoos to me are hand tattoos and like face tattoos yeah. Because they're so bold. I feel like I was really rebelling when I did this one.
Speaker 1:I don't like against what and who?
Speaker 2:Well, I okay. So when I came back from Iraq, I definitely had some hard times. So there was like a period of like I don't know. I want to say like six years that I kind of did struggle a little bit with depression and just kind of like getting back into civilization. I also like got out like of the military when I or no, I'm sorry, yeah, I got out of the military when I came back from Iraq. I was only in the military for like four more months and then I got out.
Speaker 2:So it was very strange to go from like that life and then uh, back to my desk job for like four months and then, like now in the real world, um, so it was, it was hard and I just I think that I was just rebelling. Like you know, I think most people my age at this time, right, I'm like around 25. Most people my age are like finishing college and like having kids, and I'm like around 25. Most people my age are like finishing college and like having kids and I'm like dude, I I want to smoke pot right now Like I haven't like had fun the last like eight years. You know, I've been deploying, I've been in the military and I've been very dedicated and disciplined and, um, the complete opposite, right. So I just went from one extreme to the next, which also wasn't good, but I will say my gym life is really what pulled me out of all that. So Okay.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:So why that tattoo? Then like get rebelling, but why that?
Speaker 2:image. No, so like I enjoy, like hunting. I did an elk hunting trip when I was in Montana once with some military friends and I always just like I, literally to this day will always always remember that um trip. It was just amazing. We were out on horsebacks, um in the snow, like I saw wolves, I saw bears, we and we took out two Elks. Like it was just like the most, like it was amazing. So I always, I think my thought was to kind of like that story, but at the same time my finger wasn't big enough for an elk head, so he made it more like a deer head and long story short, no deer has antlers that big. I don't know what I was thinking, but I like it sometimes.
Speaker 1:So it's just a good memory from that trip.
Speaker 2:Kind of Jacked up memory.
Speaker 1:Okay, so if you had a, if you can go back and change that, would you move that tattoo somewhere else? Yeah, totally, where would you put it?
Speaker 2:I think I would just put it higher up.
Speaker 1:Like on the actual, like the whole hand, instead of like it running down the finger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have the head and like the neck of the deer is like on my middle finger and I would actually like move it above my knuckle, so like the top of my hand was like the art.
Speaker 1:Okay, but you know, can't move that one, nope.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you know this, but it's permanent.
Speaker 1:I'm like I guess you can go and get it zapped off, but I heard it's very painful.
Speaker 2:I can't believe some of the things I see, though, like it's amazing what they do.
Speaker 1:I know it's crazy.
Speaker 2:It is crazy.
Speaker 1:Okay, we're getting close. Here we are. I want to go to the one, the big piece that you have on your arm.
Speaker 2:It's a long one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so let's go to that one and then we'll go to the big finale, the obvious one that connects you to the shop. I'll leave that one for the end, okay, but let's go with the arm, because that's a pretty big piece with a lot of art in it. So I don't know if everything has a different meaning to it, because sometimes it does, but take me through that one.
Speaker 2:Okay. So when I was in Iraq I was doodling. I like to just like draw, but more like sketch doodle. I don't know if I really want to call myself a drawer.
Speaker 2:I think it's a nervous thing that I like to do. I will and I like to do like, little, small little lines, stuff like that. So I had drawn an actual grenade. Um, and that was I. The grenade was a majority of this eight by 10 piece of paper that I drew it on Right, okay, and um, so it was big, and then every single like imagine all the squares on it, you know, on the outside of like the grenade.
Speaker 2:Every little square had a symbol in it and every symbol meant something to my time in Iraq. So you know, you kind of, you got the heart in there, you got your um, the healing snakes, the Phoenix rising from above, the Lotus flower, um, you got some doves. The stars reprimand, uh represented um all the people that I know that I lost in Iraq, represented um, all the people that I know that I lost in iraq. Um, and then right in the center, so, anyways, I, so all those symbols right were in all the little squares, and so when I took, when fast forward, I took this picture to a tattoo artist. When I came back, this guy was in cambridge somewhere. I don't know why. I found him. His name is, I remember him. I remember his name was Sky and I also remember him being from Northern California. So I was like hell.
Speaker 1:yeah, there's the connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and when I took the art to him he was just like dude, this is really cool, but like it's so intricate that like it needs to be like your whole back or like we need to like change it. So he actually took the whole drawing and turned it what I like to call inside out. So now the center of it is the outline of the grenade, the OM symbol is inside the grenade and then all those symbols are on the outside.
Speaker 1:So then you have a 30 in there, right, is that, or is that it?
Speaker 2:the om. Okay, that's the om symbol. Looks like a 30 I know, I'm like getting old. That's the other thing. Right?
Speaker 1:you don't want portraits when you get old they age with you, they start to get wrinkles.
Speaker 2:So, oh, yeah, that's what you're saying. Yep, so it's a big piece. I love what he did to it.
Speaker 1:No, I look at that. It looks really great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love it way more than what I had come up with, so I love it.
Speaker 1:I'm like like your idea sounds great but, like you said, it's very intricate to draw that, especially on your arm if you're doing a grenade, with all those pictures being really small yeah, which is like the kind of stuff I like to do because I'm like that's a lot of time in the chair right.
Speaker 1:That's very little room for error because and then people really would have to squint to see that because like, oh, what's in it? So the idea of him turning it inside out is really a great idea. Yeah, because now you see all the intricacies of what you drew, and then the grenade. Everyone still see that that's a grenade.
Speaker 2:So yeah, people always find the grenade. They they never see it right off the bat, but when when they do see it, they're just like how ironic that you have the national peace symbol inside of a grenade. And I'm like, yeah, well, war's fucked up.
Speaker 1:Well, do you get a lot of questions on that one?
Speaker 2:I do. I don't usually elaborate too much, but I just kind of like, let them come up with their own theory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that seems like a little bit more personal to go into.
Speaker 2:It is. I think that's why I'm like. You know, I don't talk about it that much, I just kind of like yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like there's a lot. There's just a lot to unpack on that For a stranger just to be like, hey, what does that mean? Yeah, exactly, it's like ah, this is something I got.
Speaker 2:A lot of times people will point something out on it, and it's usually either the grenade or the healing snakes.
Speaker 1:I like the flowers on the bottom. I like that nice subtle pink where everything sits at. I think it rounds it off really well, thank you. It gives it that like feminine touch at the bottom.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:All right, grand finale here, oh the grand finale.
Speaker 2:yeah, so I mean I got East Coast, west Coast going on.
Speaker 1:Oh wait, we still got to get the other end. We went California.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now we going on. Oh wait, we still got to get the other and we went california.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now we got to get the massachusetts one that you have right, and then we'll go to the grand finale, because we did okay, okay, okay, geez, I got one more tattoo, so I thought I did um, so right, I got california on my left shoulder, and then I got massachusetts on my right shoulder, and and so, like I said earlier, the heart is over my hometown in California, and then the heart is over Lowell in Massachusetts, and then, um, it says Eiffel beauty. So that was my tribute to the shop.
Speaker 1:When did you finally get that one? I?
Speaker 2:think I probably got it like year. Oh, I got, I know. Actually I went to Seattle, so I would say within the first year.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:First year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was bold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like you better stick with it at that point. I hope I don't go under. Well, I'm like, I hope you don't decide to make a name change at that point.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, seriously, Rebrand. What the heck is.
Speaker 1:Eyeful Beauty. They're like don't worry about it, yeah, it's something yeah. Well, you can always just say it was the magazine back from the day. So you do have a backup.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just give them a fat lie, all right. Just give them a fat lie, all right. I have a feeling I'm going to be here forever. So eyeful beauty it is.
Speaker 1:There it is, it's permanent.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Just like it is on your skin.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:All right. So the most obvious one that everybody asks you back to the reference of the hair, are you?
Speaker 2:a hairdresser? Exactly the scissors. Yeah, are you a hairdresser?
Speaker 1:Exactly the scissors.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have a straight edge and scissors on my neck because I am the barber here. I mostly do short haircuts and beards, lots of shags and texture, so short hair is definitely my thing. I picked hair because when I was in Iraq I was cutting all my troops hair because they were scared to go to the local barber.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So that was the first time I actually picked up a clipper and I really promoted through the base and through, like we had a recruiting center right down the street so I had a lot of like the recruiters. I just did a lot of short hair. Um, I educated for a company and I taught color for almost six years, but I ended up coming back to hair cutting. It's just my jam, it's where I feel most comfortable.
Speaker 1:You got to do what you love, right yeah?
Speaker 2:So I got my straight edge for the barber aspect and my scissors for the cosmetology.
Speaker 1:Did you get that after you graduated or when you knew you wanted to do this career path?
Speaker 2:It's actually probably like one of my last ones I got.
Speaker 1:So you got Eyeful Beauty before that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, huh, yeah. So I was teaching with this company for about eight years and I taught color for about six, and the last two years that I was with them, I was part of the barbering team. And when I became part of the barbering team, that's when I got it. I wanted to like have it when I was out on the road, so yeah, I like it, though.
Speaker 1:It's a good placement. Yes, some people can pull it off like neck tattoos Like I don't have a neck, so I can never pull off a neck tattoo. It's like good placement. Yes, some people can pull it off like neck tattoos Like I don't have a neck, so I can never pull off a neck tattoo. It's like a blob. Yeah, it's like maybe I got like half an inch of a neck.
Speaker 2:I was going to say maybe just a tiny little heart.
Speaker 1:I put like dots.
Speaker 2:Does your wife have a lot of tattoos?
Speaker 1:No, no, she has maybe like four, not that many.
Speaker 2:And how many tattoos do you have?
Speaker 1:Probably a couple more than you do.
Speaker 2:Okay yeah, are they all like together or are they separated, like mine are?
Speaker 1:Right arm, left arm, back side, ankle foot yeah, so all over the place, okay, but keeping the chest clean, Okay. I would like to do something on the neck, but I don't have a neck, so that's not going to happen. Nothing on the hands.
Speaker 2:Have you now. This is about you. Okay. Do you have any weightlifting tattoos? I do you do. What do you got? I?
Speaker 1:have an Olympic weightlifter doing a snatch in the three positions on my back.
Speaker 2:We both have one. Oh, in all three positions.
Speaker 1:So from the start to the middle, to where he's all the way at the bottom, nice. And we both have matching ones.
Speaker 2:Who, you and Janelle. Yeah, me and Janelle Nice.
Speaker 1:We got that in Colorado.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:Second most painful tattoo I've ever gotten. Oh really yeah.
Speaker 2:My neck was really painful, but my hand was the worst.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because right on part of it hit the shoulder blade and it's all blacked. So it's all black because it's just the outline and it's all blacked in. Yeah, it hurts so much how big, are they okay cool two inches each guy yeah cool, but there's three of them. And then you have the barbell circle, like right, yeah yeah, I, um, I don't know I have.
Speaker 2:I have a couple things on the horizon, but I haven't yeah, what are you thinking of coming like? What's next? So I have a thigh piece that I really want to get done. I love the desert, I love New Mexico, I love Mexico. I just love that like desert beach life, and so it's like a desert with the beach, kind of like coming up with cactuses.
Speaker 2:Ooh nice, the original drawing. It's also a desert, with the beach kind of like coming up with cactuses. Oh, nice, um, the original drawing, it's also a heart shape. Um, and then that the heart, the actual shape of the heart, was, um, what do you call it? Like um, barbed wire fencing oh okay, um, but I just haven't decided if I really want to pull the trigger with the barbed wire fencing. Either it was going to be like the kind of like that fencing, or maybe making it look like more of an old mirror.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:With like the picture on the inside.
Speaker 1:So one tattoo artist gave me really good advice when you're debating on what to do. Really good advice when you're debating on what to do. He's like get the tattoo drawn out, put it in your mirror and look at it every day for like a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And if you fall in love with it after a month, that's the picture you get.
Speaker 2:And if not, put the other one on and see which one you feel comfortable with. I've been holding onto this one for like four years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's different when you visually put it on and see it, because you kind of start to see it and imagining that tattoo on yourself and I was like that's a really good idea, because then you get an idea of what it's like to see it every single day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I still like the idea of the barbed wire. It just feels like this is you? Yeah. It's you anyway, I don't want to do it, but I kind of do it if I have to.
Speaker 1:It's just calling to you.
Speaker 2:At least it just won't be like the barbed wire band around my bicep, who's that actress from Baywatch that had the-.
Speaker 1:Pamela Anderson yeah who also had a movie called Barbed Wire.
Speaker 2:I did not know that. Yeah, she has a movie called Barbed wire.
Speaker 1:I did not know that, yeah, she has a movie called barbed wire. It's very bad. Yeah, yeah, she I think. Uh, if I remember correctly, she was like an, like an action star. I'm like so unbelievable. So unbelievable.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of action on the beach yeah, stick to stick to beach action scenes much better, okay, so before we close off here, once again, just tell us a little bit about your shop, where you're located, a little bit about your social media, some of the services that you offer. So if anyone hears you know, hears this that's nearby, maybe they can come by check out your shop, uh, and, you know, get one of the wonderful services that you offer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, well, thank you. So again, my name is Megan Osborne. I own Eiffel Beauty in downtown Lowell. We are a salon and barbershop open to our community open for the open to our community. Um, we have different price points for everyone's beauty budget. So if you are interested in speaking with us, we can always sit down and do a consultation on whatever you're looking to get done. We have curly, we have a curly hair wait, sorry, we have a curly hair specialist. We have an extension specialist. We have a short hair specialist. We have a fashion shade specialist. So, um, we definitely have a team here that's like super educated and wicked creative. Um, I am very proud of my team right now. We really drive really well. Um, but we work as a team here. So if you're looking for that type of environment, come on down.
Speaker 1:And what is your social media page?
Speaker 2:So you can find us at Eiffel Beauty Salon or Megan Hara.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, Megan, thank you for being on the show. It's been wonderful to have you and hear some of your amazing stories from the background of your tattoos, and you know. Thank you for your service. Yeah, you know, it's great to have you here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:And Brett, don't forget to come back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Brett, get your butt back in my chair.
Speaker 1:And again, this has been your host Tinoch, on another episode of the Ink Tales Podcast. I'll see you on the next one. Thanks for joining me this week for another episode. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at the Ink Tales Podcast and our website at inktaespodcastcom, where you can see photos of all our guests and their website at inktalespodcastcom, where you can see photos of all our guests and their tattoos. Please subscribe to the show to hear more fun stories from exciting guests. Who knows, it might be you. You.
