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World’s most tattooed teacher shows what he looks like without ink and he’s completely unrecognizable
The world’s most tattooed teacher has revealed what he looked like without ink.
Sylvain Helaine, a Frenchman who taught classrooms across the UK and his home country for nearly two decades, has covered almost every inch of his body in tattoos, including his face, neck, and even the whites of his eyes.
But in a fascinating makeover, the teacher temporarily covered his extensive body art with makeup - offering a rare look at how he might look without his tattoos.
How Sylvain Helaine's tattoo journey began
The tattooed man opened up about his ink transformation on This Morning with hosts Dermot O'Leary and Sian Welby.
He explained that his "passion" began when he was 27, shortly after moving out of his mother's home and relocating to the UK.
"Because the first day I arrived, I didn't know where I was going to sleep and [in] McDonald's in Brixton. [I saw a] guy with a full sleeve tattoo," he said. "The guy had his full neck covered, and it was like an eye-opener for me. I fell in love with the tattoos, and I started my journey."
Helaine wasted no time, covering both of his arms during his first year. However, he admitted that he was not prepared for how excruciating the process would be.
"I did both of my arms the first year, and I passed out after two minutes..I didn't expect the pain," he shared.
He explained that his dedication reflects his personality and tendency to throw himself completely into his interests.
"I've always been passionate... when I was 20, I was a martial arts teacher. I used to train every day. I was a high-level sportsman. And then, for example, I passed my driving license, my motorbike driving license in like a month because I always invest myself 100%," he said.
Teacher looks unrecognizable after covering his tattoos with makeup
In a video published by Truly in 2020, Helaine underwent a dramatic makeover to surprise his family by temporarily hiding his tattoos.
A makeup artist carefully applied skin-colored products across his heavily tattooed skin, which hid the intricate designs.
The result was a massive difference between the look viewers recognized and the temporary ink-free version of Helaine.
However, the transformation sparked mixed reactions among online users, with some suggesting that the makeup made him look unrealistic.
One person commented: "It's too flat looking. She could have added some subtle contour or something to add back the skin dimension and it would have looked more realistic."
Another shared: "He looks SCARY with the make-up!! You can see the tattoos are who he is."
A third quipped: "He literally looks like nobody with his tattoos covered up. Imagine telling a description of him to the police. What would you say besides bald..."
A fourth added: "hahaha somehow when she starts covering him up with one flat tone he starts looking like an alien! Also he seems like a genuinely nice guy!"
How his pupils react to his heavily tattooed appearance
The teacher spoke about the attention he gets in school for his appearance, and revealed that children and adults react differently when meeting him for the first time.
"It always takes two minutes for children to accept me, two hours for the parents, and two days for grandparents. So it just takes a little bit of time," he shared.
Helaine also shockingly shared that he doesn't actually talk about his tattoos when he is at his place of work.
"I don't talk about my tattoos and my appearance at all when we are in the classroom. We just work, we take out our exercise book, write out the date, and it goes like that. I'm really serious. But if they have some questions to ask me, they can wait for the playground, for example," he said.