I’m a mum-of-seven and my face is COVERED in tattoos – people stare at me but I’m proud of how I look

A MUM-OF-SEVEN covered head to toe in tattoos says people stop and stare at her constantly - but she loves the way she looks.

Every inch of Melissa Sloan's face is inked with roses, hearts and even an England flag, but the 45-year-old insists: "I like the way I am."

Melissa got her first tattoo about 20 years ago and she now has so many she can't keep track.

But she gets the most attention thanks to her fully-inked face.

Parents on the school run often point and whisper, and she is flooded with nasty comments online.

People regularly tell her she looks like "something out of another universe", while others ask: "Why do you do it to yourself?"

But thankfully the full-time mum to her seven kids can brush the haters aside.

Melissa, who lives in Knighton, on the Powys-Shropshire border, said: "People stop and stare and the hate is unbelievable.

"But I am me and I like the way I am.

"My mum always said she was proud of me and encouraged me to do keep doing what I loved.

"You only live once. Do what you want to do."

Melissa, originally from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, said she is most commonly asked what she will do when she gets older and her inked skin starts to sag.

But her response is simple: "It will be entertaining."

And her kids "don't take any notice" of the body art, and tell their schoolmates it not to either.

After getting her first few done professionally, Melissa now gets tattooed about twice a week by her partner at home.

"I started in my 20s and then it just grew and grew and grew," she said.

"I'm addicted to it now, and now I get a new one once or twice a week.

"I couldn't count how many I've got."

And despite being seemingly covered, Melissa insists she still has plenty of skin left to tattoo - and she'll continue until every part of her body is inked.

"I'll keep going for as long as I live," she said.