- Hello, everyone. This video was filmed the
first week of March 2020, back when everyone, in the
United States at least, was still, like, "So,
this virus thing, huh? "Wonder how that's gonna go?" Bad, it's gonna go bad! And we held off releasing this video because it's about restoring
a severely decomposed body. And for a while, funeral homes
weren't restoring any bodies. They weren't even having viewings, period, but I think that the information
presented in this video is fascinating and, in
a strange way, timeless. Something I found working
in funeral service is that families can handle
many difficult things while viewing a body, but one
thing that they can't handle is severe decomposition,
as illustrated here by a series of unfortunate pigs. The odor, the visuals. They may be elderly
people who weren't found or suicide or drug overdoses. It takes a very high level of embalmer to even attempt restoring
a body like this, and one such embalmer is your friend and mine, Monica Torres. (imitates dreamy music) (upbeat electronic music) Welcome back to Phoenix, Arizona, the studio of Monica Torres, reconstructive specialist and embalmer. Highly requested return. When I arrived today,
Monica had gotten me scrubs with my name on them.
(alarm beeping) Look at that! Here's a real question:
how many funeral directors, embalmers, restorative specialists, are actually capable of
restoring decomposing bodies on the level that you are able to? - Many people don't
understand that there is a whole subculture of funeral
directors and embalmers that actually specialize
in this type of work, and there's actually
conventions that we go to where we focus on
reconstruction and restoration of the deceased, and what
we call really hard cases. - (laughs) That's a really
specific subculture. - It really is, it really is.
- Yeah, talk about an interesting conference. - I like to call these
people, and they're my people, hardcore embalmers,
because they are embalmers that are deeply committed
to making viewing possible for families regardless of
the circumstance of the death. - Now, let's talk about some
of the tools and concepts that you work with to make this happen. First comes preservation
(air whooshing) of the body. You need embalming, and
from my understanding, you need pretty caustic, serious chemicals to be able to embalm a
severely decomposed body. - Yeah, so when it comes
to these types of cases, those chemicals that I
use are gonna be really the hardcore chemicals that these chemical companies are providing for us. - Hardcore chemicals
for hardcore embalmers. (Monica laughing)
(lightning striking) What does a high-index fluid mean? - High-index fluids are
fluids that are going to offer a more in-depth preservation. - More chemicals. - Stronger.
- Stronger chemicals. RockEm meaning making them rock solid. - Agreed, we really do want that firming to take place within the tissue. It's super-important for the type of work that we're gonna be doing
later in the restoration. - Tell me about waterless embalming. - Waterless embalming is actually kinda controversial
within embalming circles. - Ooh, tell me more.
- Yes, so there's, there's some embalmers that don't really agree with waterless embalming. They think that it's the
chemical company's way of getting us to buy more chemicals. - That sounds like a
conspiracy I would have. - Right, but what the term
waterless really means is that you're not adding
water to your tank, which is a standard practice
for most embalmers' tank. - [Caitlin] It would be partially water, partially fluids in this tank.
- Right. - What a waterless solution would do is just give you more bang for your preservative chemical buck.
- Exactly! That is exactly right. It's just a higher level,
a more concentrated form of preservation. (air whooshing)
- This is the kind of full-face respirator
that you use when embalming. - Especially with these types
of cases, for me personally, I wouldn't be able to offer
these types of services to families without
this type of protection for my respiratory system. - If the chemicals are so
intense that you need this on your face when you're
doing the embalming, are the families safe when
they're with the body? - That's a really good question. I'm glad you brought that up. Families don't really have to be concerned with their own safety. Once formaldehyde comes in
contact with the proteins in the body, it does return
back to its organic state. - Okay, so it's not like
these intense chemicals are then leaching out of the body - Exactly.
- at the viewing. - Our number one challenge when dealing with these bodies is odor. (air whooshing) Eliminating and eradicating that odor is gonna be our first step. - What kinda things do
you use within the cavity? - We typically will
use a paraformaldehyde, which is the solid form of formaldehyde. - It looks like birdseed. - It kinda looks like birdseeds, exactly, but I personally really like to use a little bit more natural type
of products, and I will even use essential oils many times,
tea tree oil or clove oil. - That's so funny to hear
because this is what home funeral people and natural burial people use too. It's, like, essential oils
- Absolutely. - on the body, and so,
- Absolutely. - it's funny to hear someone like you, who does such an intense
restoration of the body, be, like, "Yeah, and we
finish with some light "peppermint oil, tea tree oil," and you, like me, do not
enjoy the mortuary products that make you smell like a lemon-scented bathroom or like cherry magic. - Right, (laughs) exactly. - Well, it's sort of too sickly sweet, which, in a way, is too
similar to what decomposition smells like, which is a sickly, sweet smell.
- Sweet smell, absolutely. - What does decomposition
smell like to you? (suspenseful music) (bubble popping)
- Decomposition. (both laughing) - There's nothing like it. - There really is nothing.
- There's nothing else like it.
- There really is nothing like it, to be honest. - Let's talk about maggots.
(air whooshing) (chimes tinkling)
What do you do (Monica laughing)
if there are maggots, and are you worried that they are going to escape during the viewing? - Maggots are one of those things that is an embalmer's worst fear. Maggots are a big deal, and the reason why is because they're so hard
to kill, and they're sneaky! (Caitlin laughing) They sneak up on you! (door creaking) So, the last thing we want is
for insects to be coming out of the nose or the mouth or
the ears, and so, we do take extreme measures to make
sure that those insects are nowhere in sight and they're dead. - Where do the maggots tend to hide? - Primarily, I've noticed
that they will kind of lodge in the throat area, in the nose, and any of the other orifices that you can really think about, that's where they will typically kind of like to hang out. - I remember you telling
me a story about maggots that kept coming out of the throat, and you couldn't figure it out, and that was, like, wow,
I have, 'cause we do, (Monica imitating explosion)
we do sort of the same job, you and I, but I was,
like, "That is something "I have, like, a secret colony of maggots "is something that I have
never had to deal with." - Yes, and it can be
really kinda stressful on the professional, but yes, we do have products that will attack insects. - The main things that you focus on are the face and the hands. - Yes, absolutely, for
viewing, absolutely. - Move these outta the
way, and we're gonna look at this hand.
(bottles thudding) You may remember this
hand from previous video. (chimes tinkling)
Another problem that we have with Debbie is that she has
a little bit of jaundice. This is, of course, this doesn't look like a decomposed hand would actually look. A decomposed hand tends to
have really horrific-looking skin slip, so you'll have the
skin that has almost melted off the hand, and then
the skin underneath it, which tend to be very different colors. - But there is a way, there
is a way to restore them, and we're gonna give you a little demonstration on that today. - Let's do it. - Caitlin's gonna be my Vanna White, and you're gonna hold Debbie's hand, and this chemical, it's
a phenol-based chemical. It's one of the most amazing
and powerful chemicals that we have in our prep
room, and it has a lotta different uses, but what
I do is I will simply take (plastic crinkling)
this spray and close the hole over the hand and spray
straight into the bag. Not only is it going to have
the topical preservation, but it's also going to
accumulate fumes in there, which, with this chemical,
is really powerful. Those fumes can actually embalm
tissue just on their own. - This is sort of like the
booties that they put on during a manicure or pedicure. - [Monica] Absolutely,
like the paraffin dip? - Mm-hmm, yeah, exactly.
- Yeah. - How long would these
bags stay on the hands? - I'd leave those, every case
is different, but I typically leave them on through the
entirety of the process. When the hand finally comes
(plastic crinkling) outta the bag, all of that tissue is going to look different in
color, so all the tissue will be cauterized, bleached, almost. At least, that's what we're shooting for. At that point, I like to use
a abrasive type of nail file and go ahead and file
some of that tissue off so that I can expose the
beauty of this skin underneath. - When we say skin slip, we
don't mean that all the skin comes off, and it's just
blood and bones underneath. Skin slip is the top layers - Yes, it's the epidermis.
- slipping off. - So, immediately right
after, we're gonna file that skin off, and then,
we're gonna go through with our fillers, our
post-mortem injectables, and inject hypodermically into the fingers and the top parts of the palm to make sure that we have a nice
base for our cosmetics. - We've embalmed, we've
buffed, we've filled. Is the last step makeup?
(air whooshing) - That's the last step. - [Caitlin] Monica just
showed me this modified age spot beauty blender that she makes herself
- That's exactly what it is. - to have the different textures of age spots, and so, at that point, you can go in and stipple the makeup on. Something we haven't talked
about is not everyone knows how radically people change colors when they've been decomposing
for a couple of days. - So, that's when we really are gonna turn to our airbrush cosmetics,
which we talked about last time, and many of these cases,
there are no promises. We can't really make promises to families. I will always tell the
family, "Let me try, "and in the end, it'll be your decision "to keep the casket open or close it." The future of embalming, as
much as I would like to say I'd like to see this dark art continue on as an American tradition, I
believe that more and more embalmers are gonna be
preparing unembalmed bodies. - My funeral home is going
to continue to present mostly unembalmed bodies to
our families, but the fact that in those very hard times,
with those decomposed cases, I wouldn't have had to say no
if I had known a specialist who could do the high,
high-level restoration work, and that doesn't mean that the
family would necessarily say, "Yes, I sign off on all of it," but giving that option is giving them power. - Giving families options,
giving them the information they need to make a decision
that's right for them. - So, if they say, "I wanna
see Dad no matter what," (bell dinging) Monica Torres. If you are a funeral
professional or even a family, and you're interested in
taking some of these classes, I would follow you on social media because I think that's where
you announce them most often, so follow her on social media. I'll have all of those linked below, and when she has classes that
she's going to release online for the wide world, you'll
be the first to know. This video was made
with generous donations from death enthusiasts just like you. (upbeat electronic music) (slide whistle tooting) (upbeat electronic music) (slide whistle tooting) (upbeat electronic music) (bubble popping) (upbeat electronic music) (bubble popping) (slide whistle tooting) (lightning striking) (door creaking)
Love the tip on using phenol in a bag for hands, and the makeshift age spot beauty blender!! Super helpful, ill definitely be using some of this info.
Those two are really fun together, I hope they keep collaborating. What an amazing service they are providing to their clients, and to society at large.
Maggots! Maggots! Maggots!