Woman Goes Viral for Spending 4 Years Removing 30 Tattoos. She Was Shocked at the Results: 'I Feel Free' (Exclusive)

Sometimes to commencement over, you request to commencement pinch a cleanable slate, and that's what Kayla Stewart has done.

The 28-year-old Californian went viral successful July erstwhile she posted a TikTok of her assemblage aft spending 4 years getting 30 tattoos removed from her arms.

The removal process for Stewart began successful May 2021, conscionable a fewer months aft she had added 22 caller tattoos to nan 11 she had already gotten complete time.

Stewart tells PEOPLE that she sewage nan caller tattoos during COVID, a play wherever she began spending clip pinch a feline she met successful Venice, who was a statement creator and wanted to get into tattooing.

"He was besides successful betterment from addiction — but not agelong aft we met, he relapsed. I didn’t really cognize really to navigate that situation. I conscionable wanted to help, but I didn’t person immoderate acquisition pinch addiction, and I’d ne'er been astir it before," says Stewart.

Reflecting connected nan business now, Stewart tells PEOPLE that she tin spot really "vulnerable" she was and really easy she was "taken advantage of" because of it.

"He’d do thing to practice, and I became nan personification he practiced on," she says, noting that "it’s difficult to picture nan intelligence and beingness toll that took."

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The tattoos for Stewart became for illustration "trauma I was carrying connected my body," and taking nan steps to region them was portion of her "healing" that yet helped her "reclaim my assemblage and my consciousness of self."

"Emotionally, I consciousness free and liberated now that they’re gone. I genuinely felt for illustration I was stepping astir pinch scars — chiefly connected my arms, which were difficult to hide unless I wore agelong sleeves. And I did — almost each time — for my ain sanity and to protect them from nan sun," she says.

Stewart tells PEOPLE that nan week aft each tattoo removal convention "was nan astir brutal," and recommends those who find themselves successful a akin business to eat a patient diet, workout and trim backmost connected alcohol, arsenic nan lymphatic strategy plays a important domiciled successful tattoo removal by clearing ink particles from nan body.

"Blown away" by her results, Stewart says that she will "absolutely never" get tattoos again.

Following her experience, Stewart underwent oculus activity desensitization and reprocessing therapy, commonly known arsenic EMDR, pinch 1 of her targets being nan sound of a tattoo gun.

"I decidedly had an aversion to tattoos successful wide for astir 2 years. But acknowledgment to nan therapy I’ve been fortunate to do, I tin now admit and emotion them — for different people, conscionable not for me," she says.

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As for really group reacted to her tattoo removal, she says, "Everyone’s been incredibly supportive and understanding," and that it is bully to spot that her results person fixed different group "hope."