BareBound Hydrocolloid Bandages

Kathy Lee

BareBound Bandages:
Heal, Reveal, Embrace

Many women have experienced negative stigma around showing their scars. BareBound is an approach for women to embrace their scars while facilitating scar healing. With the infusion of strategic design, BareBound empowers women to feel comfortable with their bodies' histories.

Skills
User centered design
Prototyping
Storytelling

Adobe CC
Screenprinting
Package design

Duration
14 weeks, Spring 2025

Purpose

Scars are often seen as flaws, not as marks of resilience. Unlike tattoos—which are proudly displayed—scars are usually hidden or left unspoken. This project is for women, and anyone, who has felt the need to cover scars from surgeries, accidents, or self-harm. It’s also for people like me.

After multiple surgeries, I was left with scars that felt at odds with the beauty standards I grew up with. For years, I saw them as something to fix. Now I see them as unique patterns on the body, each holding a story of survival, pain, strength, or growth.

I wanted to create something that fosters both physical healing and emotional acceptance—helping people embrace the scars they already have and the ones still forming. Scars are often a taboo: people hesitate to talk about them, and others aren’t sure if it’s okay to ask. My hope is that this work helps women feel at ease in their skin and more open to sharing their stories. Scars aren’t blemishes—they are living records of what we’ve been through, and they deserve to be seen.

Process

The project began with research into hydrocolloid bandages—their material properties, medical use, and role in wound healing—while exploring ways to print designs without affecting functionality. I interviewed women who felt shame about their scars, drawing inspiration from their stories to create tattoo-inspired motifs that reclaim the body as a canvas of strength and beauty.

I refined these sketches into cohesive designs and developed branding and packaging to extend the project’s empowering message. Finally, the designs were printed onto functional hydrocolloid bandages, merging medical utility with self-expression.

How can we reframe scars from something to hide into a source of empowerment and expression?

Design

Each pack of Barebound Bandages is custom-designed for an interviewee’s scar and inspired by their envisioned tattoo. Packs include 13–17 hydrocolloid bandages, each bandage lasting 3–5 days to support weeks of healing.

The designs progress gradually: the first bandage provides full coverage with bold, intricate patterns; subsequent bandages become lighter, revealing more of the scar; and the final bandage exposes much of the scar, encouraging a gentle reacquaintance with one’s body.

This progression is both functional and psychological. Inspired by tattoos, which invite curiosity and conversation, the designs help normalize scars, spark meaningful engagement, and support healing—physically and emotionally.

In the Making