"Body modifications have only changed the exterior," says Rolf Buchholz bluntly, "they have not changed me. I am the same person. "
Of course, this does not mean that he lives the same life. Whenever it's at airport Metal detectors go crazy.
He was deported to Dubai as soon as he was seen, without ever giving a reason for refusing to allow him to enter the emirate.
The adventures his life has gone through from the aesthetic choice he has made are innumerable, but today the 60-year-old Buchholz does not seem to get stuck in such small things.
The particular German began to occupy the world in 2012, when he entered the Guinness World Records as the man with the most physical interventions.
Since then he has made even more and now numbers 516 modifications, including the 278 earrings on the penis.
For most people, tattoos and earrings it is nothing but an expression of their identity, a statement of self-determination. But for Rolf it's more than that: another way to live…
According to an interview with the UPI news agency, Rolf Buchholz did not always seek to stand out from the others around him. He even got his first tattoo rather late in his life.
At the age of 40 he got his first painting on his skin and it was not to make a start. According to him, he became addicted to body art and extreme piercing and began experimenting with many different things.
Today, 20 years after this first and significant one tattoo, Rolf is a record holder. His drastic transformation no longer includes only tattoos and earrings, but also two subcutaneous implants on the head that give the feeling of horns.
"Many people believe that I am the Devil. But I do not believe in the Devil ", he says calmly, as he is used to answering such questions and they do not impress him anymore.
Check out this Instagram post.Photo by @giekemerckx
Photo by @giekemerckx
As he is not angry with their titles scandalous publications, that when they deal with him is always to make fun of him.
"A man planted horns on his forehead - To match the 278 earrings on his penis", was the title in a relevant article of "Mirror" in November 2019.
He had a good reason that the British tabloid played him, as last year he put the "horns of the devil" on his head and now it was time for a new festival with his appearance.
A situation that started in 2010, when the man from Dortmund jumped as one of the contenders for the record for most piercings.
Check out this Instagram post.On the way back home… ..
On the way back home… ..
The new star of extreme interventions had not only 453 pieces of metal hanging from his body, but also eyes painted black. Now, of course, it was the synthetic horns that stole the show.
Until 2019, the German was also a big name in the field. For years he traveled around the world to display the work of art into which he had been transformed and was often seen at gatherings and conferences.
The "human horns" made him world news for the second time. Made of Teflon and silicone, are two simple implants under his skin. In fact, as long as they stretch the skin, playing with the elasticity of the skin, they can be placed bigger and bigger.
He could not understand the doro either. A sorrow that in some corners of the world and the internet was turning into a commotion. He was not even the first to do so or the only one…
Buchholz came to the attention of most in 2010, when Guinness recognized him as the man with the most earrings. He then had 453, with 158 of them around his lips (now he has 94) and another 37 adorning his eyebrows.
Two years later, in 2012, he toppled another Guinness record, now of most bodily modifications. Since then the numbers are constantly rising.
Until then, tattoos covered his entire body (90%), bit by bit, and he had "at least 8 implants" on his body, some around his wrists. Even his eyeballs had turned black, without him ever revealing the technique employed here.
"The eyes are ink, they are black," he once said of the unusual dyeing of the eyes. I like". Rolf was the epitome of extreme physical intervention.
Check out this Instagram post.Tokyo, 2 years ago
Tokyo, 2 years ago
But he was also an employee of a telecommunications provider. He works steadily as a computer scientist in a large German company. Which he often emphasizes to show that his image is not incompatible with the propriety often required of such positions.
His image alienates some, but for him it has nothing extreme. Nor is it done for hidden reasons that o must bring to light psychoanalyst.
When asked by a German journalist if pain is what is required in all this, Rolf answered that of all the extreme interventions he has on his body, the most painful experience was the tattoo on his palm!
"It really hurts," he said of the elaborate tattoos on his hands, "I can't stand the pain very much."
The only time Rolf made world news without setting a new record was in 2014, when he went to Dubai. Before he even left the airport of the emirate, he was grabbed and turned back, as they believed that something evil was hiding behind his special image.
Buchholz had gone to the emirate for a scheduled public appearance at a hotel. However, he did not manage to get there. He was stopped as he passed the gate of Dubai International Airport, as he suspected. Black magic.
According to the Belgian news network 7sur7, which had extensive coverage at the time, the airport authorities took him as a magician.
The spokesman for the hotel where the German would appear said that "despite all our efforts, we were not able to obtain permission from the authorities to enter the country."
Check out this Instagram post.
The United Arab Emirates they never explained why they closed the door. He once said that "those who accompanied me back to the plane said that this was done for the way I look, because I practice black magic".
The local newspaper "Emarat Al Youm" even stressed that the airport authorities refused to say why they barred him from entering. They just put him on the first flight to Istanbul.
Giving a sacred vow never to set foot in the emirate, despite the fact that his suitcases remained there, Buchholz wrote on Twitter: "In the end I got an answer because I can not go to Dubai. The immigration service believed that I was Black Magic "»
Rolf has had to answer even very personal questions. And it is not the curiosity of the people here, despite the non-existent rumors that are circulating about him and someone has to put them in their place.
It was 2017, after a new round of publications in a series of scandalous publications, that Rolf was forced to come out and say that the 278 earrings on his penis do not create erection problem.
"It's not a problem at all," he told the Daily Star. "I've had the earrings for a very long time. If it was a problem, I would have got rid of them all a long time ago. "
Check out this Instagram post.Launch of the Guinness World Records Book 2012, London
Launch of the Guinness World Records Book 2012, London
In the end he told them that "my love life is actually very good" and they stopped asking him. "Earrings bring me more problems airports rather than in the bedroom, "he repeated on a local German television station.
One thing is certain, however: the long journey of physical intervention is not over.
He has stated that there is always something he wants to do. And when Rolf wants something, he does it. Within two decades he is another human being. Externally at least…