I do not think, however, it is a good idea to place ashes on your own head. Your neighbor on your right would place the ashes on your head, then you would place the ashes on the head of your neighbor to the left. In one service I attended, the ashes were distributed by the persons in the pews. This seems to be a matter of custom and is not required. The ashes are traced in a cross on the heads of the faithful. Most services I have attended utilize lay men and women to help with the distribution of the ashes. Or: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The rubric following the blessing of the ashes states: “Then the Priest places ashes on the head of all those present who come to him, and says to each one: Repent, and believe in the Gospel. In the Roman Rite, ashes are placed on the heads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday after being blessed by the priest.
A reader recently wrote in asking: “Would it be wrong to encourage people to self-impose ashes on Ash Wednesday, as a sign of their repentance?”