Tattoo No-Nos – For You And For The Artist

There are certain lines when it comes to getting a tattoo, lines which must not be crossed either by you or by the tattoo artist. These exist in order to protect health, dignity and decency, and crossing them will only end badly. The following are some facts about the no-nos of tattoo art.

You should know when getting a tattoo that the artist is reliable. There is some chance of blood seeping out through the skin which is pretty much unavoidable. For reasons of hygiene and health, a good artist will wipe this away as and when they see it.

Getting a tattoo on your face may seem like an interesting thing to do at the time, but be wary that in many countries most artists will refuse to do it without a lot of persuasion that you are ready for the repercussions. Many employers will simply refuse to employ someone with a facial tattoo – especially in public-facing jobs. No, you shouldn’t judge by appearance. But people do anyway.

Tattoos on hands and feet are similarly unpopular with artists, but for different reasons, although hand tattoos are also highly visible and a tattoo artist does not want to be the cause of your unemployment. The other reason is that our hands and feet get through a lot of work, and during the three month period that exists between getting a tattoo and it truly healing that work can lead to the tattoo rubbing off. If it came off all in one then that’d suck, but in actual fact it is worse – it comes off in bits and looks appalling.

Temporary Tattoos – Fact and Fiction

Common sense dictates that sometimes a person getting art on their body will not want it to always be there. This gives rise to a number of questions, and has also led to some “tattoo artists” promising customers that they can have a tattoo which will not wash off today or tomorrow, but will fade away in a month, a year or so. It should be recognised that there is no real temporary tattoo. When ink goes beneath the skin, it is there for keeps, barring long-term surgery. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is a liar.

You can get body art done which will go away quickly. This, however, is only possible if the drawing is done onto the top layer of skin. It will wash away in one go, if you scrub hard enough, and if you do not it will come away in parts. If you want a tattoo just for one specific occasion, this is the kind of body art to go for. It is not, in real terms, a tattoo. A tattoo is when the ink is put underneath epidermis, and if you scrub hard enough to wash that off your next stop is the emergency room.

Think long and hard before adorning your skin with body art. It can look fantastic, but you need to know what you are getting. If someone tells you that the tattoo will merely fade, walk out of the shop. Body art that can be washed off in one go, or a tattoo that will be there unless you get it removed by a surgeon – those are your choices and there is no middle ground.

Putting Some Thought Into Your Tattoo

There is no doubt that most tattoo parlors in the Western World have been dealing with broadly similar requests from their customers for years now, and you can imagine that this probably gets a bit boring from time to time. With the old standby designs which everyone recognizes, added to the group, the film or the celebrity who is cool at the time, it is hardly surprising that there is an undercurrent of belief that tattoos are just a way of following the crowd. However, with a little bit of thought on the part of the bearer, a tattoo can be great to look at and a real conversation starter.

This is why you should put some thought into the design before you go anywhere near the tattoo parlor. Do you want to be the third person they’ve seen today to get a famous cartoon character, or do you want to give them a chance to draw something different for once? Don’t go too crazy – a giant tableau demonstrating the history of human civilization might take a while and still look half-done. But something individual and stylish can make the job worthwhile.

Think of something distinctive about yourself, or that you like. Then think of something connected with it that you really like – ideally not something completely typical of the tattoos that everyone else is getting. If you can draw, sketch out some ideas, or print something off the Internet. Go for a different look, and stand out from the crowd.

The Most Popular Tattoo Designs

Getting a tattoo should not be about following the crowd, but this does not mean that it is unacceptable to get a popular tattoo. Some people like a familiar style of body art because it looks really good – which will be why it is so popular. In this case, they should not be derided for following the crowd. They just happen to know what they want.

Perhaps the most popular tattoo design is the tribal mark. This kind of tattoo is the source of much controversy, with some people being of the opinion that a tribal tattoo on someone with at best a tenuous link to that tribe is a sign of cultural tourism. This often leads to debate between fans of ink. How Irish do you have to be to get a Celtic cross? How close does your Japanese ancestry need to be before you can get Japanese script drawn on you?

Another form of tattoo which has gained massive popularity is that of angel wings, or indeed any other form of wings. These can be drawn anywhere on the body, but are particularly popular when drawn on the back. The idea is that the bearer has wings sprouting out of their back and is ready to take flight. The tattoo symbolises freedom and elevation, popular themes with a link to escapism.

Fair enough, if someone simply gets a tattoo because they want attention then it is a little bit boring. But what cannot be denied is that the most popular designs keep getting chosen, regardless of anyone else’s opinion.

Sometimes It Helps To Think of an Alternative

Don’t shoot the messenger for bringing bad news, but sometimes relationships do not work out. This is, at the time, regrettable for all parties, but is equally a fact of life. So if you are uncontrollably in love it might be tempting to get their name inked on you, but you may well end up regretting your decision if things go wrong.

There are alternative approaches to capturing your love in ink form anyway. A symbol which demonstrates how that person makes you feel can work just as well. A star, to demonstrate that for you that person shines brightly for you, can be a good demonstration, and there are various others. If the relationship goes wrong – and no-one would ever hope for that – then at least when you fall in love again you do not have to explain away a tattoo with someone else’s name on it.

Much of the time it is also tempting to get a heart tattooed on your body with the initials of the person it is dedicated to. This can, again, pose problems. Even if the relationship goes well, there are other circumstances in which you could end up with someone else, so it is important to think about how the tattoo could haunt you. A tattoo which is small, cryptic and original will be all the more significant, and may well save you from the wrath of a future partner and/or expensive removal surgery. But if you are absolutely sure you want that tattoo, no-one is likely to stop you.

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