Who was that who posted a few weeks ago about a surgeon in their town who runs a tattoo parlor?
I plan on getting a Superman pentagram on my shoulder/mid arm sometime in the next year or so, about 1"x2". I’ve idolized Superman pretty much my whole life, and I’ve been seriously planning on getting a Superman tattoo for about two years now. I don’t think I’ll ever be at the point I won’t like it. I don’t consider this a ‘pop art’ tattoo, nor an ill considered decision.
It’s terribly difficult to catch a disease from something that comes out of an autoclave. So, if you see a proper artist, you’ll have no trouble.
I agree wholeheartedly with Baloo, you’ve some strong prejudices.
What’s this got to do with being sheep at all? And what is a “punker”?
I have piercings and I have tattoos. I hide them from people. I don’t listen to punk music, am I a Punker?
If I took the lead, am I a sheep? FWIW, nobody I knew pirced themselves, or got tattoos until years after me. I didn’t do it to rebel. I waited long after my 18th birthday to do this, so what gives with you?
The beauty of tattoos are the wonderful irony of seeing an obviously fatuous person (usually a youngster) who has, rather than vandalize something else, has been persuaded by a silly trend, to deface themselves instead.
This from Baglady:
“I personally have well over $1,000 worth of tattoo ink on my body, but you would NEVER see it because none of it shows when I wear regular clothes. Yes, I’ll admit a lot of people got tattoos when it was faddish to do so. But not everybody who gets them are stupid, shallow, fashion victims or drunk when they get them done (and in fact, the REPUTABLE tattoo artists refuse to work on you if you’ve been drinking).
Pardon me, but you guys might be showing your bigotry.”
Not to single her out, but why do all these pro-tat people say that no one can see them? if they are so proud about them, why hide them? Because what many know, and anyone who has a tattoo knows, is that they have put soemthing on their bodies that they can’t take off. It is a cruel reminder of their poor impulse control.
Tattooes contradict the most basic tenet of fashion, its inpermanence. Fashion is supposed to be ephemeral, at least most of it, and it is a good thing, too. Can you imagine wearing tiedye and bell bottoms to be at the zenith of couture for any length of time? “They” brought bell bottoms back for a little while, but it didn’t last. The beauty of it is that you can have the legs taken in and reflect on what possessed you to buy them in the first place. (Gee. I guess I am a trendoid protogeek after all!) No such luck with a tattoo. There is a remedy, but it is just as painful and a good deal more expensive than putting the silly things on. They used to use argon lasers, dermabrasion and chemical peels to remove them. Not only were these extremely painful but they left scarring. They now use Q pulse lasers (whatever those are. They run on kryptonite) which are not as painful. Most patients dont need anesthesia. But no treatment is completely effective, and the results vary. The patient must frequently return up to a dozen times to successfully remove the tattoo, if it can be removed at all.
There are over one hundred inks manufactured worldwide for tattoes, and they are unregulated by the FDA. Sure you can inject material of unknown origin under my skin thousands of times! Cool! Some of the chemicals and elements used to produce different colors would make you think twice about defacing yourself. Chromium for green, cobalt for blue, cadmium for yellow, mercury for red. Mercury is highly toxic and causes birth defects. The use of chromium is heavily regulated because it is also highly toxic. Cadmium ( a salt) and cobalt (radioactive) are poisonous as well. Not the sort of ingredients you want in your corn flakes. But it gets richer.
If you don’t have a nasty reaction from the ink, you could get any one of twenty two diseases from contaminated needles. The most common being hepatitus B which can make life positively unlivable. Most carriers go undetected and are asymptomatic (which increases your chances of contracting it from a tattoo parlor) but many of the 25% who get full blown hepatitus become chronic carriers of the virus and there is risk of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.
Some of the other nasty creatures transmitted through needles are syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria, and of course, AIDS, but my favorite is group A streptoccal necrotizing fasciitis which Stedman’s Medical Dictionary characterizes as an infection primarily involving the fascia whose progress is fulminant which to you and me means a very fast moving flesh eating infection. Mortality exceeds thirty percent.
So what will it be? Your astrological sign or a Celtic cross or the ubiquitous rose motif? Of course, if you want to be on the cutting edge, glyphs are hot right now. No risk is too great for fashion.
I purposely put all of my tats above the shortsleeve mark. The reason being not so that no one can see them but that I can chose who sees them and when. There are definite times when I don’t want them showing (like when I’m robbing banks or something) and other times when I like having them on display.
I thank the IPU daily that I was spared the Flesh Eating Disease and the other problems that you mentioned. If I’d have know how DANGEROUS getting tats was I wouldn’t ever have dreamed of getting them. Holy cow. Gosh, and to think that I went under the ‘gun’ for 20 tats (several times for many of the tattoos) and escaped with my life and health intact. Wow, I’m lucky. Somebody PLEASE tell me why I haven’t won the lotto yet.
The reason they say that is to prove they are not doing this merely for the sake of fashion. If your doing something for fashion wouldn’t you WANT it to be visible? So everyone can see you’re just oh so cool. Fashion is not meant to be hidden. Thats like saying say… tweety bird underwear is a fashion. Some just have the preference for that but it doesn’t matter what your wearing underneath… no one will see it unless its in the locker room or the privacy of your own bedroom. Though comparing underwear to tattoos is silly but I hope you see my point with that.
There will always be people who do stupid things spur of the moment but take myself for instance. I have thought about getting a tattoo off and on for at least two years. The past year is when I actually started thinking about what I would like to get as a tattoo seriously. Something that is personal to me. (I already described what I want in my last post… I don’t believe anyone else has that specific tattoo and I like it because I have an interest in horoscopes and such and take pride in being a Scorpio though there are hundreds of them out there.) It should never go out of my personal fashion. And I have time yet before I will be 18 (several months) plus I will probably wait awhile after that as well and I am not going to just ANY tattoo parlour. I am going to check it out I even have the on I want to check out picked out because I have been told (by several adults) that this place is a good reputable parlour.
Your right… fashion is impermanent. Which is why when you get a tattoo your recommended (at least by people who have them) to get one that isn’t in fashion but that means something to you. And NOT a girlfriends/boyfriends/husbands/wifes name… We all know how well that goes over. Because things don’t always work out so that is never a good idea. Thats also why I’m choosing something that means something to me. Several times I’ve thought about getting other things (like a Celtic Cross or an Ankh) but I always end up coming back to my original thought which tells me that I might regret it sometimes… but I will like it for most of the time. Which is why you shouldn’t go out and do it spur of the moment…
The fact that you escaped harm from repeated self-inflicted vandalism doesn’t alter the statistics. Do your research. People get hurt by tattoos. The fact that your health wasn’t affected or that you didn’t get a nasty reaction from the inks is fortunate. I am happy that you are fine. But your particular experience doesn’t extrapolate into a rational conclusion that tattooing is safe. It is good that you didn’t have a reaction to the inks and that your shop used good sterilization procedures and that no pathogens were introduced inadvertantly between the autoclave to your skin or that if they were–which is likely because it is not a sterile envionment–that your immune system was able to repel the invaders, but the most compelling reason to not do it is simple; risk management. It is the equivalent of wearing a helmet. Use your noggy Dewtster. Well. Too late, but you can still wear a helmet.
I like my tattoo that I got years ago. I still get compliments from strangers about it. Of course, I always took care to put sunblock on it so it didn’t fade & still looks like I just had it done. It’s getting cheaper to have them removed, so if young people get one and later regret it, so what? ZAP with the laser and it’s gone. I know a guy who had the 'too he got in Vietnam zapped off, and you can not tell he ever had one!
This is why people who are SERIOUS about getting a tat look into the artist, and make sure the tools are sterilized. Therefore, it reduces the danger.
Second, why did I get mine in a place no one can see normally? Because my tattoo was for ME, not anyone else. I’m also realistic. I work as a business analyst. You think I’m more likely to get hired with a tat the size of mine on my calf? No. And I know that. So I chose my placement carefully. I will never get mine removed.
And finally, how the HELL does wanting something for a year, and waiting for that year to find a design and a good artist make me have poor impulse control??? Poor control would have been going out to Joe Schmo in DC and getting a butterfly on my bicep 2 years ago.