# Dark-skinned African-Americans with tattoos: why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 5, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406 "2006-10-05T17:45:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/41 "2006-10-06T13:18:36Z")
I hate tattoos on anybody regardless of race or sex. But why is the choice of ink colors so limited (not just for blacks)? Why not flaming orange or red? Or could you make a glow-in-the-dark tattoo? That would be cool in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/42 "2006-10-06T13:39:20Z")
[QUOTE=pizzabrat] Do you think the same thing when you see a young person’s attractive face? If so, for what end? [/QUOTE] You are assuming I think an old face is therefore an unattractive face. This is not the case. I work in an industry that is primarily geriatric. Invariably, when the topic comes up, they very, very, very rarely still like/want their tattoos. It is from this experience of mine, that many folks who ARE old, who HAVE had their tattoos discolor over the years that makes me look at tattoos the way I do. As something that someone did in their youth, and grow to dislike. I grew up in the 80’s. We did stupid, trendy stuff too, however, it was not permanent. I do feel bad for these kids doing this because it’s cool. Sure, tell me the self-expression thing, in 50 years time, I would wager that most folks would rather not have gotten them. I just spoke with a 13 year old girl who wants a tattoo, a belly button piercing and a grill. I asked her if she would want to wear the grill for 10 years, she said heck yes. Then I asked her if she really thought that after college and two years into her professional job, if she really thought that wearing a grill then would be “cool.” She thought they would be. BTW, grills are fake gold teeth coverings that slide over your existing teeth, usually covering all of the visible front teeth, sometimes adorned with rhinestones and such. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/43 "2006-10-06T14:00:28Z")
[QUOTE=Auntbeast] I just spoke with a 13 year old girl who wants a tattoo, a belly button piercing and a grill. I asked her if she would want to wear the grill for 10 years, she said heck yes. Then I asked her if she really thought that after college and two years into her professional job, if she really thought that wearing a grill then would be “cool.” She thought they would be. BTW, grills are fake gold teeth coverings that slide over your existing teeth, usually covering all of the visible front teeth, sometimes adorned with rhinestones and such. [/QUOTE] Heh, I’m in my 30s, have a professional career, and _I do_ sort of think a grill would be cool. Are they generally fake gold, though? I’d always thought they were real. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/44 "2006-10-06T14:09:38Z")
[QUOTE=Auntbeast] I just spoke with a 13 year old girl who wants a tattoo, a belly button piercing and a grill. I asked her if she would want to wear the grill for 10 years, she said heck yes. Then I asked her if she really thought that after college and two years into her professional job, if she really thought that wearing a grill then would be “cool.” She thought they would be. BTW, grills are fake gold teeth coverings that slide over your existing teeth, usually covering all of the visible front teeth, sometimes adorned with rhinestones and such. [/QUOTE] Oh, my. The one thing out of all those that I might condone - in a few more years - would be the bellybutton piercing. At least she can hide it, and if you take a piercing out the hole may still remain but it’s still not as obvious as a tattoo or something. 13 is too young to make such a decision, anyway, IMO. Even I had to wait until I was 18 to get this piercing in my nose…and for me it wasn’t a phase, it’s part of my culture. 13 is also a silly age to ask if she’ll continue wearing it - I’ve known many 13 YO who will answer just to be contrary. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/45 "2006-10-06T14:22:22Z")
I have been unable to Google successfully, but I swear I saw on one of those “odd couple” shows a white guy who _literally_ had tatooed his entire body until he was blue. Whatever individual tatoos he had all run together now. Hard to figure. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/46 "2006-10-06T14:36:56Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] I have been unable to Google successfully, but I swear I saw on one of those “odd couple” shows a white guy who _literally_ had tatooed his entire body until he was blue. Whatever individual tatoos he had all run together now. Hard to figure. [/QUOTE] You’re thinking of [The Enigma](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enigma_(person)). ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/47 "2006-10-06T15:16:21Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I hate tattoos on anybody regardless of race or sex. But why is the choice of ink colors so limited (not just for blacks)? Why not flaming orange or red? Or could you make a glow-in-the-dark tattoo? That would be cool in my book. [/QUOTE] Knock yourself out: [Blacklight Tattoo Ink](http://www.blacklight-tattoo-ink.com/tattoo-supplies-supply.htm) . 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/48 "2006-10-06T20:10:24Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] There is only one poster who has expressed offense, and he has been scolded. Most “Why do Blacks?” threads come and go without a blink. So no need to nail yourself to a cross quite yet. However, these kinds of threads can be irritating in their banality. Why, I should post a thread entitled “Why do White People Wear White Panty Hose?” just to balance things out. [/QUOTE] I’ve been meaning to ask. Maybe you can tell me, monstro. Why do black people have so many illegitimate children? I don’t mean anything by it. Some of my best friends are black. > [@you with the face](#): > > In isolation, any of the threads that I rattled off from memory wouldn’t be annoying/offensive. But there does seem to be a general fixation on this board with how different blacks are from everyone else. I could understand if the questions were about complex issues, but most of the time they’re about mundane stuff that has an obvious answer, so the question doesn’t always come across as a sincere query but rather a vehicle to highlight how baffling their behavior is. Like this OP. Why would a dark-skinned black person get a tatoo? Um, maybe 'cause they want, too? Because they like the way it looks? Because the tatoo represents more than just a pretty picture to them? What other kind of answers could there be? I’ve seen a number of threads here on “Why do black people . . . ?” but I’ve seen similar threads on a lot of groups. A lot of the answers probably seem obvious to you, but they’re not necessarily obvious to us white folk. There are some noticeable cultural differences between blacks and whites in the United States, and I don’t think it’s strange that people are curious when they discover that something they take pretty much for granted is completely different within another group. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/49 "2006-10-06T20:15:39Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] There is only one poster who has expressed offense, and he has been scolded. Most “Why do Blacks?” threads come and go without a blink. So no need to nail yourself to a cross quite yet. However, these kinds of threads can be irritating in their banality. Why, I should post a thread entitled “Why do White People Wear White Panty Hose?” just to balance things out. [/QUOTE] I’ve been meaning to ask. Maybe you can tell me, monstro. Why do black people have so many illegitimate children? I don’t mean anything by it. Some of my best friends are black. > [@you with the face](#): > > In isolation, any of the threads that I rattled off from memory wouldn’t be annoying/offensive. But there does seem to be a general fixation on this board with how different blacks are from everyone else. I could understand if the questions were about complex issues, but most of the time they’re about mundane stuff that has an obvious answer, so the question doesn’t always come across as a sincere query but rather a vehicle to highlight how baffling their behavior is. Like this OP. Why would a dark-skinned black person get a tatoo? Um, maybe 'cause they want, too? Because they like the way it looks? Because the tatoo represents more than just a pretty picture to them? What other kind of answers could there be? I’ve seen a number of threads here on “Why do black people . . . ?” but I’ve seen similar threads on a lot of groups. A lot of the answers probably seem obvious to you, but they’re not necessarily obvious to us white folk. There are some noticeable cultural differences between blacks and whites in the United States, and I don’t think it’s strange that people are curious when they discover that something they take pretty much for granted is completely different within another group. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/50 "2006-10-06T20:18:41Z")
Also, do black people double post, or is it just white people who do that? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/51 "2006-10-07T17:03:15Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] I have seen a lot of black guys with the frat letters _branded_ onto them rather than tattoos. I think this looks a lot more unique and stands out more than a tattoo. [/QUOTE] It does stand out more. There’s one guy that I had a Cal I class with whose brand was huge and puffy, and I couldn’t help but want to poke it to see if it popped. ---
**Author:** ![jwalias1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@jwalias1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jwalias1)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/52 "2011-03-18T04:50:06Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > At the grocery store in my neighborhood, most of the cashiers are black women. About half of them have tattoos, which to my eyes appears more like a splotchy silhouette than a discernable work of skin art. > > I know I’ll probably be flamed for asking this, but a question to black Dopers and those who might be in the know: what’s the appeal in getting a complicated tattoo that will be difficult to see on very dark skin? Alot of you probably don’t read past history, but African Warriors, and other lesser cultures were the first people to even tattoo themselves…NOT WHITES. Although colored tattoos look better on white people, it does not give any justice that Blacks cannot have it. It’s the same old idea that ‘whatever the blacks have, whites want it and try to make it theirs’. Please don’t get offended as I’m only here to kick a littl knowledge because if you’re only asking white people questions about Blacks, you’ll never get an appropriate answer. It’s the same as what Blacks are asking about Whites: “Why do white people, get TANS?” ~ Darker skin looks BETTER on blacks that a white w/TAN, but you don’t see that question being brought up as to why whites always want to look ‘darker’!!! I think that everyone has a right to what they do to their own body, colored tattoos simply aren’t cut out for dark-skinned blacks, so the next best thing is done but without taking away the fact that we ‘all’ do what is in our limitations as people of ‘culture’. Tattoos are IN, so everyone should do what makes them happy without having to be judged about it. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/53 "2011-03-18T05:15:36Z")
> [@jwalias1](#): > > Alot of you probably don’t read past history, but African Warriors, and other lesser cultures were the first people to even tattoo themselves…NOT WHITES. First of all, how do you know this? “Otzi” the “Iceman”, a mummified skeleton 5300 years old, had tattoos on his skin. This was found on the border between Austria (you know, that place Hitler was from) and Italy (you know, that place where the Romans were from.) In other words, whiteyland. If you can conclusively tell me that _before_ the lifetime of this man who lived 5300 years ago, you know for certain that Africans were tattooing themselves, I’d love to hear this anthropological exposition. Secondly, what do you mean by “lesser cultures”? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/54 "2011-03-18T09:42:22Z")
If I may discuss the white tattoos: I’ve seen it. I believe it requires bleaching. And while it might fade, how is that different from color tattoos that people get touched up every so often? Has the technology just gotten better in the past five years? ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/55 "2011-03-18T09:54:52Z")
Oh I don’t see this thread ending well. Not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/56 "2011-03-18T09:56:36Z")
> [@jwalias1](#): > > Alot of you probably don’t read past history . . . Please don’t get offended as I’m only here to kick a littl knowledge because if you’re only asking white people questions about Blacks, you’ll never get an appropriate answer. There are a number of prominent posters here who happen to be black. How many? I don’t know, but I’m sure, um, someone can come up with a handy poll. And there are a large number of posters who are very well read in history, I’ll wager far more than any other, perhaps meteorologically themed boards you may frequent. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/57 "2011-03-18T09:58:10Z")
Whites always want to look darker? Really? I think our zombiemaster has a perception problem… ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/58 "2011-03-18T10:35:10Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > Oh I don’t see this thread ending well. Not at all. It ended well over 4 years ago until someone with Google and an apparent hair trigger dug it up… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/59 "2011-03-18T12:09:37Z")
Why do zombies get tattoos if their skin is just going to fall off anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406/60 "2011-03-18T12:51:07Z")
We can’t even talk about contrast without fighting :(. I was going to start a thread about hue but forget about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dark-skinned-african-americans-with-tattoos-why/375406.md?page=4)