Tattoos

I never really thought about tattoos. I didn’t want one, couldn’t think of one I’d want to have. I got one just before my 18th birthday. My first tattoo was my sister’s name. It was the signature from the mirror on her bedroom wall. She signed her name in a delicate font right below “have a good day sweetie.” She had written the words on the mirror with black permanent marker and they’re still there. My brother, father and I all got inked together. All in the same place (our wrists) but all with a different signature she had made. My father’s her license signature. My brother’s the last card she had written to him. Each tattoo was our first and for my brother and father their last. The tattoos we got together got us through a very rough time and they continue to do so. I only have two tattoos and I don’t think I’ll get another.

Getting tattoos is certainly becoming more popular. You see many people with visible tattoos in the work place as well as many even with full sleeve tattoos. People are getting them for various reasons and different ways. I began to look into the new types of tattoos out there and was amazed at the variety.

The first I looked at were black light tattoos. These tattoos are almost invisible in daylight but once under a black light become just as if they were done in black. The problem many reports said with black light tattoos was that they didn’t last as long. These don’t seem to be growing in popularity but they do look pretty interesting.

The second and more interesting tattooing was not a type of tattoo but a method. It’s called Samoan tattooing. This is a method in which the artist takes a bamboo or wooden “rake” dips it in the ink and then strikes the rake pushing the ink under the skin. This method allows for more vibrant colors and designs. However these tattoo are known to hurt a little more then the common western tattoo (machine). These more traditional tattoos are becoming more popular in mainstream tattooing and because of the pain staking time it takes to do them cost more.

The last tattooing I want to share was on the top of the head. In the United Kingdom a company that uses tattoos to mask balding. The procedure called “hair follicle replication” involves tattoo the top of the head where the balding occurs and matches the color with the natural coloring. In order to do this however those with the tattoos must continually shave their heads, better then being bald I suppose. If I do get another tattoo I think I’ll probably stay away from these different tattoos but maybe finding an interesting means by which to get the tattoo would cool. Tattoos are evolving in both popularity and how they’re produced. I hope they don’t become just another fad.