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tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, , or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the Human skin to form a design. create these designs using several tattooing processes and techniques, including hand-tapped traditional tattoos and modern . The history of tattooing goes back to Neolithic times, practiced across the globe by many cultures, and the symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures.
Tattoos may be decorative (with no specific meaning), symbolic (with a specific meaning to the wearer), pictorial (a depiction of a specific person or item), or textual (words or pictographs from written languages). Many tattoos serve as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, marks of fertility, pledges of love, and talismans, protection, and as punishment, like the marks of outcasts, slaves, and convicts. Extensive decorative tattooing has also been part of the work of performance artists such as Tattooed lady.
Although tattoo art has existed at least since the first known tattooed person, Ötzi, lived around the year 3330 BCE, the way society perceives tattoos has varied immensely throughout history. In the 20th century, tattoo art throughout most of the world was associated with certain lifestyles, notably sailors and prisoners (see sailor tattoos and prison tattooing). In the 21st century, people choose to be tattooed for artistic, cosmetic, sentimental/memorial, religion, and spiritual reasons, or to symbolize their belonging to or identification with particular groups, including criminal gangs (see ) or a particular ethnic group or law-abiding subculture. Tattoos may show how a person feels about a relative (commonly a parent or child) or about an unrelated person. Tattoos can also be used for functional purposes, such as identification, permanent makeup, and Medical tattoo.
The etymology of the body modification term is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the Military tattoo or performance. In this case, the English word "tattoo" is derived from the Dutch word taptoe.OED
Ready-made tattoo designs are known as "flash". Flash sheets are prominently displayed in many tattoo parlors to enable customers to select a predrawn image or use them as inspiration for a custom image. Flash may be mass-produced or drawn by tattoo artists who work there.
The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink" and can mean tattoos using tebori, the traditional Japanese hand method, a Western-style machine, or any method of tattooing using insertion of ink. Another word used for traditional Japanese tattoo designs is horimono. Japanese may use the Western word tattoo as a loan word meaning any non-Japanese styles of tattooing.
British anthropologist Ling Roth in 1900 described four methods of skin marking and suggested they be differentiated under the names "tatu", "moko", "scarification", and "keloid". The first is by pricking that leaves the skin smooth as found in places including the Pacific Islands. The second is a tattoo combined with chiseling to leave furrows in the skin as found in places including New Zealand. The third is scarification using a knife or chisel as found in places including West Africa. The fourth and the last is scarification by irritating and reopening a pre=existing wound, and rescarification to form a raised scar as found in places including Tasmania, Australia, Melanesia, and Central Africa.McDougall, Russell and Davidson, Iain; eds. (2016). The Roth Family, Anthropology, and Colonial Administration, p.97. Routledge. .
As early as the Zhou dynasty, Chinese authorities employed facial tattoos as a punishment for certain crimes or to mark prisoners or slaves.
During the Roman Empire, gladiators and slaves were tattooed; exported slaves were tattooed with the words "tax paid", and it was a common practice to tattoo "fugitive" (denoted by the letters "FUG") on the foreheads of runaway slaves. Owing to the Bible strictures against the practice,Leviticus 19:28 Emperor Constantine I banned tattooing the face around AD 330, and the Second Council of Nicaea banned all body markings as a Paganism practice in AD 787.
Another cosmetic tattooing trend is micropigmentation, which tattoo artists use to create the illusion of hair on the scalp. Often called Hair tattoo, this technique is popular among those experiencing hair loss, as it can mimic the look of a closely shaved head or add density to thinning areas. The process involves depositing tiny dots of pigment into the skin, creating a natural-looking shadow effect that blends seamlessly with existing hair.
SS blood group tattoos () were worn by members of the Waffen-SS in Nazi Germany during World War II to identify the individual's blood type. After the war, the tattoo was taken to be prima facie, if not perfect, evidence of being part of the Waffen-SS, leading to potential arrest and prosecution. This led a number of ex-Waffen-SS to shoot themselves through the arm with a gun, removing the tattoo and leaving scars like the ones resulting from pox inoculation, making the removal less obvious.
Tattoos were probably also used in ancient medicine as part of the treatment of the patient. In 1898, medical doctor Daniel Fouquet wrote about "medical tattooing" practices in Ancient Egypt based on female mummies at the Deir el-Bahari site.Gemma Angel, " Tattooing in Ancient Egypt Part 2: The Mummy of Amunet". 10 December 2012.
Ötzi the iceman had a total of 61 tattoos, which may have been a form of acupuncture used to relieve pain. (2020). 9783030321802 ISBN 9783030321802 Radiological examination of Ötzi's bones showed "age-conditioned or strain-induced degeneration" corresponding to many tattooed areas, including osteochondrosis and slight spondylosis in the lumbar spine and wear-and-tear degeneration in the knee and especially in the ankle joints. If so, this is at least 2,000 years before acupuncture's previously known earliest use in China ().
Some women in the US and UK who have undergone mastectomy and breast reconstruction choose to get realistic tattoos of nipples. Others choose to get decorative Cover-up tattoo over mastectomy scars instead of reconstruction.Locke, Katherine. 2013. "Women choose body art over reconstruction after cancer battle: Undergoing a mastectomy is a harrowing experience, but tattoos can celebrate the victory over cancer." The Guardian. 7 August 2013.
Ancient tattooing was most widely practiced among the Austronesian people. It was one of the early technologies developed by the Proto-Austronesians in Taiwan and coastal South China prior to at least 1500 BC, before the Austronesian expansion into the islands of the Indo-Pacific. (2025). 9780295742847, University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295742847 It may have originally been associated with headhunting. Tattooing traditions, including facial tattooing, can be found among all Austronesian subgroups, including Taiwanese indigenous peoples, Islander Southeast Asians, Micronesians, Polynesians, and the Malagasy people. Austronesians used the characteristic hafted skin-puncturing technique, using a small mallet and a piercing implement made from Citrus thorns, fish bone, bone, and oyster shells.
Ancient tattooing traditions have also been documented among Papuans and Melanesians, with their use of distinctive obsidian skin piercers. Some archeological sites with these implements are associated with the Austronesian migration into Papua New Guinea and Melanesia. But other sites are older than the Austronesian expansion, being dated to around 1650 to 2000 BC, suggesting that there was a preexisting tattooing tradition in the region. Among other ethnolinguistic groups, tattooing was also practiced among the Ainu people of Japan; some of Indochina; Berber people women of Tamazgha (North Africa); the Yoruba people, Fulani people and Hausa people people of Nigeria; Native Americans of the Pre-Columbian Americas;Evans, Susan, Toby. 2013. Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. 3rd Edition. people of Rapa Nui; Picts of Iron Age Britain; and Paleo-Balkan peoples (Illyrians and Thracians, as well as Daunians in Apulia), a tradition that has been preserved in the western Balkans by Albanians (Albanian traditional tattooing), Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sicanje), and women of some Vlachs communities.
The cultures of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Nubia, located in modern-day Sudan, while diverse and multifaceted within their own rights, often have roots in a shared cultural heritage such as the tradition of tattooing. While the Gebelein man was buried in Egypt, most discoveries of tattooed individuals from this region are from Ancient Nubia. In Nubia, the earliest identified human remains with tattoos are dated to the C-Group period, which lasted from 2345 to 1500 BC and contemporaneous with the First Intermediate period through the Second Intermediate period in Ancient Egypt. During this C-Group period, only women have been found with tattoos, suggesting that tattooing was gendered at this time. Tattoos of this period usually consist of dotted patterns and lines, and typically were located on the abdomen, chest, arms or legs.
By 500 BC, there is evidence of tattooing on men in Ancient Nubia, typically on the hands or arms, and rarely on the face. There is also more evidence of figural tattooing around this period, typically found on female human remains. These figural tattoos encompassed a wide variety of images, such as abstract chains of “sss” or depictions of gods and goddesses. In Nubia, a female mummy from Aksha dated to the 4th century BC contains a tattoo of the Egyptian deity Bes on her thigh. Bes, a dwarfed god, is often associated with fertility and childbirth, and was a popular image tattooed onto women both in Egypt and Nubia, as seen in both Iconography examples, such as tomb paintings, and on human remains.
No ancient tattoo instruments or tools have been confidently identified at archaeological excavations in either Egypt or Sudan, due to the perishable nature of the tools and their possibility for misidentification. However, tattoos during this period were created with metal needles or awls, tools typically associated with the work of domestic women.
In ancient China, tattoos were considered a barbaric practice associated with the Baiyue peoples of southeastern and southern China. Tattoos were often referred to in literature depicting bandits and folk heroes. As late as the Qing dynasty, it was common practice to tattoo characters such as 囚 ("Prisoner") on convicted criminals' faces. Although relatively rare during most periods of Chinese history, slaves were also sometimes marked to display ownership.
However, tattoos seem to have remained a part of southern culture. Marco Polo wrote of Quanzhou, "Many come hither from Upper India to have their bodies painted with the needle in the way we have elsewhere described, there being many adepts at this craft in the city". At least three of the main characters Lu Zhishen, Shi Jin (史進), and Yan Ching (燕青) in the classic novel Water Margin are described as having tattoos covering nearly all of their bodies. Wu Song was sentenced to a facial tattoo describing his crime after killing Xi Menqing (西門慶) to avenge his brother. In addition, Chinese legend claimed the mother of Yue Fei (a famous Song dynasty general) tattooed the words "Repay the Country with Pure Loyalty" (精忠報國, jing zhong bao guo) down her son's back before he left to join the army.
In 1691, William Dampier brought to London a Filipino man named Jeoly or Giolo from the island of Mindanao (Philippines) who had a tattooed body. Dampier exhibited Jeoly in a human zoo to make a fortune and falsely branded him as a "prince" to draw large crowds. At the time of exhibition, Jeoly was still grieving his mother, who Dampier also enslaved and had died at sea during their exploitation to Europe. Dampier claimed that he became friends with Jeoly, but with the intention to make money, he continued to exploit his "friend" by exhibiting him in a human zoo, where Jeoly died three months later. Jeoly's dead body was afterwards skinned, and his skinless body was disposed, while the tattooed skin was sold and displayed at Oxford.Mangubat (2017). The True Story of the Mindanaoan Slave Whose Skin Was Displayed at Oxford. Esquire.
It is commonly held that the modern popularity of tattooing stems from Captain James Cook's three voyages to the South Pacific in the late 18th century. Certainly, Cook's voyages and the dissemination of the texts and images from them brought more awareness about tattooing (and, as noted above, imported the word "tattow" into Western languages). On Cook's first voyage in 1768, his science officer and expedition botanist, Joseph Banks, as well as artist Sydney Parkinson and many others of the crew, returned to England with a keen interest in tattoos with Banks writing about them extensively and Parkinson is believed to have gotten a tattoo himself in Tahiti. Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy who had acquired his position with Cook by co-financing the expedition with ten thousand pounds, a very large sum at the time. In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed man, Omai, whom he presented to King George and the English Court. On subsequent voyages other crew members, from officers, such as American John Ledyard, to ordinary seamen, were tattooed.
The first documented professional tattooist in Britain was Sutherland Macdonald, who operated out of a salon in London beginning in 1894. In Britain, tattooing was still largely associated with sailorsSome days after a shipwreck divers recovered the bodies. Most were unrecognisable, but that of a crew member was readily identified by his tattoos: "The reason why sailors tattoo themselves has often been asked." The Times (London), 30 January 1873, p. 10 and the lower or even criminal class, The Times (London), 3 April 1879, p. 9: "Crime has a ragged regiment in its pay so far as the outward ... qualities are concerned ... they tattoo themselves indelibly ... asserting the man's identity with the aid of needles and gunpowder. This may be the explanation of the Mermaids, the Cupid's arrows, the name of MARY, the tragic inscription to the memory of parents, the unintended pathos of the appeal to liberty." but by the 1870s had become fashionable among some members of the upper classes, including royalty, Article describing work of society tattooist Sutherland Macdonald refers to his clientele including "members of our Royal Family, among them H.R.H. the Duke of York, H.I.M. the Czarevitch, and Imperial and Royal members of Russian, German and Spanish courts...." and in its upmarket form it could be an expensive The Times (London), 18 April 1889, p. 12: "A Japanese Professional Tattooer". Article describes the activities of an unnamed Japanese tattooist based in Hong Kong. He charged £4 for a dragon, which would take 5 hours to do. The article ends "The Hong-Kong operator tattooed the arm of an English Prince, and, in Kioto, was engaged for a whole month reproducing on the trunk and limbs of an English peer a series of scenes from Japanese history. For this he was paid about £100. He has also tattooed ladies.... His income from tattooing in Hong Kong is about £1,200 per annum." and sometimes painful "In especially sensitive cases a mild solution of cocaine is injected under the skin, ... and no sensation whatever is felt, while the soothing solution is so mild that it has no effect ... except locally." process. A marked class division on the acceptability of the practice continued for some time in Britain.In 1969 the House of Lords debated a bill to ban the tattooing of minors, on grounds it had become "trendy" with the young in recent years but was associated with crime, 40 per cent of young criminals having tattoos. Baron Teynham and the Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair however rose to object that they had been tattooed as youngsters, with no ill effects. The Times (London), 29 April 1969, p. 4: "Saving young from embarrassing tattoos".
By the time of the American Revolution, tattoos were already common among American sailors (see sailor tattoos). Tattoos were listed in protection papers, an identity certificate issued to prevent impressment into the British Royal Navy. Because protection papers were proof of American citizenship, Black sailors used them to show that they were freemen. Law in American History: Volume 1: From the Colonial Years Through the Civil War. Page 305.
The first recorded professional tattoo shop in the U.S. was established in the early 1870s by a German immigrant, Martin Hildebrandt. He had served as a Union soldier in the Civil War and tattooed many other soldiers.
Soon after the Civil War, tattoos became fashionable among upper-class young adults. This trend lasted until the beginning of World War I. The invention of the electric tattoo machine caused popularity of tattoos among the wealthy to drop off. The machine made the tattooing procedure both much easier and cheaper, thus, eliminating the status symbol tattoos previously held, as they were now affordable for all socioeconomic classes. The status symbol of a tattoo shifted from a representation of wealth to a mark typically seen on rebels and criminals. Despite this change, tattoos remained popular among military servicemen, a tradition that continues today.
In 1975, there were only 40 tattoo artists in the U.S.; in 1980, there were more than 5,000 self-proclaimed tattoo artists, appearing in response to sudden demand.
Many studies have been done of the tattooed population and society's view of tattoos. In June 2006, the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology published the results of a telephone survey of 2004: it found that 36% of Americans ages 18–29, 24% of those 30–40, and 15% of those 41–51 had a tattoo. In September 2006, the Pew Research Center conducted a telephone survey that found that 36% of Americans ages 18–25, 40% of those 26–40 and 10% of those 41–64 had a tattoo. They concluded that Generation X and Millennials express themselves through their appearance, and tattoos are a popular form of self-expression. In January 2008, a survey conducted online by Harris Interactive estimated that 14% of all adults in the United States have a tattoo, slightly down from 2003, when 16% had a tattoo. Among age groups, 9% of those ages 18–24, 32% of those 25–29, 25% of those 30–39 and 12% of those 40–49 have tattoos, as do 8% of those 50–64. Men are slightly more likely to have a tattoo than women.
Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of Western fashion, common both for men and women, and among all economic classes and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. The tattoo has undergone "dramatic redefinition" and has shifted from a form of deviance to an acceptable form of expression. As of 1 November 2006, Oklahoma became the last state to legalize tattooing, having banned it since 1963.
Barramoyokjarlukkugarr walang bolhminy now bolitj. They put it on the wound and then it comes up as an adornment scar. (Bob Burruwal, Rembarrnga, Arnhem Land)
The European history of the use of tattoo in Australia is that branding was used by European authorities for marking criminals throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.Clare Andersen in Caplan, J. (2000). Written on the body: The tattoo in European and American history / edited by Jane Caplan. London: Reaktion. The practice was also used by British authorities to mark army deserters and military personnel court-martialed in Australia. In nineteenth century Australia tattoos were generally the result of personal rather than official decisions but British authorities started to record tattoos along with scars and other bodily markings to describe and manage convicts assigned for transportation.Maxwell-Stewart, Hamish, in Caplan, J. (2000). Written on the body: The tattoo in European and American history / edited by Jane Caplan. London: Reaktion. The practice of tattooing appears to have been a largely non-commercial enterprise during the convict period in Australia. For example, James Ross in the Hobart Almanac of 1833 describes how the convicts on board ship commonly spent time tattooing themselves with gunpowder. Out of a study of 10,180 convict records that were transported to then Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) between 1823 and 1853 about 37% of all men and about 15% of all women arrived with tattoos, making Australia at the time the most heavily tattooed English-speaking country. the beginning of the twentieth century, there were tattoo studios in Australia but they do not appear to have been numerous. For example, the Sydney tattoo studio of Fred Harris was touted as being the only tattoo studio in Sydney between 1916 and 1943.PIX MAgazine, Vol. 1 No. 4 (19 February 1938) Tattoo designs often reflected the culture of the day and in 1923 Harris's small parlour experienced an increase in the number of women getting tattoos. Another popular trend was for women to have their legs tattooed so the designs could be seen through their stockings.SYDNEY WOMEN'S CRAZE. (6 October 1923). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860–1947), p. 11
By 1937 Harris was one of Sydney's best-known tattoo artists and was inking around 2000 tattoos a year in his shop. Sailors provided most of the canvases for his work but among the more popular tattoos in 1938 were Australian flags and kangaroos for sailors of the visiting American Fleet.Fred Harris Tattoo Studio Sydney, 1916–1943, State Library of New South Wales
In modern-day Australia, tattoos are common and widely accepted. A 2024 study determined that there were 1,860 tattoo businesses in Australia. There are tattoo conventions held in major cities each year. The Southern Cross motif from the Australian flag is a popular but controversial tattoo.
In Rajasthan, tattoos were often considered to protect the wearer from evil spirits and bring good fortune. Among the Mising people people of Assam, tattoos were seen as indicators of maturity and social standing. The tradition of tattooing evolved over time from a ritualistic and protective art form to an expression of personal identity and individuality.
Binds in Uttar Pradesh have used tattoos to signify the marital status of a woman, especially in remote rural areas. In the past, girls would get tattooed as soon as they started Menstrual cycle, which signaled to the family that it was time to begin searching for a Bridegroom.
In contemporary India, tattooing has become mainstream, particularly in urban areas, with many tattoo artists gaining international recognition. Tattoos are now a popular means of expressing personal stories, beliefs, and artistic style.
An alternative and painless method of permanent tattooing is to use patches covered by microneedles made of tattoo ink. The patch is pressed onto the skin the same way a temporary tattoo paper is applied to the body. The microneedles then dissolve, and after a few minutes the ink sinks into the skin.
The most common method of tattooing in modern times is the electric tattoo machine, which inserts ink into the skin via a single needle or a group of needles that are onto a bar, which is attached to an oscillating unit. The unit rapidly and repeatedly drives the needles in and out of the skin, usually 80 to 150 times a second. The needles are single-use needles that come packaged individually, or manufactured by artists, on-demand, as groupings dictate on a per-piece basis.
In modern tattooing, an artist may use thermal stencil paper or hectograph ink/stencil paper to first place a printed design on the skin before applying a tattoo design.
Tattoos were part of the ancient Wu culture of the Yangtze River Delta but had negative connotations in traditional Han culture in China. The Predynastic Zhou refugees Wu Taibo and his brother Zhongyong were recorded cutting their hair and tattooing themselves to gain acceptance before founding the state of Wu, but Zhou and imperial China culture tended to restrict tattooing as a punishment for marking criminals. The association of tattoos with was transmitted from China to influence Japan. Today, tattoos remain generally disfavored in Chinese society.
Tattooing of criminals and slaves was commonplace in the Roman Empire. Catholic Croats of Bosnia, especially children and women, used Sicanje for protection against conversion to Islam during the Ottoman rule in the Balkans.Truhelka, Ciro. Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen Aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina: "Die Tätowirung bei den Katholiken Bosniens und der Hercegovina." Sarajevo; Bosnian National Museum, 1896.
In the 19th century, released convicts from the U.S. and Australia, as well as British military deserters were identified by tattoos. Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps were tattooed with an identification number. Today, many prison inmates still tattoo themselves as an indication of time spent in prison.
The Government of Meiji Japan had outlawed tattoos in the 19th century, a prohibition that stood for 70 years before being repealed in 1948.Ito, Masami, " Whether covered or brazen, tattoos make a statement", Japan Times, 8 June 2010, p. 3 As of 6 June 2012, all new tattoos are forbidden for employees of the city of Osaka. Existing tattoos are required to be covered with proper clothing. The regulations were added to Osaka's ethical codes, and employees with tattoos were encouraged to have them removed. This was done because of the strong connection of tattoos with the yakuza, or Japanese organized crime, after an Osaka official in February 2012 threatened a schoolchild by showing his tattoo.
Current cultural understandings of tattoos in Europe and North America have been greatly influenced by long-standing stereotypes based on deviant social groups in the 19th and 20th centuries. Particularly in North America, tattoos have been associated with stereotypes, folklore and racism. Not until the 1960s and 1970s did people associate tattoos with such societal outcasts as bikers and prisoners. Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Margo DeMello. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000. vii + 222 pp., photographs, notes, bibliography, index. Today, in the United States many prisoners and criminal gangs use distinctive tattoos to indicate facts about their criminal behavior, prison tattooing and organizational affiliation. A teardrop tattoo, for example, can be symbolic of murder, or each tear represents the death of a friend. At the same time, members of the U.S. military have an equally well-established and longstanding history of tattooing to indicate military units, battles, kills, etc., an association that remains widespread among older Americans. In Japan, tattoos are associated with yakuza criminal groups, but there are non-yakuza groups such as Fukushi Masaichi's tattoo association that sought to preserve the skins of dead Japanese who have extensive tattoos. Tattooing is also common in the British Armed Forces. Depending on vocation, tattoos are accepted in a number of professions in America. Companies across many fields are increasingly focused on diversity and inclusion. Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both conventional and custom tattoo designs, such as Beyond Skin, at the Museum of Croydon.
In Britain, there is evidence of women with tattoos, concealed by their clothing, throughout the 20th century, and records of women tattooists such as Jessie Knight from the 1920s. (2025). 9781576876138, Powerhouse Books. ISBN 9781576876138 A study of "at-risk" (as defined by school absenteeism and truancy) adolescent girls showed a positive correlation between body modification and negative feelings towards the body and low self-esteem; however, the study also demonstrated that a strong motive for body modification is the search for "self and attempts to attain mastery and control over the body in an age of increasing alienation". The prevalence of women in the tattoo industry in the 21st century, along with larger numbers of women bearing tattoos, appears to be changing negative perceptions.
In Covered in Ink by Beverly Yuen Thompson, she interviews heavily tattooed women in Washington, Miami, Orlando, Houston, Long Beach, and Seattle from 2007 to 2010 using participant observation and in-depth interviews of 70 women. Younger generations are typically more unbothered by heavily tattooed women, while older generation including the participants parents are more likely to look down on them, some even go to the extreme of disowning their children for getting tattoos. Typically how the family reacts is an indicator of their relationship in general. Reports were given that family members who were not accepting of tattoos wanted to scrub the images off, pour holy water on them or have them surgically removed. Families who were emotionally accepting of their family members were able to maintain close bonds after tattooing.
In some communities, mental health clinics and support groups offer free or low-cost Cover-up tattoo to cover self-harm scars, particularly for those in recovery. Clients of these programs often report that these tattoos are transformative, turning marks of pain into symbols of strength and survival.
Tattoos can play a role in shaping self-esteem and body image. Research has found that individuals who get tattoos often report improvements in body acceptance and a greater sense of self-worth. One study showed that men and women experienced decreased anxiety and enhanced body image shortly after receiving tattoos, with these effects lasting for weeks.Curtis, Russ et al. (2024). “Ink-ling of Identity: Unraveling Tattoo Culture for Mental Health Counselors.” The Professional Counselor. 14(3):241–254. In particular, tattoos are seen as a way to assert identity and autonomy over one's body, especially among individuals who have faced trauma or medical challenges. Tattoos are also a common form of gender affirmation and medical recovery. For example, some breast cancer survivors choose decorative tattoos in place of reconstruction, with many reporting positive impacts on body image and a sense of personal agency.Reid-de Jong, Victoria (2022). “Unveiling Beauty: Insight into Being Tattooed Postmastectomy.” *Nursing Forum* 57(4):536–544.
Memorial tattoos are a meaningful way for individuals to commemorate loved ones who have passed or to mark significant life events. These tattoos often serve as a lasting reminder of those lost, offering a way for people to process grief and keep the memory of the deceased alive.
While tattoos are associated with emotional healing for many, experts caution against viewing tattooing as a substitute for clinical treatment. Some critics argue that media depictions of trauma-related tattoos may romanticize the process, suggesting that tattooing alone can lead to emotional recovery. Additionally, the permanence of tattoos means that designs chosen during vulnerable moments may later lead to regret if their meanings change.Phillips, Suzanne B. (July 18, 2021). “Tattoos After Trauma: 6 Qualities of Healing Potential.” *Psychology Today*. Retrieved 2025. Mental health professionals are advised to explore the personal significance of tattoos with clients rather than making assumptions about their impact. Although tattoos are not intrinsically linked to mental illness, their meaning can vary widely depending on individual context and cultural factors.
Because it requires breaking the immunologic barrier formed by the skin, tattooing carries health risks, including infection and allergic reactions. Modern tattooists reduce health risks by following universal precautions working with single-use items and sterilizing their equipment after each use. Many jurisdictions require that tattooists have blood-borne pathogen training such as that provided through the Red Cross and OSHA. As of 2024, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there have been no known cases of HIV contracted from tattoos.
In amateur tattooing, such as the practice in prisons, there is an elevated risk of infection. Infections that can theoretically be transmitted by the use of unsterilized tattoo equipment or contaminated ink include surface infections of the skin, fungal infections, some forms of hepatitis, herpes simplex virus, staph, tetanus, and tuberculosis.
Tattoo inks have been described as "remarkably nonreactive histologically". However, cases of allergic reactions to tattoo inks, particularly certain colors, have been medically documented. This is sometimes due to the presence of nickel in an ink pigment, which triggers a common metal allergy. Occasionally, when a blood vessel is punctured during the tattooing procedure, a bruise/hematoma may appear. At the same time, a number of tattoo inks may contain hazardous substances, and a proposal has been submitted by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to restrict the intentional use or concentration limit of approximately 4000 substances when contained in tattoo inks. According to a study by the European Union Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON), a number of modern-day tattoo inks contain nanomaterials. These engender significant Nanotoxicology concerns.
Certain colours – red or similar colours such as purple, pink, and orange – tend to cause more problems and damage compared to other colours.
In 2017, researchers from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France found that some of the chemicals in tattoo ink accumulate in the , obstructing their ability to fight infections. However, the authors noted that most tattooed individuals, including the donors analyzed, do not suffer from chronic inflammation.
Tattoo artists frequently recommend sun protection of skin to prevent tattoos from fading and to preserve skin integrity to make future tattooing easier.
A clear relationship between tattoos and cancer has not been established, but a few studies found that tattoos may be associated with an increased risk of malignant lymphoma and skin cancer.
Pew Research found that about 24% of Americans with tattoos regret at least one of them. A survey of tattooed people in India revealed that about 26% regretted their tattoos. A survey by a dermatology clinic also tracked significant regret.
Cosmetic products, such as decal temporary tattoos, must have had their color additives approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be legally sold in the United States. Temporary tattoos may include unapproved color additives or other ingredients that cause skin irritation.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> History, Ink, article produced by Meghan Glass Hughes for The Valentine Richmond History Center
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