Kristen Peluso
Mr. Yeagley
English XII
15 March 2010
Think Before You Ink!
Why I Chose My Topic
As I walk through the hallways of Columbiana High School, I can’t help but notice the
vast amount of tattoos peeking out of students’ clothing here and there. It seems like everywhere
I look, I spot a last name sticking out of a tee-shirt sleeve, or a colorful butterfly hiding under the
strap of a flip flop. The more tattoos I see, the more I wonder when this fad really took off, and
how long it will last. Is it a short lived practice that will fade in the coming years? Or will this
obsession continue on through the ages, sparking body art creativity through the lives of
generations to come? However, I knew that by searching for these few answers, I would learn
much more about tattoos than I had set out to find.
What I Already Know About My Topic
After I had realized that tattoos are becoming more and more popular, I wanted to dig
deeper and find out some things I didn’t know about tattoos. I already knew the obvious things
about tattoos, such as they are painful and permanent. I knew that they could be removed, but I
wasn’t sure what the removal process was all about. I also figured that there were some side
effects to tattoos, but I wasn’t sure what these were either, so I wanted to find out. Another thing
I knew was that some people regret getting tattoos as they aged. I also remembered hearing
people say that tattoos can be addicting. By thinking about the things I already knew about
tattoos, it helped me realize what I didn’t know, and what I would information I would like to
learn during this research process.
The Search/What I Learned
At first I was going to focus on tattoos as well as piercings, but I thought my paper would
be more effective if I focused on just one topic, so I decided to narrow my search down to strictly
tattoos. It is easy to see that tattoos are becoming more and more popular as of late, but I wanted
to prove my point before I even got started, so I decided to Google “the increasing popularity of
tattoos” to find a more reliable source. Luckily, I found an article that had taken some
information from the U.S. News and World Report. It stated that in the last ten years, tattooing
has become one of the fastest growing categories of retail business. I was shocked to find out
that at least one new tattoo studio opens each day, and there are already 15,000 tattoo studios in
operation in the United States. Even though the economy is in a slump, it doesn’t seem like the
tattoo business is hurting along with the rest of us.
After I found this information, I stood back for a minute and pondered the concept of
tattoos. I personally don’t see what all the hype is about. What is so great about having
someone inject permanent ink into your body? I have this done if someone paid me, let alone
willingly. Maybe I don’t have the right mindset, but I can’t think of one justifiable reason why
anyone would want to tattoo their body, therefore, I decided to find out. However, I already
knew that some people get tattoos in memory of a loved one, but I figured the only other reason
people get tattoos is just for show. I decided I would research some reasons online, as well as
ask someone with personal experience. Once again, I used the ever-reliable Google to assist me
in finding an answer first. I clicked on a link to Ezine Articles, and didn’t have to search very
long to find an answer to my question. In the very first paragraph of the article, it revealed that
“some people who get a tattoo do it because they don't want to conform to what society believes is the
norm.” So there you have it; people get tattoos to be different. If this really is the case, why not
find other ways to be different? You could, for example, start a new trend that doesn’t involve
having someone stab your arm repeatedly with a needle. That’s the way to go in my eyes. This
article also mentioned that tattoos are so popular because there are so many to choose from, with
so many variations of each. It seems like there is a tattoo to suit everyone now-a-days, but I’m
not sure this is the best reason out there. I concluded my online search, but I wanted to speak to
someone in person about the meaning behind his or her tattoo as well.
I decided to ask my eighteen-year-old friend, Mackenzie Stacey, the owner of three
tattoos, to see if she had any more input to add. When I questioned her why she chose to get her
tattoos, she replied, “Because they look pretty. I have one tattoo that says ‘Dance Like No One’s
Watching’ because I have been dancing all my life. I have a butterfly on one foot and a rose on
the other foot for no special reason. They’re addicting.” This got the wheels turning in my head.
I started to wonder if it is humanly possible for tattoos to be addicting, or if this is all in one’s
mind. This would be my next question.
Just to be sure I knew the real meaning of the word “addiction,” I looked up the definition
and found that an addiction is “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something
that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its
cessation causes severe trauma.” I didn’t think that tattoos could actually be an addiction based
on this definition, but I decided to check it out anyways. After I researched, I found out that
although one becoming addicted to the tattoos process is extremely rare, it does happen. I found
an article called Can I Really Get Addicted To Tattoos? that described a few reasons why tattoos
can actually be addicting. After reading over it, I learned that during tattooing, the human body
releases high levels of endorphins to assist the body in coping with the pain. These are the same
endorphins that are released during heavy exercise. Many people say that running and exercising
makes them feel good, so this must be true for tattooing as well. Others have been found to use
tattoos to dull the emotional pain in their life. This made me compare tattoos to alcohol or drugs,
because some people use them for that purpose also. Reading this made me remember my
minister at church once saying that people who are emotionally numb inside use physical pain to
determine if they still have feeling. Some may believe that it is easier to get a tattoo rather than
to cope with their troubles in life. There is a fine line between being addicted to tattoos and just
enjoying having them, but I think that once someone crosses that line, it can become dangerous.
I began to think about various people I have seen with tattoos covering their entire body,
and questioned if I have ever met someone who is addicted to them. I concluded that since some
people have so many tattoos, they must be safe then, right? Would people be able to endure so
many if they weren’t? Then again, I never really knew tattoo ink was made of. This thought
process made a light bulb turn on in my head. What makes up tattoo ink, and is it actually safe
to put under our skin? An article entitled If You’re Considering A Tattoo, Read This caught my
eye. The title actually commanded people to read the article, so I knew it would have something
worthwhile to say. This article got down to business. I found out some things that I never knew
about tattoos, such as the fact that scientists have proven the tattoo ink consists of car paint
pigments and lead, as well as a slew of other products. After reading only a few sentences, I
knew that I would recommend this article to anyone considering a tattoo. I found out that the
Food and Drug Administration actually has the authority to regulate the ink used by tattoo artists,
even though they do not do so. Linda Katz, the director of the Office of Cosmetics and Colors at
the Food and Drug Administration, warns, “Consumers should be aware of the fact that we really
don't know what's being injected.” I was surprised to find out that actually no inks have been
approved for this injection. Ronald Petruso, a professor at the Delaware Valley College, says
that it boggles his mind that the federal government has never set regulations for this. I have to
say that it boggles my mind as well. Why is the government allowing people to do this to their
bodies? Isn’t our government supposed to protect its citizens? It was found that most inks
contain over 40 hazardous chemicals, which is scary if you think about it. I bet people aren’t
told that right before they let the image settle under their skin for eternity.
With the knowledge I had now, I began to think that there had to be some side effects to
tattoos. There was absolutely no way that there wouldn’t be, especially with some of the
“ingredients” that go into them. In the same article that discussed the components of the ink,
there was a man talking about his $2,000 dollars worth of tattoos that still itch, sting, and bleed
to this day. I was mortified to find out that this poor man had actually paid to suffer, but then
again, it was his choice. People are too quick to make decisions without thinking them through.
Now he is probably going to have to deal with this the rest of his life. By doing just a bit of
research, he could have saved himself a lot of money and a lot of pain. I then hopped over to an
article on the Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service website to see if it had anything else
to offer. It had a lot of interesting subcategories about tattoos, but when I scrolled down, I found
the section that I was looking for. It was simply called “Health Risks” and was followed by a list
of risks accompanied by tattoos. A few things that the list included were: thick scars, impetigo,
dermatitis, hepatitis, and HIV. They were all frightening, but the last few risks were the scariest
of them all. Could you could really get hepatitis or HIV from tattoos? This is something that I
had never heard of. I was learning a lot about tattoos in my search so far. I looked up “hepatitis
and tattoos” on Google and found the website called www.tattooartist.com. While surfing
through this page, I found an interesting statistic: “Of the 13,387 annual cases of hepatitis
detailed in the most recent CDC report, 12 are associated with tattoo studios.” Although this
showed that the chances of contracting hepatitis are slim, it also showed that there definitely is a
risk, even though it is a small one. You could be one of those twelve that catches this disease
just by getting some colorful art on your body. Is it really worth it? It isn’t worth it to me, that’s
for sure. I don’t see why anyone would want to chance it.
I had been focusing on the dangers of people receiving tattoos, but then I realized that I
hadn’t even thought about the removal process and if there were dangers in that as well. I found
a different article that came from the U.S. News and World Report that talked a little bit about
this process. I was pleased that this website had yielded some helpful results. The article first
described what a tattoo is. It informatively notified me that the alien clumps of pigment, the ink
particles, are encapsulated by the skin in dense fibrous tissue. In other words, your skin is
actually trapping the ink under the skin. After I read this, I knew that that meant the removal
process would not be pretty. I read on to find out that “for a long time, removal meant surgical
excision or deep abrasion of the skin, invariably causing scarring and sometimes the need for
skin grafting. In the preferred approach now, the tattoo gradually fades away under many
months of laser treatments tailored to the wavelength of the pigments.” I had to look up skin
grafting because I wasn’t sure what that meant, and found that it is basically a skin transplant.
Just reading this made me sick to my stomach. I’m happy for the people in our day and age that
do not have to go through a skin transplant, but I’m sure the laser treatments are not exactly
desirable either. Tattoos really do have a lot of consequences, whether you’re receiving them or
removing them.
I thought of the numerous people in my senior class and wondered if any of them had a
secret disease lurking inside them from the tattoo ink, or how many of them would eventually
undergo the pain of tattoo removal. As I was juggling this concept, my brain registered the fact
that these people in my grade are seventeen and eighteen years old. Since when did parents start
allowing their children to do such a thing to their bodies at such a young age? I would never let
my child get a tattoo at all, let alone in high school. I found a website article called Tattoo
Statistics and Opinions of Americans and found that a recent poll revealed that 36% of
Americans ages eighteen through twenty-nine have a tattoo. This is an alarmingly high
percentage. However, I think that this percentage is only going to climb from here. Maybe these
young people with tattoos are just using them as a sign of rebellion, a sign that they are breaking
away from traditional behavior.
Some teens and even children are so desperate to obtain a tattoo that they will do
whatever it takes. While searching information on teens and tattoos, I stumbled upon another
article. It was called Children Getting Tattoos, and while reading it, I came across a disturbing
fact that stated, “Although most jurisdictions outlaw the tattooing of minors, many children and
teenagers will tattoo themselves at home, using sewing or other needles and common household
dyes and inks.” I had no idea that this was going on in the world. Why are people so eager to
get tattoos? It frustrated me to read this, because children do not know the kind of danger they
are putting themselves through. Homemade tattoos are often deeper under the surface of the skin
than regular tattoos, which makes them more likely to lead to severe scarring. There are also
teenagers out there that are using fake identification in order to receive a tattoo. We are setting a
bad example for our children by promoting this body art. It is more than drawing on our skin
with a marker. It is permanent and it is dangerous. We need to start teaching our children at a
young age that tattoos are not a good thing, and stop letting them be corrupted by the world
around them.
A perfect example of corruption by tattoos was brought up in my field biology class a
few weeks ago. I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard my teacher say, “Did you guys hear
about the man who gave a one-year-old a tattoo?” I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. I looked
it up to see for myself and, sure enough, it was true. Lee Detrick, a twenty-three-year-old man,
tattooed the letter “A” on the bottom of a one-year-old that he was babysitting. This disgusted
me. Who in the world would do this to a baby? This man could face up to five years in prison
for this poor how old you are.
While focusing on the topic of age, I wondered how old the earliest-recorded tattoos are.
They seem like a recent fad, so I had always assumed that they were, but I couldn’t be sure. I did
a little research on the history of tattoos, and found an online article from the Smithsonian
magazine on www.smithsonianmag.com. I noticed a somewhat creepy image at the top of the
page. It was a yellowing, wrinkled hand with a strange green marking on each finger. I wasn’t
sure when the owner of this hand had been alive, but I was certain it was over a few hundred
years ago…maybe even more than a few thousand years ago. I then read on to find out who the
hand belonged to. I found out that it was the hand of an Egyptian mummy, dated back to 2,000
B.C. I had no idea that tattoos went back this far, and I found it absolutely fascinating.
According to Cate Lineberry, the author of the article, “These permanent designs—sometimes
plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have served as amulets, status symbols,
declarations of love, signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even forms of punishment.” I
found it incredible that tattoos have been around for thousands of years, but I was even more
amazed when I read on to find out that there is even earlier evidence of tattoos than the
Egyptians. An Iceman was found on the Italian-Austrian border in 1991 that was found to have
small crosses and dots tattooed on his spine and knees. This man was carbon-dated at around
5,200 years old! Professor Don Brothwell from the University of York realized that this man’s
tattoos were placed on areas of stress-induced degeneration, so he concluded that they may have
been used to alleviated joint pain. This would have explained why they were so randomlyplaced on his body. I’m not quite sure how this would work, but at least back then people had a
legitimate reason for marking up their bodies, unlike the people of our generation.
As the last step of my search, I took a trip to a local tattoo parlor in my town called New
Image Art to find out some various answers from an actual tattoo artist. I chose to visit this
particular shop because it was nearby and I had heard that the man who worked there was
friendly. I was actually pretty nervous to visit a place like this, because I didn’t know what to
expect. I have to admit that I have always paid close attention to a person’s appearance, and
talking to a tattooed, Harley-riding, ponytail-wearing tattoo artist was a bit out of my comfort
zone. Luckily, my friend Angela agreed to come along for the ride. I made a call to make sure
he would be available for questioning. When I got there, I was pleasantly surprised. The tattoo
parlor was clean and well decorated, and the man looked nothing like what I expected. The
tattoo artist’s name was Jonathan Perkins, and the first thing I asked him about was
complications with tattoos. I found it interesting that the first complication he mentioned was
regret. I had never thought of this as a complication, but it could surely be categorized as such.
Then he followed with the basics such as infections from re-used needles, which I had already
learned about during my search, so there was no surprise there. He said he has seen people
allergic to inks, and has personally only seen two infections in the past five years. I then decided
to spring a trick question on him by asking him if he knew what went into their tattoo ink. He
replied with, “Yes and no. I can give you the long names, but it’s kind of like looking at the
ingredients on the side of a box. I’m not sure what they are.” This made me want to scream
“AHA!”…but I didn’t of course. I then asked him what kind of clientele he normally sees and
he told me, “White females between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five.” This proved my point
that people are getting tattoos at a younger age, but it also informed me of the most common
gender, which I had not known. Mr. Perkins also confirmed that business has picked up in the
past couple years, but he wonders how long this will last. He thinks that television shows such
as “L.A. Ink” are promoting tattooing more. This is also something that I had not considered.
Maybe tattooing is simply a band-wagon craze. I also found out that the most popular place for
men to receive a tattoo is their upper arm, and for women it is the shoulder blade or lower back.
When asked what type of tattoo is most popular, he had trouble coming up with a response
because “people are taking tattooing to a whole new level.” I wasn’t quite sure what he meant
by this statement, but I figured that he meant people are getting some designs that are pretty
unique. One of the last statements that he said, and the statement that stuck in my mind the most
was when told me, “I try to talk as many people out of getting a tattoo as I can. Almost fifty
percent of people who walk in here don’t know what they want, and they’ll regret it later on.” I
thought that that was a very powerful statement, and it says a lot about what type of person he
man is. He realizes that people should be one hundred percent positive about their decision
before they go through with it in order to avoid regret afterwards.
Conclusion/Reflection
After pondering my results for quite some time, I came to the conclusion that my opinion
of tattoos had not swayed, but instead had become even stronger than it previously had been
before my search began. During this process, I became knowledgeable about tattoos and many
different aspects about them. I learned everything from the dangers of tattoos to why people get
them, and many other things in between. The interview was a success, and I found plenty of
worthwhile websites to prove my point and further my understanding of tattoos. I had expected
to be successful with finding different sources to help me along the way, but in the end I
exceeded my expectations. I found out the answers to all my original questions, plus more. I
was also pleased that my search allowed me to branch off nicely into many different
subcategories. Each paragraph flowed nicely into the next in the end, although sometimes I had
difficulty making the pieces fit together.
If I could do things differently, I would have made an outline before I even started
researching to help keep me organized, but in the end everything worked out. This could have
made it easier when writing my paper because my log would have been in chronological order of
what I wanted to talk about. I ended up having to adjust some things in order for my paper to
make sense.
I plan to use what I learned to inform people of what tattoos are all about. Before, I
would always try to influence people not to get tattoos, but never had any information to back
myself up. I have already found myself spouting off random tattoo facts to those around me, and
warning some of my friends against the risks they are taking by getting a tattoo. I think that
some will even take what I say into consideration because chances are, they don’t know what
they could be getting themselves into.
Works Cited
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utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=b5hubs_migration>.
Healy, Bernadine. “The Dangerous Art of the Tattoo.” 25 July 2008. U.S. World and News
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2008/07/25/the-dangerous-art-of-the-tattoo.html>.
Lineberry, Kate. “Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History.” Smithsonian Magazine.
1 Jan. 2007. Smithsonian Institutions. 7 Mar. 2010. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/
history-archaeology/tattoo.html>.
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www.helium.com/items/209001-children-getting-tattoos>.
Pasternack, Greg. “Why Are Tattoos So Popular?” Ezine Articles. 2010. Ezine Articles.
24 Feb. 2010. <http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Are-Tattoos-So-Popular?&id=3091385>.
Perkins, Jonathan. Personal Interview. 13 Mar. 2010.
Smith, S.E. “Can I Really Get Addicted to Tattoos?” Wise Geek. 16 Jan. 2010. Conjecture
Corporation. 5 Mar. 2010. <http://www.wisegeek.com/can-i-really-get-addicted-totattoos.htm>.
Stacey, Mackenzie. Personal Interview. 5 Mar. 2010.
“Statistics Shower Lower Hepatitis Rish in Tattoo Shops than in Dentists’ Offices.” Tattooing
and Health Risk. Tattoo Artist. 7 Mar. 2010. <http://www.tattooartist.com/health.html>.
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Content. 7 Mar. 2010. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/31975/tattoo_
statistics.html?cat=7>.
“Tattoos.” Young Adult Health Ages 18-25. 27. Nov. 2009. Children, Youth, and Women’s
Health Service. 7 Mar. 2010. <http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.
aspx?p=240&np=297&id=2066>.
“Tattoo Statistics and Opinions of Americans.” Skin Ink Today. Skin Ink Today. 7 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.skininktoday.com/Tattoo-Designs/History/tattoo_statistics.htm>.