Today I read a piece online about a young woman who had to go and get her hand tattoos removed since she was finding herself unable to get decent employment with them on.
Sadly even in this day and age where 1 in 4 adult Americans have tattoos and the industry is much more “overground” than ever before there is still some stigma in society regarding heavily tattooed people.
Well you know what it is what it is and even though there is far more acceptance then there has ever been – I still do not think there will ever be the day where you find a high court judge with facial tattoos or a world class surgeon – that’s just the way things are
I know people who are 90% covered who still do not have hand, neck or face tattoos – whether that’s because they might have to go for a job interview, a court appearance or whatever they are wise enough not to make that commitment to their skin.
Personally I do think hand tattoos can look bad ass but I do not think anyone especially young people should get them unless they have trade (plumber, electrician, auto mechanic etc) that they can depend on for life. Being a metal musician at 18 doesn’t mean you will still be one at 28 or even 38 – so please think wisely. There are plenty of other places on your body to get covered before you even think about doing your hands.
So where does it leave Tattoo artists? Do they refuse customers under the age of 38 hand tattoos? No I don’t think it is up to the artist to refuse what a customer wants but I do they they have a moral right to make the customer aware of the commitment they are entering into. I remember reading a story about a guy who wanted the Rolling Stones tongue symbol tattooed on his forehead and the artist made him a temporary one that he had to wear on his head for 2 weeks before he committed the permanent art to his skin.
As artist you have a responsibility to the industry to be sensible with the work that you do on your customers and to ensure that they don’t make silly choices. But ultimately its the customers choice and they need to really think about what they are doing with their art choices and placement and be aware that even though society has accepted heavily tattooed people now more than ever there will always be some jobs that will never ever accept you
Lets be smart out there people !
Here is a link to that article I was telling you about.
http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s2349467.shtml
