10 Tattoo tips for people not in the know.

1. Tattoos and tropical vacations don't mix. give your fresh tattoo and your visit to mexico a month long buffer. Sun and soaking will dull the ink and sand does an open wound no good. Do you really want to spend your hard earned vacation hiding in the shade and watching everyone else enjoy the beach?

2. Not all skin is created equal. A tattoo on your arm will not heal exactly the same as a tattoo on your hip. If you painted your entire body and went through an average day, certain areas would be worn clean by the end of 24 hours: joints, hands, feet, anything that is rubbed by your clothes, or rubbed against the rest of your body in normal motion are the areas that will need more touching up so be prepared.

3. The darker your skin is, the more limited your colour choice. Ink sits under your skin, not over. The more melanin you have, the harder it will be to see through it. It's like tinted glass. If you have very dark skin, Cute pink hearts will dissapear and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

4. A tattoo doesn't need to have a cryptic special meaning. It simply has to make you happy to see it. If you want a pretty flower, the flower does not have to be your birthday flower (mine is holly...that's not even a flower!) nor does it have to be the species your mother grew in the garden when you were a child, nor does it need to have a petal for every member of your family plus a leaf for each relation by marraige. If you get something for those reasons, that is fine, but to think that it is a requirement is absurd.

5. Size matters. There was a vouge where artists showed off how finely detailed they could make small tattoos. Dimes the size of dimes, postage stamp sized recreations of famous paintings, ect. Now, not long after that trend, we are acutely aware that this is not the way to go. Within the span of a decade anything too small sheds all definition and turns into mush. If you are lucky, it will look like an unfortunate tattoo. If you are not lucky, it will be an odd smudge that appears to be some sort of bruise or open sore. Detail and clarity=size


...UFC is on and I want to make nachos. the next five later.