Stupid Tattoos

It seems that getting stupid tattoos is making the news around Europe lately. BBC reports about the foolishness of what is termed "party tattoos".

A number of teenagers have become infected after getting tattoos at a house party.

Several under-18s visited their doctor with signs of infection after illegally being tattooed at the event in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.

The National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) said it was unclear if safe practices were followed and warned of the dangers of under-age tattooing.

It seems the individual performing the dangerous and very stupid tattoos has not been located but will obviously be prosecuted if discovered. Not only are a lot of these stupid, stupid, stupid kids having to visit their doctors for infection but they were all underage. It kinda makes me think the tattooer is underage because surely, I hope, no adult would be so stupid as to tattoo a bunch of obviously dumb, and quite possibly intoxicated, kids in unsafe conditions. But then again, an interest in tattoos obviously doesn't preclude stupidity.

Stupid tattoos news from The Local: Germany's News in English features the phenomenon of the so-called tramp stamps. Now, for those of you who don't know, a tramp stamp is a tattoo on the lower back of a woman. These notorious tattoos are also known as "ho tags" or, in Germany, Arschgeweih, or "ass antlers". Now, I can't imagine why any self-respecting woman would want a tattoo identifying her as a whore but apparently they were very trendy during the '90s. And now it seems the trendy are tiring of their tramp stamps.

But now a herd of Germans are stampeding to get them removed as they and other tattoos go out of fashion.
“The number of laser removals for tattoos has almost doubled in the last five years,” Heinz Bull, president of Germany's GÄCD plastic surgery association, told news agency DPA on Thursday. “Now young people who got tattoos on the spur of the moment want to have them removed.”

Notice the phrase "as they and other tattoos go out of fashion". Think about that for a minute, and I'm talking to the newbies here. Getting a tattoo because it's fashionable is one of the very worst reasons for getting one. Why? Because they're PERMANENT and fashion trends aren't. And, as the article says and most folks know, getting them removed is exponentially more painful and expensive than the original tattoo. And, even when you've shelled out the money, gone through the pain and made numerous trips to the office you're still gonna be left with an ugly scar. So, for those of you reading this who may be contemplating your first tattoo, read this and consider it well: getting a tattoo to be fashionable is STUPID. Good reasons for getting a tattoo include: a rite of passage, to memorialize a lost loved one, to provide yourself with a profound reminder, to express your inner self, to decorate your body with amazingly beautiful art, etc. Bad reasons to get a tattoo include: to be hip, cool or badass, to impress the chicks/guys, to be trendy. Got that? Good.

Okay, rant over, I feel better now.

Pure White Tattoos

According to Mail Online the latest Hollywood craze is white tattoos. Purely white tattoos, that is, with no other color at all.

But white-ink tattoos have become an overnight success with a host of celebrity followers from supermodel Kate Moss to actress Lindsay Lohan.

The permanent designs are applied with a regular tattoo gun, yet use ink that is thicker and of a higher quality than normal to stand out on the skin.

I'm kinda on the fence about this. On the one hand, anyone who has ever had any white highlights on a tattoo knows that it will fade. No matter how little sun you get the white will eventually fade away leaving bare skin color underneath. So, in that sense getting a purely white tattoo seems like a waste of time, money, expertise and, not to mention, pain.

On the other hand, getting a purely white tattoo would be almost like getting a temporary tattoo in case the image/writing loses its appeal. So, I guess, if you've got the money to spend on a tattoo that won't last but a few years then it might seem like a good idea.

That said, you won't catch me spending precious tattoo funds on a white tattoo. How about you? I'd be interested to learn how others feel about white tattoos.

Australian Scarification

According to a Discovery News article ancient Australian art featured motifs that made it onto ancient islanders' skin.

"Distinctive design conventions can be considered markers of social interaction so, in a way (they are) a cultural signature of sorts that archaeologists can use to understand ways people were interacting in the past," author Liam Brady of Monash University's Center for Australian Indigenous Studies, told Discovery News.

For the study, published in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity, Brady documented rock art drawings; images found on early turtle shell, stone and wood objects, such as bamboo tobacco pipes and drums; and images that were etched onto the human body through a process called scarification.

"In a way, a scarred design could be interpreted as a tattoo," Brady said. "It was definitely a distinctive form of body ornamentation and it was permanent since the design was cut into the skin."

"Evidence for scarification is primarily via (19th century) anthropologists -- mainly A.C. Haddon -- who took black and white photographs of some designs, as well as drawing others into his notebooks in the late 1800's," he added....Brady determined that within the body art, rock art and objects, four primary motifs often repeated: a fish headdress, a snake, a four-pointed star, and triangle variants. The fish headdress, usually made of a turtle shell decorated with feathers and rattles, was worn during ceremonies and has, in at least one instance, been linked to a "cult of the dead."

The triangular designs, on the other hand, were often scarred onto women's skin and likely indicated these individuals were in mourning.

I just love it when connections like these are made. And I'm especially pleased since these snake designs inspired my own spiral snake tattoo. (Which I can't post because the USB cord I use with my camera has quit on me.)