Are tattoos a fad or the new normal?
I started wondering about this during dinner with a woman who is in the middle of a project to get an Alice in Wonderland-themed tattoo from the top of her shoulder to her wrist. At the same time she looked lovingly at the new art on her arm, she griped about several old tattoos on her ankle and calf.
“I hate those old tattoos. I wonder why I ever got them. Wish it wasn’t so expensive and painful to get them removed.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how long it’s going to be before she feels the same way about Alice.
Tattooing is an art form that’s been around since about 5000 BC. Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, and symbols of religious and spiritual attachment. They have used as decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility. In various cultures tattoos have been used as protection, punishment, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts.
But it wasn’t till the early 1990s that tattooing really took off in Europe and America, becoming a widespread form of self expression.
For all you number junkies out there, here are some statistics. According to the Pew Research Center is a study released in July, 2012:
Total number of all Americans with at least 1 tattoo: 14%
Those between 18 and 25 with a tattoo: 36%
Those between 26 and 40 with a tattoo: 40%
Annual amount of US spending on tattoos: $1.5 Billion.
And here’s something else that’s interesting. According to the Pew Center, 31% of those who have tattoos say it makes them feel sexier, 29% say it makes them feel rebellious, and 5% say it makes them feel more intelligent.
Another significant statistic, this from the skin art industry: Tattoo removal is up 32% over last year.
That’s what makes me wonder if this isn’t just another fad. How long will it take the fickle fates of fashion to declare tattoos “so…yesterday?”
The next generation will likely view tattoos as something belonging to old folks, the mark of a “has been.” As the tattooed generation
ages, young people will reject tattoos because they don’t want to look anything
like their elders, be it hairstyle, clothing, or sagging, fading
tattoos.
A couple of decades ago, a person with a tattoo stood out, and skin art was authentically rebellious or menacing. Now grandmothers sport tattoos. Americans of all ages and life styles are getting tatts, joining the club because it’s the cool thing to do. There’s even a Barbie with an exotic flower tattooed on her chest and a dragon curling up her neck and around her back. In 1999 and again in 2009 Barbie had stick-on tattoos. Now she’s gone to permanent ink.
Also on the market is a junior tattoo parlor, including a vibrating “ink pen.” Little Tommy and Tilly can pretend to scar themselves for only $14.95. Antibiotics not included.
Generally when any style or trend moves from the outliers to the mainstream to kids, its demise is not far off.
Another factor playing into all this is a tight job market. According to the website Patient Guide, run by a collection of skin care magazines, in a struggling economy many people looking for work are getting rid of their tattoos in an attempt to look more professional or get a leg up on the competition. These include college students who have finished their education and now regret permanent skin displays, and those who’ve lost their jobs and are trying to get back into the workforce.
I hesitate to bring up religion since people can be so touchy about it, but since permanent skin marking has been a part of religious belief for many millennia, it seems pertinent. There is a fascinating debate within today’s Christian community whether tattoos are acceptable. A number of websites discuss this issue at length.
Those who disapprove of tattoos quote Leviticus 28:19, which says “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, not tattoos or any mark on you: I am the Lord.”
The other side claims the New Testament abrogates the laws of the Old Testament and some of the old laws, including the one forbidding tattoos, can be ignored. Another camp contends tattoos are only acceptable if they are of Christian design and“glorify God.”
So I guess that one is a toss-up.
There’s one thing for sure: every tattoo tells a story. What’s hard to know is how folks will feel about that story when tatts distort as gravity takes its toll; the colors loose their sharpness and eventually muddle; and designs, terribly fashionable at age 22, become silly or embarrassing. Forty or fifty years is a long time to have the same design on your skin and still like it.
I started wondering about this during dinner with a woman who is in the middle of a project to get an Alice in Wonderland-themed tattoo from the top of her shoulder to her wrist. At the same time she looked lovingly at the new art on her arm, she griped about several old tattoos on her ankle and calf.
“I hate those old tattoos. I wonder why I ever got them. Wish it wasn’t so expensive and painful to get them removed.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how long it’s going to be before she feels the same way about Alice.
Tattooing is an art form that’s been around since about 5000 BC. Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, and symbols of religious and spiritual attachment. They have used as decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility. In various cultures tattoos have been used as protection, punishment, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts.
But it wasn’t till the early 1990s that tattooing really took off in Europe and America, becoming a widespread form of self expression.
For all you number junkies out there, here are some statistics. According to the Pew Research Center is a study released in July, 2012:
Total number of all Americans with at least 1 tattoo: 14%
Those between 18 and 25 with a tattoo: 36%
Those between 26 and 40 with a tattoo: 40%
Annual amount of US spending on tattoos: $1.5 Billion.
And here’s something else that’s interesting. According to the Pew Center, 31% of those who have tattoos say it makes them feel sexier, 29% say it makes them feel rebellious, and 5% say it makes them feel more intelligent.
Another significant statistic, this from the skin art industry: Tattoo removal is up 32% over last year.
That’s what makes me wonder if this isn’t just another fad. How long will it take the fickle fates of fashion to declare tattoos “so…yesterday?”
The next generation will likely view tattoos as something belonging to old folks, the mark of a “has been.” As the tattooed generation
ages, young people will reject tattoos because they don’t want to look anything
like their elders, be it hairstyle, clothing, or sagging, fading
tattoos.
A couple of decades ago, a person with a tattoo stood out, and skin art was authentically rebellious or menacing. Now grandmothers sport tattoos. Americans of all ages and life styles are getting tatts, joining the club because it’s the cool thing to do. There’s even a Barbie with an exotic flower tattooed on her chest and a dragon curling up her neck and around her back. In 1999 and again in 2009 Barbie had stick-on tattoos. Now she’s gone to permanent ink.
Also on the market is a junior tattoo parlor, including a vibrating “ink pen.” Little Tommy and Tilly can pretend to scar themselves for only $14.95. Antibiotics not included.
Generally when any style or trend moves from the outliers to the mainstream to kids, its demise is not far off.
Another factor playing into all this is a tight job market. According to the website Patient Guide, run by a collection of skin care magazines, in a struggling economy many people looking for work are getting rid of their tattoos in an attempt to look more professional or get a leg up on the competition. These include college students who have finished their education and now regret permanent skin displays, and those who’ve lost their jobs and are trying to get back into the workforce.
I hesitate to bring up religion since people can be so touchy about it, but since permanent skin marking has been a part of religious belief for many millennia, it seems pertinent. There is a fascinating debate within today’s Christian community whether tattoos are acceptable. A number of websites discuss this issue at length.
Those who disapprove of tattoos quote Leviticus 28:19, which says “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh, not tattoos or any mark on you: I am the Lord.”
The other side claims the New Testament abrogates the laws of the Old Testament and some of the old laws, including the one forbidding tattoos, can be ignored. Another camp contends tattoos are only acceptable if they are of Christian design and“glorify God.”
So I guess that one is a toss-up.
There’s one thing for sure: every tattoo tells a story. What’s hard to know is how folks will feel about that story when tatts distort as gravity takes its toll; the colors loose their sharpness and eventually muddle; and designs, terribly fashionable at age 22, become silly or embarrassing. Forty or fifty years is a long time to have the same design on your skin and still like it.