h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Recently, a friend told me of a girl he knows who is interested in tatooing. She's learning the skill purely for her own benefit and doesn't intend to go into business or anything. The thing is she's offering people tatoos at ridiculously cheap prices. My question is - Would you try it out or would you leave well alone?

Leave well alone, no matter how good the scratch artist is, they usually never have the same amount of gear for cleaning and sterilisation. Autoclaves are very expensive.

Leave it WELL ALONE!
Anything like that you just have to get done properly.. if i told you i wanted to be a surgeon would let me cut your leg off? ..i hope not..though knowing you!...Seriously though.. it wouldnt be worth it for something youre stuck with if it did go wrong.

NONONONO. Well, not unless she was paying me, and even then, probably not. If she's learning for her own benefit, it's likely she doesn't have someone experienced helping her.

Gah.. I don't care if she is paying me... I know they have to practice somewhere, but I'm not that free with myself.

The tattoo artist I went to had done all her practicing on herself, had tats from head to toe, all by her own hand!

My friend practices on himself with permanent pens and is going to buy a tatoo gun.
But the people he hangs out with who do actual tatooing must not be very good...cause he is always redoing some part of it...and once the swelling goes down it still looks the same. To top it off the cat scratches.
The moral if you do indulge in all of this...get a tetanus shot please along with your sterilization procedures.
On a more somber note...if you get a tatoo get it somewhere not easily viewable...some day when you are old and maybe sick the tatoos might shrink up...very evident reminder that you are ill to the relatives.
Just some thoughts.
Andrea

I would like to get a butterfly on my lower back...but am too scared of the pain. I think this could be a dangerous area to get one too...what are the dangerous areas?
Andrea

There arent really any dangerous areas....

Well...it is good that there aren't really any dangerous areas.
I just thought that maybe a needle could go to far and severe an important nerve or something.
I don't think that ink poisioning is all that easy to get...though my friend with the repeat tatoo may be on his way.
Andrea

The needle only penetrates the skin, it would have to go a lot deeper to damage nerves. I've never heard much on ink poisoning, its infection and bad aftercare you have to worry about...

Same as worries as with piercings then...
I think that cross pens has a new permanent pen that would work well for practice tatoos...it is called something like the ion...I will look it up tomorrow...but I am pretty sure that is what it is called...it is on their website.
andrea
tired but powered by caffeine at 249 am and can't sleep

Okay... it is more of a nerve damage risk with piercing than tattooing for most people. For instance, your earlobe is the safest place in your body to pierce because of the circulation and what it's made of... but there is another part of the ear that if pierced wrong can paralize part of your face. That is why it's important to get a professional and to have done your research. Eyebrows are the same way, there's a few good places to poke, and few that just shouldn't be messed with.

Tattoos are generally on a more superficial area of dermis, and the big health risk is infection (or some sort of blood bourne thing that comes from dirty equipment). I would imagine tribal inking methods, or homemade tatts could produce different problems. I do, however, think that you cannot downplay the importance of keeping infection at bay... it can become serious quickly, and you only have one body, you know?