All through my life, I had debated off and on about getting a tattoo. The occasional internal debate usually ends around the time of the year I clean out my office.
I’ll be sitting there with the garbage bag looking through things that I might want to throw away and think to myself, “What the heck did I even buy this thing for” in regards to some desk toy that I thought was the funniest thing in the world at the time.
A tiny refrigerator that can only hold one soda can? Why not buy it thinking you are going to use it forever?
I mean, it’s not like you’re not just going to buy a bigger fridge for the office a month after you decide you want to have two cold sodas at the ready at all times.
My point is, that tattoos are a pretty big decision. They are to me like if I was going to buy something and then was told I was never allowed to throw it away. Ever.
Oh sure, you might be able to get some guy with a laser beam to come in and destroy it for you, but they’re probably not going to get it done all the way and it’ll hurt like crazy.
That’s the other thing, the general pain and discomfort that comes with getting a tattoo. Imagine you were painting a picture and every time you made a brush stroke, a random part of your body began to sting like a bee. Yeah, that sounds pretty darn annoying, doesn’t it?
I mean, I had to get a series of shots once all at the same time and I can’t say that I enjoyed it very much. Not saying I have a low pain tolerance but making things hurt on purpose just seems kinda counterproductive to my own comfort.
But the thing that has definitely gotten me off the notion of getting a tattoo is a recent study that was released in Analytical Chemistry that tested a series of inks commonly used in tattoos.
Over eighty percent of the inks that were tested contained ingredients that were not listed on the labels.
Now, that sounds like the type of thing that you might want to know isn’t it? I mean, it’s not like the study went on to say that all of these unlisted ingredients came with the baggage of serious health complications if ingested.
Oh wait, they did. Here’s the thing with tattoo ink, it’s an industry that for whatever reason is still largely unregulated. This means they could be putting who knows what into it in order to get your back piece looking just right.
There’s a reason that most tattoos that are ridiculously old look like absolute garbage, it’s because they’re made of things that are probably rotting your body from the inside.
