Prehistoric man was limited to materials he or she found in the environment: rocks, minerals and plant dyes. One ancient Roman tattoo ink recipe uses pine bark, iron sulphate, insect eggs, leek juice and corroded bronze. Later ink recipes included gunpowder. Modern tattoo inks technically aren’t inks at all. They are pigments and dyes that are mixed with a carrier which keeps the solution evenly blended. Many pigments are made from and plastic. Most professional tattoo artists mix their own pigments and these recipes are heavily guarded trade secrets. Amateur tattoo artists will often use India ink, which is not developed for tattooing and can cause allergic reactions and infections due to the chemical components which can be toxic.

The art of tattooing has changed drastically from its early days as a form of branding, or scarification, with stone tools and ash. In the late 1800’s, a man by the name of Samuel O’Reilly invented the electric tattoo machine, which transformed the industry and the art. O’Reilly’s rotary engraving tattoo machine was replaced first with a single electromagnetic coil machine and later by a twin coil, which led to the modern-day tattoo machine.

The speed, durability and maneuverability of modern tattoo machines makes smaller, less colorful tattoos accomplished in a very short period of time. As more colors and details are added, the tattoo may take hours or even days to complete.

The outer layer of our skin is called the epidermis. The layer beneath, called the dermis, is the connective tissue to which the tattoo pigments are applied. The tattoo machine is a bundle of oscillating needles which penetrate the epidermis at a rate of about 80-150 times each second. What sued to be a high risk for infection, tattooing is now made safe through the use of sterilized needles that are only used once. Tattoo artists generally wear rubber or latex glove, both to protect themselves and the person receiving the tattoo. Since the skin’s protective barrier is broken by tattooing, cleanliness is paramount.

Tattoo Shops and Sanitation

The modern tattoo shop, or studio, is often maintained very much like a doctor’s office and for the very same reasons. When skin is broken and blood is present, diseases such as herpes, tetanus, staph, hepatitis, tuberculosis and HIV can spread and both bacterial and viral infections can occur. However, with improved sanitation and sterilization techniques, there have been no cases of HIV being contracted through commercial tattooing in the United States. Generally, allergic reactions to the pigments and dyes used in tattooing are very rare.

Once you have decided on a tattoo, the artist will wash his or her hands, as well as the area to be tattooed. The artist then dons latex or rubber gloves, opens single-use, sterilized needles, obtains the tattooing equipment from an autoclave, which sterilizes the tattooing tools, and opens containers of fresh ink. This eliminates the risks historically associated with tattooing.

Good tattoo shops will always have Sharps containers for used needles and a biohazard container for anything that comes in contact with blood or other bodily fluids. Reputable tattoo artists will not tattoo anyone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol or a minor under the age of 18 without a parent’s permission. Having too much alcohol in your system when getting a tattoo can cause excessive bleeding and color absorption problems, not to mention the regret of accidentally getting a tattoo of your best friend’s wife’s name on your derriere simply because of too much Jack Daniels.