The most interesting facts about the tattoo. The most interesting facts about tattoos What you should pay attention to in a tattoo parlor

Can tattoos be called exclusively the fashion of our time? Hardly. In fact, tattoos played a big role in the good old days and were done by very important historical figures. People love to decorate themselves. While actors and actresses were inking designs on their bodies, there were plenty of other people getting permanent tattoos and showing them off proudly.

10. Bromide, whiskey and cocaine

The women's society of the late 1800s adored tattoos but abhorred pain. To overcome the fear of the needle, a special cocktail was prepared in advance. First, the women took bromide to calm their nerves. If desired, bromide could be added to a glass of whiskey. When the woman felt she was ready for the procedure, the tattoo artist (usually a woman in high society circles) would bring out a bottle of liquid cocaine. Using a small sponge, he applied the cocaine to the area where the tattoo was to be done.

This helped to anesthetize the skin, and the solution was applied again and again until the tattoo was finished. Usually the tattoos were small in size, and they were done on the woman's arm, where she could hide them with a long glove if she wanted to. Common tattoos for women in 1899 were images of a shamrock, a heart, or a beloved pet.

9 Great War Tattoos


Photo: The Day Book

It was the First World War, and women wanted to show their support for the men involved in the war. By 1915, there was a trend for women to visit tattoo artists and get tattoos on their skin. The usual place for the tattoo was the shoulder. English women had no hesitation in showing their support and love for the people they loved and admired.

Meanwhile, the soldiers who were captured by the Germans were getting tattoos of a different kind. One day a prisoner escaped from a German camp. In an effort to quickly identify fugitive prisoners in the future, all prisoners were tattooed on the arm with “Kr-Gef”, and a year of imprisonment was also added. The letters are the German abbreviation for the word "prisoner of war".

8. Tattoos on the chins

According to New Zealand's Rev. Arthur Ranier, women faced a serious problem of how to resist the temptation to cheat on their husband. They were ready to deceive their husbands, and something had to be done in the current situation.
In 1908, Reverend Ranier decided that it would be better for everyone if a woman, after marriage, got a tattoo on her chin that would indicate that she was married. This, in his opinion, would put an end to divorce, and would prevent women from cheating with other men.

Fortunately, not everyone fell for this nonsense. As one newspaper inquired, "What scientific reason does the divine idiot come to the conclusion that this will stop the marches to the left?" In fact, most infidelities in the early 1900s showed that the partner was also responsible for the infidelity, and sometimes entirely. A simple tattoo on the chin could not extinguish the fire burning in the hearts and loins.

7. Vaccination and bullet scarring

Ben Corday opened a small tattoo shop in Louisiana in 1922 and gave an interview to a newspaper about his unusual trade. His opinion on who gets tattoos and what images are applied proves that little has changed in the world of tattoos. For example, they made tattoos on their fingers that depicted their initials. Often the clients were sailors who wanted to make an image of a pretty girl on their arm, or a patriotic tattoo.

Sometimes the artist was asked to perform aesthetic work and replace the scarred eyebrow with a tattoo. Kordey made scar-covering tattoos for women. Vaccine scars were a big problem for women in the 1920s, and a tattoo artist claimed to hide vaccine marks under a tiny flower or butterfly. One of the most unique tattoos of those times was the laurel wreath. Soldiers returning from the battlefield with bullet marks on their bodies might have a laurel wreath tattooed around the wound to show victory over death.

6. Removing a tattoo with milk and a toothpick


Photo: Evening Star

It was believed that this method was long used by sailors to get rid of unwanted tattoos, but soon criminals began to use it to get rid of marks on the skin and avoid justice. According to a maritime experience that many made fun of in 1899, the best way to get rid of a tattoo was to use milk and a toothpick. According to one participant, the process was painful.

To wipe off the ink, a toothpick was stuck into the skin at the site of the tattoo many times, and then milk was allowed to soak into the skin to remove the ink. As a result, this place was covered with a crust and a scar formed. Criminals who wanted to deceive the police could get a new tattoo on top, and if they were caught later, they could deny their involvement in what they are accused of.


Photo: V.G./The Seattle Star

What is a sailor without at least one tattoo of a naked woman? Apparently, such tattoos were extremely popular in 1917, when US Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels decided that people with such tattoos could not serve in the Navy. At that time it was just a disaster, because the first world war had begun.

Many former Navy personnel and veteran sailors wanted to enlist, feeling that it was their civic duty and that they had valuable skills to pass on to younger conscripts. In response to Secretary Daniels' decision, the Navy League offered to help these people. The idea was to pay tattoo artists to cover naked ladies with skirts and dresses, but Daniels didn't agree. Instead, he decided that if these elderly people wanted to return to the Navy, they would have to spend their own money to hide their obscene tattoos.

4. Permanent blush


Photo: The Washington Times

A permanent blush on the cheeks was considered very fashionable in London, and after a very short time, in 1920, the trend reached New York. Women lined up to get a healthy blush. At that time, with the help of a specialist, they could remove and give the eyebrows a beautiful shape that would last forever.

Bright lip tattoos were also very popular, and many older women felt that permanent makeup helped them look younger. All this became possible thanks to the invention of the electric needle. Hand-stitched tattoos were too patchy to be used as makeup, but the electric needle allowed control of how deep the pigment penetrated the skin, and new pigments allowed tattoo artists to choose a much wider palette of colors than blues and reds.

3. Identification

Sailors and sailors knew well that tattoos were a way to identify their bodies if the worst happened. During the First World War, some soldiers had their names tattooed on their bodies because they knew that the ID tags given to them could easily be lost during explosions, which were part of the terrifying experience of trench combat. According to a curious story published in 1908, a homeless man was identified after his death by a tattoo.

The story says that the embalmer, Mr. Oakley, had to put together the pieces of a tramp who had been run over by a train in Kansas. When Oakley looked at the parts left of the man, he realized he couldn't put the poor guy together for identification purposes. Luckily, Oakley had a keen eye and noticed the tattoo on his skin. Oakley cut and cleaned the piece with the tattoo, and then processed it in a special way to preserve and identify the remains. Then the body parts of the homeless man were buried. At first it was difficult to see the tattoo on the saved skin, but then it was not difficult.

One day an elderly couple came to look at a piece of skin with a tattoo. Seeing her, the man and woman could not contain their emotions. It was a tattoo inked on the body of their wayward son they were looking for. They took the remains of their son with them to California, where they could be buried on their property.

2. Anarchist tattoos


Photo: The Logan Republican

While women dreamed of getting a lily tattoo on their arm, anarchists wanted to tattoo special images. A 1903 report claimed that many anarchists, without demonstrating their personal views to friends or neighbors, had flashy tattoos so that other anarchists could recognize them. More surprising is the fact that almost all the tattoos associated with anarchists were images associated with physical labor and were not artistic at all. Some tattoos contained a hammer and anvil.

Criminologists believed that the reason the anarchists' tattoos depicted the tools of the working man was because "generally, anarchists are good workers, frugal, and rarely prone to frivolous behaviour."
Despite their good work ethic, anarchists were banned in Europe during this time. Their only safe havens were in England and the United States, where they could meet and discuss their ideas without fear of the police finding and arresting them. The anarchists were not the only secret group in the early 1900s whose members were tattooed. A number of tattoo artists admitted that they believed in the existence of secret societies, as it often happened that in a short period of time different people appeared and demanded tattoos of a certain design that had never been used for this before.

1.Monogram on the dog


Photo: Wood County Reporter

It's hard to believe that sailors and women from society in 1988 adorned themselves with tattoos. Some people have gone further and started tattooing their dogs. It has become a fashionable trend to get a monogram tattoo with the owner's initials on the dog's body. Usually the tattoo was done on the chest of the dog, just below the collarbone, so that everyone could see it.

Ingoda around the monogram was pierced with a complex ornament in the form of curls to highlight it. One article said that "the process of getting a tattoo is usually painful," but the dog endures the pain patiently in order to "look better." While it is easy to blame dog owners for cruelty now, we must also remember that they helped develop a very lucrative business of tattoo artists who could visit the homes of wealthy citizens and offer dog tattoos for the same price as a human.

And you are waiting for the onset of summer fully armed - without excess fat on the body and with new muscles on the limbs - then an idea may come to your mind to somehow decorate fresh reliefs. And what could be more beautiful than a cool tattoo? And besides, which of us at least once did not think about stuffing ourselves with something Is it memorable or just cheeky?

Attention, grandma

If you opened this article to write in the comments that tattoos are bad, and only fools make them, then go sit down for 15 minutes and let go.

If you're brave enough to put something on your body that won't wash off with soap and water, read on.

Disgusting men talked to Ivan Hack, an international tattoo artist who works in an ornamental-geometric style. Everything you need to know before you sit in a chair, rolling up your sleeves in front of a frantic needle, is in our material.


  • What tattoos are relevant now? What do they do more often? What to do not need?

In the last few years, black and white styles are gaining momentum: graphics, dotwork, ornaments. However, the classics - Japan, old school - are no less popular than before. There is a contingent for every style. I do not advise you to make inscriptions - they usually quickly get bored, and the carrier is often ready to block the message that was once dear to the heart of the descendants with anything, up to blackwork. The same applies to copies of other people's tattoos. It's just self disrespect.

And what tattoos will always be relevant?

Tattoos made by a professional master are always relevant. If you know what I mean.


Everyone's pain threshold is different. Men and women experience pain in the same places differently. In my experience, girls are more comfortable with back pain. Places such as the ribs, abdomen, hands, head are more painful than others. Clients most calmly endure pain on the shoulder or forearm.

  • How long does the application process take?

There are no universal statistics here. It all depends on the size and detail of the tattoo. Small works are performed within one session (up to three hours). On the sleeve or back, of course, it takes a lot of sessions.

How to care for a new lifetime drawing? Can you take a shower? And in the bath?

Any sensible master after the session will explain to the client the main points of tattoo care - or give a memo about proper healing.

The first days it is necessary to wash the tattoo site with warm water and soap in the morning and evening. Wet with a napkin and, after drying, apply Bepanthen or D-Panthenol cream, or special tattoo creams.

If we talk about the restrictions in brief, then you can’t take a bath (steam the skin), go to the pool, bathhouse with a fresh tattoo, swim in ponds, sunbathe. In no case should you rub the skin with a washcloth, exfoliate, scratch.

Until complete healing, it is necessary to moisturize the skin with creams containing Panthenol.

If you want your tattoo to please you for many years, protect it with spf + 50 sunscreen in the summer.

What if the client has an allergy? What paints are used during the procedure? In the process of application, the drawing area is constantly lubricated with something - what kind of substance is this?

If you are allergic, prone to dermatitis, or have chronic skin diseases, consult a dermatologist about the possibility of getting a tattoo. I have seen allergies to pigments more than once. In my experience, red is the most common allergic reaction.

As for the products used in the application process - in addition to antiseptics, it is usually a special vaseline.

It was like this for me: first, a sketch on paper, then with a marker on the skin, then with a needle, like a stencil. How does a typical process work? What are needles and what are they for?

I see no reason to describe the process step by step, since all masters work differently. Someone uses thermal transfer paper to transfer the image, someone works as a freehand. Sometimes the master uses both in his work.

As for needles, now manufacturers produce so many modifications that you can’t keep track of everything. The only way to figure it out is to buy different types, look for what is more convenient for you to work for specific tasks. Some firms, for example, Vladblad Irons, produce promotional kits - when in one box there are needles of many types, several of each.

There are people who come and say: draw, no matter what, but with all your might. How does the master act in such a situation? How then not to get a hat?

I would not work with such a client. I work in a narrow style, so people come to me purposefully for a tattoo in my technique.

Let's say I want to huddle at home, on my own. I decorate the left with the right. What do I need for this?

The brain is required, first of all. This is a completely non-serious approach. We live in the 21st century, so entrust this work to a professional.

  • What if I'm self-confident enough to become a master and open my own salon?

In many cities, large tattoo parlors have courses for beginners, where they can show the basics of tattooing, explain how to work with the equipment. But to become a good master, it will take more than one year of practice. A lot of masters work for hire, so in a sense it is easier. But already a self-confident master with an established clientele can open his own salon, which, by the way, must be maintained. That is, in order to open a salon, it is not necessary to be a master. First of all, you need to be a businessman. Well, to understand the subject, of course.

More cool tattoos - in Ivan's Instagram.

It is said that when a sailor returned to Europe in the 19th century after living with the natives in New Zealand for many years, he was regarded as a rare curiosity. The ladies at the sight of him fainted, because the whole body of the sailor was covered with tattoos.
The word "tatu" came to us from the Polynesian languages ​​as a result of Captain Cook's trip to Tahiti. For the Maori people of New Zealand, the process of getting a tattoo has a spiritual meaning. Maori men applied tattoos to the entire surface of the face. Each drawing, sometimes done over several weeks, was unique and greatly enhanced the facial features of a particular person. But in general, this is characteristic not only of distant natives.
Here are a dozen stories about tattoos.

1. Among the ancient Slavs, tattoos were worn mainly by women. Drawings on the skin were a ritual amulet of the keeper of the hearth.

2. John Kennedy brought his tattoo down only at the insistence of his wife (he had a turtle on his shoulder), and Winston Churchill had a tattoo in the form of an anchor. By the way, in 1900 it was found that 90% of US Navy sailors have tattoos. The turtle means that the sailor has crossed the equator.

3. The Catholic Church is not against tattoos. Converting the natives to their religion, Catholics made new converts tattoos in the form of a cross or crucifix so that they could not convert to another faith. Now there are more than a hundred officially registered Christian tattoo associations that offer tattooing services with biblical stories and canonical texts. If desired, the tattoo can even be consecrated.

4. In the British royal family, tattoos have been approved since 1862, when the future King Edward VII got a cross-shaped tattoo on his arm. Prince Charles also had a tattoo, but he brought it down shortly before his wedding to Diana. Almost the entire body of the English King Harold had tattoos of scenes of military battles.

5. Among the Japanese geishas, ​​a tattoo was considered one of the five proofs of love. The other four are cutting hair, writing a love vow, cutting nails, and finally cutting off the little finger.

6. The most vulgar tattoo was once on the shoulder of Joseph Kobzon. Imagine, it was the inscription “I will not forget my dear mother” made in blue ink!

7. The story of the most witty tattoo. During the Vietnam War, an American conscript tattooed himself with two obscene words on the edge of his right palm. HER was visible only when he saluted, so he was not taken into the army.

8. The most "tattooed" person in the world lives on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. 99.9% of the surface of his skin is covered with a tattoo that repeats the pattern of a leopard skin. The only parts of his body not covered by a tattoo were between his toes and inside his ears.

9. Victoria Beckham tattoos the names of people she loves on her, excuse me, bottom. There is already a tattoo with her own name, the name of her husband and first son. Recently, she got a tattoo on the other buttock with the name of her second son. By the way, they say that Victoria wants to leave show business and give birth to five more children.

10. Albert Einstein, Nicholas II and Stalin also had tattoos.

The art of tattooing originated thousands of years ago, and in various countries. Severe Vikings, residents of hot Pacific islands, and inhabitants of some regions of Asia adorned themselves with intricate patterns. In the modern world, a tattoo is very popular, although in some conservative countries it is still under an unspoken ban. However, the fashion for tattoos is still striding around the world with leaps and bounds.

Facts about tattoos

  • If desired, they can be removed with a laser, but this is an expensive and painful procedure. And red and green pigments are very difficult to remove at all.
  • Any tattoo fades and blurs slightly over time, so every 7-10 years a correction is necessary to restore its freshness.
  • The oldest tattoo tools discovered by archaeologists were made about 12,000 years ago.
  • In Japan, many decent places do not allow people with tattoos on open parts of the body ().
  • The word "tattoo" comes from the Tahitian "tatau".
  • In ancient Greece and ancient Rome, slaves and criminals were tattooed on their foreheads to make them easier to identify if they escaped.
  • The mad ancient Roman emperor Caligula was also noted in history by the fact that he ordered his entourage to make the strangest tattoos.
  • Maori, indigenous New Zealanders, often cover their entire body with a tattoo. Moreover, there can be more than one layer.
  • In Europe, tattoos acquired their own name only at the end of the 18th century, although they existed as a phenomenon long before that.
  • In ancient Egypt, tattoos, apparently, were applied only to women of the upper class. At least in all the discovered mummies with tattoos, it is female ().
  • The world's first tattoo convention was held in the UK in 1950.
  • The traditional technologies of tattooing in some nations are very traumatic, and in fact they are combined with scarring.
  • In Thailand, there is a tradition of tattooing "sak yant". Local tattoo parlors do not undertake to do them - only monks have the right to apply them. By the way, in Thailand, most of the monks are covered with tattoos to one degree or another.
  • In the 19th century, tattoos were very popular among the Russian nobility, but they were very expensive.
  • Most gangs in Latin America mark all their members with intricate tattoos, which often even cover the face.
  • The world's first tattoo machine was invented and designed back in 1891 in New York.
  • Mentions of tattoos among the Slavs-Rus are found in the annals dated 920 AD.
  • Before 500, in Japan, tattoos were considered the privilege of the emperor.
  • The famous Winston Churchill had an anchor tattooed on his shoulder.
  • According to American statistics, women in the US are more likely to get tattoos than men, but they also get rid of them more often.
  • According to other statistics, on average US citizens spend more than $1.6 billion annually on getting tattoos.
  • During tattooing, the tattoo machine makes from several hundred to several thousand injections per minute, depending on the needles used and the operating mode of the machine.
  • There are no temporary tattoos - this is a widespread myth.
  • Albert Einstein also had a tattoo.
  • Scientists have come up with tattoos for diabetics that glow when blood glucose levels drop to dangerous levels. True, they can only be applied to those parts of the body that are not constantly open to sunlight.

Tattoos have been around for thousands of years. And the attitude towards them in different cultures and at different times was different. Today, although images on the body are considered works of art, for many people they are associated with the underground. In our review, the most interesting and little-known historical facts about tattoos.

25. Mummy Ötzi Tattoos

On the body of the mummy Ötzi (3300-3200 BC), which was preserved surprisingly intact in the ice, the oldest known tattoos were found. A black cross was tattooed on the inside of the left knee, six straight lines on the lower back, and parallel lines on the ankles, legs and wrists. When the scientists examined the mummy's body, they found joint diseases under many of the tattoos. This led them to believe that these tattoos were meant to relieve pain.

24. Ancient tattoo tools

Archaeologists have found tools in France, Portugal and Scandinavia that were probably used for tattooing. Their age is at least twelve thousand years - that is, they date back to the time of the last ice age.

23. Just TA

The word "tattoo" comes from the Polynesian word "ta", which describes the sound of a tattoo needle hitting the skin. The first written mention of the word "tattoo" is found in the works of Joseph Banks, a naturalist aboard Captain Cook's ship. Europeans until then called tattoos the words "marks" or "prics".

22. Polynesian tattoos

Polynesian tattoos are considered the most skillful. To be more precise, those that existed before the appearance of Europeans in the South Pacific.

21. Ancient methods of tattoo removal

Ancient tattoo removal methods include using scale from the bottom of a pot mixed with very strong vinegar, or pigeon dung mixed with vinegar. This mixture has been used as a poultice "for a long time".

In modern days, with the development of science and technology, laser surgery is considered the most effective and popular way to remove a tattoo. The laser light penetrates the skin and breaks down the tattoo pigments so that they are naturally eliminated by the body's immune system. Black is the easiest color to remove as it absorbs more laser light. Green and yellow tattoos are harder to remove.

19. Ancient Greek tattoos

The Greeks learned the art of tattooing from the Persians and used tattoos to mark slaves and criminals (so they could be easily recognized if they escaped). The Romans adopted this practice from the Greeks and tattooed "FuG" ("fugitive") on the foreheads of slaves.

18. Caligula - tattoo designer

Caligula is known as one of the craziest Roman emperors of all time. He amused himself by ordering his associates to make ridiculous tattoos.

In 787, Pope Adrian I banned tattooing of any kind, even on criminals and gladiators. From this point on, tattooing was practically unknown in most of Western Europe until the nineteenth century.

16. Tattoo as revenge

Tattooing was treated negatively in Eastern Europe, and to be more precise, in the Byzantine Empire. Tradition says that the Byzantine emperor Theophilus took revenge on two monks who publicly criticized him by ordering eleven obscene verses to be stuffed on their foreheads.

Although tattoos have been seen in paintings and statues of both men and women in Egyptian art, all tattooed Egyptian mummies discovered to date are female. Egyptologists believe that these tattoos were symbols of fertility, virginity and rejuvenation.

14. Tattoo in the air

Rock star Tommy Lee entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2007. He became the first person to be tattooed in the air on a private flight to Miami.

13. One of the most popular tattoos

Continuing with the Tommy Lee theme, his ex-wife Pamela Anderson was responsible for the rise in popularity of "bracelet" tattoos in the late 90s. She was the first celebrity in Malibu to get such a tattoo.

12. Tattoos are not for the poor

From the middle of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, tattoos were especially popular among the English and Russian nobility. They were so expensive that only rich people could afford tattoos. As tattoos became more widely available, they were considered "inappropriate" until their renaissance in the mid-twentieth century.

11. Yakuza tattoos

While most gang members get "honorary" tattoos, the most famous of all criminal tattoos are those of the Japanese Yakuza mafia. Its members wear intricate and traditional designs all over their bodies (most often hidden by clothing) as a sign of their allegiance to the Mafia.

10 Invention Of The Tattoo Machine

Samuel O'Reilly

The man who invented tattoo machines in 1891 was a tattoo artist from New York named Samuel O "Reilly. The basis of his invention was a document copying machine invented by Thomas Edison.

Officially, doctors say that HIV can hypothetically be transmitted through tattoo needles. However, there is not a single case report of a disease that has been transmitted through tattooing.

8. The snake is with the mother, the anchor is with the son

Winston Churchill's mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, had a snake tattoo around her wrist. At official receptions, she covered it with a diamond bracelet. Churchill himself had an anchor tattooed on his forearm.

7. Tattoos for women and men

According to a 2012 survey, there are more tattooed women than men in the United States (23% and 19%, respectively). Women are twice as likely to have tattoos removed than men.

6. At least one tattoo

About 45 million Americans have at least one tattoo. Americans also spend more money on tattoos than any other nationality (approximately $1.65 billion a year).

After Lindbergh's abduction in 1932, many parents across America began to tattoo their children. Allegedly, this was done so that the child would be easier to recognize if he was lost or kidnapped.

4. Tattoos and sexual activity

Recent studies have shown that adults with tattoos are more sexually active than those without. The same studies also show that adults who have tattoos are more likely to commit a crime.

The most tattooed man in the world is Gregory Paul McLaren, also known as "Lucky Diamond Rich". His body is 100 percent covered in tattoos, including his foreskin, mouth, and ears.

2. "The guy with the Disney tattoos"


George S. Reiger, also known as the "Disney Tattoo Guy", has over one thousand tattoos based on Disney cartoons, including all 101 Dalmatians. He had to get special permission from Disney to get the tattoo, as all images are copyrighted.

1. Just one nuance

For those who are going to get a tattoo in the near future, it is worth knowing one nuance. During tattooing, the skin will be pierced with needles about 50 to 3,000 times per minute, depending on the shape and size of the tattoo.