One day, then-fourteen-year-old Edie Miller carefully began the process of using a sewing needle and India ink to poke her skin repeatedly, following a stick and poke tattoo method she found on the Internet. This heart on her wrist would be the first of her five tattoos.
Tattoo popularity has been escalating amongst young people. A 2010 Pew Research study found that nearly 40 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have tattoos, and of those, half have two to five tattoos. However, one has to be eighteen to legally get a tattoo in California, and since tattoo artists cannot tattoo a minor, a few students do their own tattoos. “I’ve talked to professional tattoo artists, and they all said they first had stick and poke tattoos. They even showed them to me. This one guy had his birthdate on his wrist, and the other lady had a heart,” says Miller, now a sophomore. “It was really cool to find out that tattoo artists started out the same way.”
Tattooing is associated with pain and that is often the reason people are afraid to get one. Science teacher Leigh-Anne Ecklund, who got her tattoos at a parlor, says,“It felt like a bad sunburn. Parts of it were more painful than others, like you can tell that there are many many needles going into your skin on a certain spot, and it did hurt, but it became numb after a while.”
However, the physical tattooing procedure may not be as difficult as the process in choosing one. Ecklund says, “So I was thinking for years and years that if I get one it’s going to be on me for the rest of my life, so it’s going to be have to be something that’s meaningful. But by the time I decided I really wanted one, and I was going to do it, it took maybe a year.”
Many get tattoos as a reminder of something. Ecklund says, “Well the [dragon with water] on my arm reminds me of how much strength I really do have. When things are stacked against me and I’m backed into a corner and have no choice, I actually have a wealth of strength within to do whatever it is that’s giving me a hard time.”
Drama teacher Shane Smuin and Miller have similar experiences. Smuin says, “The first one was a life-changing experience that I wanted to remember. The second one was for my mom, which was the koi fish, and the third one was because my pet corn snake died.”
There may be different motivations for a teen to get a tattoo as opposed to an adult. “Teens may see it more as rebellion, and adults may see it more as freedom,” says Ecklund.
Some believe that teens are too young and not mature enough to decide to get something permanent painted on their body. Miller said, “I think it definitely depends on the person. If you get a tattoo of something you’re into at the time like a song lyric, it may not always mean that to you. Or if you get the name or the face of your significant other, you’re a little too young for that.”
Additionally, people with tattoos often have to deal with the historically negative stigmas. “When I first got my tattoo I noticed children looking at me more, like really small children, pointing at the colors and their mothers would sort of glare at me,” says Ecklund. “I don’t notice it that much anymore and I’m not sure if it actually happens.”
Smuin echoes the same sentiments as Ecklund. “I don’t think there are any more perceptions because there are so many people that have them; it’s not just criminal biker groups and sailors,” he says.
In contrast, Miller has gotten generally positive feedback for her tattoos. “My mom definitely does not like it, but my aunt actually thinks it’s really cool,” she says. “A lot of people my age think it’s really cool, and I’ve been asked from people to do it for them. But other people say, ‘Oh, it’s bad, you could get infected.’”
In general, if people are thinking about getting a tattoo, Ecklund advises, “If you want something as a reminder that you can see all the time that is meaningful to you and fills you with joy or pleasure or reminds [you] of a certain person, then absolutely get one.”
