FROM subculture to pop culture. It used to be a thing only for sailors and jailbirds. Now look around and you’ll see not only celebrities and rock stars getting inked but your friends and neighbors, too.
Many indigenous peoples around the world mark their bodies with tattoos. The word tattoo comes from the Samoan word ”tatau,” which means “to mark.” Tattooing continues to be practiced among native people from the Pacific, through Asia, the Middle East, parts of Africa, the Americas and Europe.
Since olden times, as part of Filipino culture, tattooing was a show of rank and accomplishments and some believed that tattoos also conferred magical qualities. The more famous tattooed peoples are among the Bontoc, Igorot, Kalinga, and Ifugao tribes.
Whang-od Oggay is a Filipina tattoo artist from Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines. She is considered as the last mambabatok from the Butbut people in Buscalan Kalinga and the oldest tattoo artist in the Philippines.
Filipino tattooing was first documented by the European Spanish explorers when they landed in the Islands in the 16th century.
Today, in the 21st century, tattoos are in and popular with the cool kids (not just in Hollywood)! This last decade has seen the rise of tattoo culture.
Getting inked has become a trend and a growing number of people have the desire to permanently mark themselves with symbols, words, phrases, pictures, etc. So what if they look bad 50 years from now?
Tattoos symbolize a memory or a person or a certain phase in life that they want to remember.
Some tattoos make the wearer unique and special. Others mark their affiliation to a group, gang or religion.
There are some people, feeling strongly about family, get a tattoo honoring mom or the names of their children.
However, tattooing your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s name often leads to regret when love has faded months or years later and, sadly, the tattoo name has not.
In fact, 1 in 5 people with tattoos in the U.K. report having regrets, saying they were too young at the time.
The same applies to cosmetic tattoos like eyebrows. Previously, eyebrow tattoos were permanent, often looked harsh, and over time tended to gain a blue or greenish tinge because of oxidizing metallic pigments. Fortunately, these days, better pigments and methods are available.
Unwanted eyebrow tattoos can be fixed or removed.
Tattoo removal has been performed with various tools since the history of tattooing. While tattoos were once considered permanent, it is now possible to remove them with treatments, fully or partially. Common techniques included dermabrasion, TCA (Trichloroacetic acid, an acid that removes the top layers of skin, reaching as deep as the layer in which the tattoo ink resides), salabrasion (scrubbing the skin with salt), cryosurgery and excision which is sometimes still used along with skin grafts for larger tattoos.
Today, “laser tattoo removal” usually refers to the non-invasive removal of tattoo pigments using Q-switched lasers. Typically, black and other darker-colored inks can be removed completely. A laser uses intense light, which penetrates the skin to break up the ink particles and leads to tattoo fading.
The body’s immune system will then remove these pigments over time. The laser energy is harmless, and only targets the pigmented skin, leaving the un-inked surrounding skin unharmed.
This type of laser requires only topical anesthesia and may need two to three sessions in intervals of about two to four weeks.
If you would like information, advice and help with tattoo removal you can text Margie at 0908 895 2935.
