About Tattoos
Tattoos are a 7,000-year-old art form. Modern tattoo artists are exceptional at their craft, and the body art they create fulfills the desires of young, old, and everyone in between. The tattoo art form continues to evolve with extraordinary, three-dimensional art, new highly refined inks and inking products, and ever-expanding consumer demand.
How tattoos work
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Ink is lodged into the middle layer of your skin.
During the tattooing or “inking” process a portion of the ink oozes back out of the skin. Some additional amount of the ink is absorbed by the body into its lymphatic system. The remaining particles that are trapped in the skin form the tattoo.
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Your immune system naturally tries to remove the ink.
70% to 80% of the particles that form a tattoo are engulfed by tissue macrophages. Tissue macrophages are derived from circulating monocytes that function by migrating to and digesting infectious organisms and foreign bodies.
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Macrophages ingest the ink and hold it in place.
When they encounter tattoo ink particles, which are chemically inert and resist destruction, tissue macrophages hold them in place permanently.
Why People Get Tattoos
Tattoos are an important and relevant form of self-expression. They portray who we are, how we feel, and how we want others to think and feel about us. They can be poignant, whimsical, artistic, tribal, and more…
While some tattoos may be inked during moments of frivolity or simply youthful indiscretion, that is not the case for the great majority of people. Tattoos are overwhelmingly inked at momentous moments and in the context of significant and emotionally powerful events in people’s lives. They are usually accompanied by exhilaration and celebrate important and even life altering experiences. Personal relationships such as love, marriage, birth, or death of a close relative may be the most touching of these. Then there are also major life events such as acceptance into an organization that form and dominate people’s identities, such as the military or certain social groups. In other cases, the sheer beauty of increasingly complex multicolored images with which they can decorate their body appeals to many people. All of these impulses are expressive of tattooed person’s unique and special character. Tattoos establish and enhance their self-esteem. Tattoos provide personal fulfillment.
ClearIT is not anti-tattoo; we are focused only on those tattoos that are no longer wanted. Period.
Who gets tattoos?
The adoption of tattoos in young adults has been unprecedented
18-25 years old
26-40 years old
Women have now surpassed men in the adoption of tattoos (31% vs. 27%)
Tattooing is the 6th fastest growing business in the retail industry.* Tattoos have become an increasingly popular form of self-expression.
38% of people worldwide have at least one tattoo**