T-T-T-T-Tat's All, Folks!

Tattoos. They fascinate us, educate us, gross us out, make us say "Aww...", delight us with their art, puzzle us with their placement...and they're everywhere. This morning at the pool, as I watched a group of elderly women start their water-bike class, I was surprised to see that of the eight women seated with their backs to me, four of them had tattoos. FOUR grandmas had tattoos on their shoulders. What are the odds? Pretty good, actually. Pew Research Center, Tattoo Finder, and Vanishing Tattoo have a ton of statistics on it. (But first, let's savor the deliciousness of seeing Pew in the same company as two tattoo organizations. Fun, huh?)

Forty-five million Americans have at least one tattoo, and they're getting them at more than 20,000 tattoo parlors countrywide, spending, collectively, more than $1.5M annually for the pain and the pictures. Yikes. 

I don't have one, and don't plan to get one, but they're well represented in my family. My father got one at 17 for his then-girlfriend Charlotte, and when he married my mother, one of his pre-wedding tasks was to blank Charlotte out with some leaves. But she has always been there, under that inky cover-up, still readable if you know what you're looking for, a lifelong reminder that you probably won't end up with the person you liked as a teenager. (Yes, I know some of you have. Good for you - hope your tattoos are still nice and crisp!) My millennial niece has three that I know of: some tiny stars on the inside of her left foot, something else on her hipbone (also thankfully small) and then... the big rose outline on her shoulder that she waited to tell us about when we were all out to dinner with a visiting cousin, because she knew her parents wouldn't make a scene in front of him. Ironically, he's got a honkin' tattoo himself, but it wasn't on display that night.

I have a friend who will get a tattoo when she's really down in the dumps (don't ask me how many she has - she was a very unhappy camper for a few years). I have friends who have gotten them for reaching a landmark age, or for beating cancer, or because they always wanted one and dammit, they're going to have one now.   And there are some people taking them off, now that they realize the tramp stamp is, uh, aptly named. Years ago, it was clear that getting into laser tattoo removal would be a great business to have. (After all, Pew & Co. say that 17% regret theirs, and 11% are currently having a tattoo removed.) So I had to grudgingly admire the business sense of Christopher Knight, who played goofy Peter Brady on "The Brady Bunch," and is now a key investor in Dr. Tattoff. Guess Peter wasn't as dorky as he seemed. (Oh, yes he was. Adorkable.) 

There are some remarkable unsung artists out there using skin for their canvas. They're helping out the 29% of folks who say their tattoo makes them feel rebellious, and the 31% of people who say it makes them feel sexier. Oh, and lest I forget, the 5% who say a tattoo makes them feel more intelligent. Probably because they tattooed a picture of Einstein on their stomach. 

© 2015 A Bit of Brie/Anitabrie