People choose to get a tattoo for various reasons. From medical to self-expression, for thousands of years, which makes the history and facts about tattooing very long and colorful.
In this article, we will present you with some exciting and fascinating facts about tattoos, which you probably never heard about.
- Sailors are one of the most popular wearers of tattoos. Throughout history, the meanings of their tattoos changed. For example, a sailor that crossed the equator would tattoo himself a turtle, while if he navigated around Cape Horn, he would tattoo himself a full-rigged ship.
- During World War II, a lot of sailors had to rework their tattoos or even wear clothes as the US Navy has banned tattoos of naked women.
- Alaskan amateur boxer Billy Gibby, who is also known as “Billy the Human Billboard,” has a lot of corporate tattoos on himself that is paid by different companies.
- The most painful areas on the human body for getting a tattoo are ankle, collarbone, chest, ribs, and spine.
- Tommy Lee, the drummer of Mötley Crüe, was the first man to be tattooed in mid-air. He was tattooed while he was on a private flight to Miami.
- Even though tattoos last for a very long time, those that are tattooed on elbows, knuckles, knees, as well as feet, fade the fastest as the skin on those areas regenerates the most.
- Martin Hildebrandt was the first professional tattoo artist in the United States. He arrived in Boston in 1846.
- Some of the oldest tools for tattooing have been found around in France, Portugal, and Scandinavia, and they are some 12,000 years old.
- Winston Churchill had a tattoo of an anchor. A few presidents of the United States also had tattoos as well as some crowned heads of Europe.
- New York City had a ban on tattooing between the years 1961 and 1997, as of the outbreak of hepatitis B.
- The longest tattoo session has lasted for 50 hours and 10 minutes, and it has been done between the 27th and 29th of October, 2011 in the United Kingdom. The tattoo artist who did it was Dave Fleet, and he tattooed James Llewellyn.
- Gregory Paul McLaren, who is also known as Lucky Diamond Rich and who is born in 1971, is the most tattooed person in this world. His skin is covered 100% with black tattoos. Now, he is covering those black tattoos with white ones, and he is then going to cover them with some color tattoos.
- The first commercial toy for having a tattoo has been Mattel’s Butterfly Art Barbie, which appeared in 1999.
- The first machines for tattooing appeared in the late 19th century, and they did not change much since that period.
- Massachusetts also had a ban on tattooing from 1962 to 2000. The penalty for tattooing has been up to a year in a jail or a $300 fine.
- The machine used for tattooing has a frequency of piercing a skin between 50 and 3,000 times in a minute.
- According to some people, laser removal of the tattoos feels like little dots of hot grease, like the tattooing itself feels like bee stings or sunburns.
- When the color of the tattoo is darker, it will be easier to remove it with a laser. So, black color is the easiest one to remove as it absorbs more laser waves, while the green and the yellow are the most difficult ones to remove.
- About 17% of all tattooed people regret their tattoos. The three of the main reasons for this are if the tattoo has the name of some person, it does not look good, or if it was a stupid choice.
- William Mullane of London has tattooed himself a portrait of his father in 2013. For ink, he utilized a small portion of ashes of his late father.
- Tattoo methods from ancient Greece and Egypt to Pacific Island cultures included the use of chisels, rakes, or picks. The soot-covered thread has also been used where the thread would be sewed through the skin.
- Some cultures use urine mixed with coal dust to make dye for their tattoos.
These are only several of the interesting and fascinating facts about tattooing. Love them or hate them; there is no denying that tattoos have a fascinating history.
