Recently tattoos have become a booming industry, an art which was once frowned upon has quickly become a social norm. In recent years this industry has also seen a major increase in minors getting tattoos. Almost a third of people aged 16 to 19 have one or more tattoos. Multiple high school students have tattoos because it has become fairly common to show them off.

However there are no restrictions on tattoos at school, but should there be?  Should it depend on the tattoo design or should everyone have the same restrictions? Should their even be restrictions?

I talked to tattoo artist Gannon Sell from Tattoo Demon located at 519 S.Tejon Street. With ten years of experience under his belt he gave some insight to his thoughts on minors getting tattoos. The youngest client he has ever had was sixteen years old and is willing to tattoo minors sixteen years old as long as they have parent consent and the parent is present during the tattoo. When asked how old he thinks someone should be to get a tattoo he responded with, “Age isn’t that important but what is important is their mental maturity about getting a tattoo.” Also when asked why he believes so many teens want tattoos he said, “there’s a large boom in the industry. Big reasons include social media and culture, they see them everywhere and basically, like peer pressure, they think that they want them and then hasten to get one as soon as possible.” Then, when asked about advice he would give to a minor thinking about getting a tattoo he said, “If you are under eighteen look at the design for about a year beforehand. You don’t want to get a design that you could hate in a year or even in five years.” Finally when asked about Tattoo Demon’s restrictions on minors getting tattoos,” We refuse to tattoo a minors neck, face, and, hands because they don’t always know what career they will be going into and that could destroy their chance at a career that they could love.”

Of course tattoo shops (states can have different requirements) have certain rules that they are required to follow, for example, they have a cleanliness requirement that must be followed and the require identification on any minors and their parents when getting a tattoo with the same last name being a requirement or some sort on identification saying they are the parent.

So with tattoo shops having their own requirements on minors getting tattoos that begs the question should schools have their own requirements/restrictions on tattoos? I talked to Dean of Students Sergio De Lourenco about tattoos in school. Mr. De Lourenco, who has no tattoos, when asked what age someone should be before they get a tattoo replied with, “ Eighteen is probably fine” and also when asked whether there should be restrictions on tattoos in school he responded,” Yes, for example no gang related tattoos or offensive tattoos like racial, sexual etc.” I even asked why he believes that tattoos have become so popular among teens which he very simply put,” It’s the new fad, back when I was in high school getting a tattoo was rebellious but now it’s more accepted.” I even went on to ask whether students with tattoos seemed to get in trouble more than students without which he replied,” No more than anyone else” which goes in line with my next question which was are kids with tattoos normally the “bad” students which when asked he said simply, “Not really”.     I finished the interview with asking whether he believes tattoo shops should have more rules about minors getting tattoos which Mr. De Lourenco said,” They should give more education on getting them and explain more in depth about how they are permanent and can affect your future.”    In conclusion tattoos are generally accepted at Coronado tattoos are a form of expression and although they can put someone into a stereotype classification they don’t change who they are.