Tattoos have been around for a very long time in human history. There are some pretty interesting and down-right weird tattoo facts out there. Here are some!
- It’s easier to remove black ink than purple or yellow ink due to the elements in creating the dyes.
- Evidence of tattooing dates back to over 10,000 years.
- In the Maori and Polynesian cultures, tattoos can be viewed as a status symbol.
- You can get your eyeballs tattooed! (YIKES!)
- Russian man, Aleksandr Pakostin, holds the current record for the longest continuous tattoo session, clocking at just under 61 hours!
- Harley Davidson and Mattel teamed up and came out with an officially released tattooed Barbie.
- Research suggests that women find tattooed men more interesting and attractive. (book those new tattoos, guys!)
- The first tattoo machine is based off a Thomas Edison invention.
- Tattoos were a form of punishment and branding in some ancient cultures, often marking criminals, prostitutes, deserters, etc. to shame them in society.
- It can take upwards of 6 months for the skin surrounding a tattoo to completely heal.
- Prisoners used to (maybe still do?) make black tattoo ink out of urine and burned newspaper ash.
- German immigrant, Martin Hildebrandt, opened up the first tattoo shop in America back in 1846.
- American’s spend nearly $2 BILLION dollars annually on tattoos.
- More women are tattooed than men, and the most common place is the ankle (where in men, it’s the arm).
- Tattooing is illegal in Iran, United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
- The record holder for the person with the most tattoos has his body 99.9% covered in tattoos.
- Sideshow “freak” of the Jim Rose Circus, Enigma, is covered head to toe In puzzle piece tattoos, and he (and Jim) were on an episode of X-Files.
- Daredevil, Steve-O, has an enormous portrait tattoo of himself covering his back.
- All of the members of the “Fellowship”, from the Lord of the Rings films, got secret matching tattoos to commemorate their long journey together. The tattoo image stayed secret for many years until finally leaked by paparazzi.
- The word “tattoo” is believed to have originated to the tapping sound when tattoos were applied by tapping on a stick with a bone tip.
- The word “Tattoo” is among one of the most misspelled words in the English language.
- 40% of women bring a buddy along when they get a tattoo.
Just as there are many interesting people with interesting tattoos, there are interesting facts!