There's been a lot of attention to a lady called Kate Alice in the media the past couple of days.
Kate went and got the word 'Vegan' tattooed on her face, just above her left eyebrow to be exact and its' triggered quite a response online.
So there's quite a bit of hate being spread, people calling her stupid ect... I don't really want to go into this. As far as I'm concerned if you're a consenting adult you're free to live your life as you wish within the bounds of the law.
But what does it mean to really be an adult?
I want to get into the ethics and choices people make though and how as a tattooer you have a certain level of responsibility towards a client.
Tattooing someones face or getting tattooed on your face is a big deal, short of wearing a balaclava it's always on show but most importantly IT'S ON YOUR FACE.
Your money maker, the first thing people look at and an important part of how we identify people, first impressions yada yada...
I don't know how old this lady is but for me a big part of judging whether I'm going to tattoo someone is their age. 18 is the legal age to be tattooed here in the UK but that doesn't mean I'll tattoo anyone that's 18 or any age for that matter. The design has to have had some thought.
The pre fontal cortex of our brain is only fully developed when we hit our mid 20's, around 25. It's responsible for rationale, judgement (smart decision making) and awarness of long term consequences to our actions. It's developed for good reasoning.
In your teens and early twenties most of the information we process is done using our amygdala, the emotional part of our brain.
Making life decisions based on emotion isn't always the best way forward, even marriage which usually stems from affection and love (emotions) need some reasoning and analysis of long term consequences to our action.
This is one of the main reasons I don't like tattooing faces, knuckles, hands and necks on people that aren't out their early twenties.
Are there exceptions? Sure, but you have to have a real good chat with the client, try and gauge their reasoning, offer up potential consequences, see how they react to you talking about them and then make a decision. There's no hard and fast rule, for me it's a judgment call. One that mostly ends up with me not tattooing them (I'd be so much wealthier if I did!).
Regardless of the type of tattoo, I need to feel right about doing it, that the client is capable of living through the consequences of their actions and that they're doing it for the right reasons, all these conditions need to be met.
The decision of having a tattoo on your face can really mess you up if you can't handle how people around you react to it.
I'm not sure what Kate Alices' reasons were (well I do, she wants to promote a vegan lifestyle or... does she want attention?), or if she had a good consultation with her tattooer or family about it. Was it a smart decision, she has the rest of her life to find out.
I do hope though she gets through the negative attention she's gotten in one piece and doesn't end up regretting it. People need to step off and stop hating on her, if she's happy for the remainder of her lifetime you should be happy too. If she's not then it's a tough life lesson, removing a tattoo isn't without pain and potential scarring.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Power to the fully developed pre frontal cortex!
Peace Out