Tattoo Guides
Reading Room
Practical, no-fluff guides covering the essentials of getting tattooed, from planning and preparation to care and healing. All the basics are covered. Get informed before getting inked.
An Appreciation of Early Tattoo Collectors
Explore four early tattoo collectors and performers—Prince Constantine, the Great Omi, Nora Hildebrandt and Rusty Skuse—and their role in tattoo history.
Jon
A Deep Dive on Early European, British and American Tattooers
From Sutherland MacDonald to Bert Grimm, a history of the early tattooers who helped shape American traditional and Western tattooing.
Jon
Finding My Way Back to Tattooing
JP Luca on returning to tattooing, learning from Joe Crooked, and falling in love with traditional flash.
JP Luca
WWII Tattoos: From Holocaust Markings to Sailors and Soldiers
How WWII shaped tattoo culture, from the personal symbols of sailors and soldiers to the forced numbering of prisoners at Auschwitz.
Jon
Tattoo Conventions: How They Started & How to Navigate One Today
A short history of tattoo conventions, plus how to find an artist, book ahead or walk up, and arrive prepared for your session.
Jon
Do Canadians Have More Tattoos Than Americans?
A data-driven comparison of tattoo prevalence in Canada and the United States, including gender, age, motivations, and cultural acceptance.
Edgar
Tattoo Ink Lymph Node Effects: What Happens Inside Your Body?
What current research says about tattoo pigment traveling through the lymphatic system, lymph-node swelling, inflammation, and cancer headlines.
Edgar
How to Estimate Tattoo Sizing
How to land on the right size before you book: measuring against your body, what placement and detail do to a design, and why artists ask in centimeters.
Edgar
Tattoo Aftercare, From Fresh to Fully Healed
A day-by-day healing guide: what's normal, what isn't, and how to look after a new tattoo from the moment the wrap comes off to fully settled skin.
Edgar
Looking After Your Tattoo in the Summer
Sun, sweat, and swimming are the three fastest ways to wreck a tattoo. How to get a fresh or healed piece through the hot months intact.
Edgar