Tattoo removal booming as people pay to make old ink go away

[TexasTowelie]

PITTSBURGH -- When his tattoo removal shops in Lawrenceville and Penn Hills reopened last spring after state-ordered business shutdowns to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic, Wes South noticed sales quickly surpassed what he expected from pent-up demand.

“Some people wanted to make some big, life-changing decisions,” said Mr. South. “Maybe they had more time to look in the mirror and saw tattoos they didn’t want post-COVID.”

Whether weeks spent in lockdown convinced clients to erase past mistakes or lighten their existing body art to prepare for future cover-ups, the surge in business helped Mr. South’s Disappearing Ink recoup some pandemic losses.

“We are doing crazy numbers now,” he said. “I’m not complaining.”

Last month, he sold Disappearing Ink’s Pittsburgh locations — as well as one in Honolulu — to Removery, a Texas-based company that is scooping up tattoo removal firms across North America.

Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/article251500248.html

[brewens]

1. I've actually given bikers crap about how when tattoos became a "kiddie fad", that kind of took

the badassedness out of it! Now all the kids fight with mommy and daddy over it. These were like really old bikers that couldn't stomp my ass though.

Like a lot of things, what was supposed to show your freedom and individuality or whatever they think goes on, becomes an everybody's doin' it thing, then no longer cool. It's a matter of time before no kid would ever get a tattoo like all those old people.

[DenaliDemocrat]

11. Most bikers are middle-aged professionals

With extra disposable income who could not stomp you!

[brewens]

14. I know some of those guys. These guys were more real old school type bikers in the NW. I don't

think any of them were ever members of a notorious club. They like to rip on the professional types that trailer their bikes to Sturgis and think they're bikers. They can go on all day about it.

[hlthe2b]

2. To each his own, but personally I have never been a fan of tattoos.

Not the least because of how awful they look, as one's skin ages.

But, different strokes for different folks...

[secondwind]

4. Same here. I guess I'm just a purist.

[JoanofArgh]

5. Same here. Does tattoo removal even get them

completely off?

[hlthe2b]

6. I think it only makes them illegible but there is residue-like damage to skin that remains.

a bit like scarring. Laser treatments can remove most evidence, but subtle skin scarring remains and it is expensive.

[onethatcares]

7. I've read of one method that really works.

use a 4 inch grinder with an abrasive wheel. Drawback: hurts like hell and leaves a scar.

[KS Toronado]

16. Works best with a 24 or 36 grit wheel, so I've heard.

[onethatcares]

20. 80 grit on a belt sander works too.

but I find a small dremel drum wheel gets into those tight spots around the groin area.

[KS Toronado]

25. OUCH, you're making me hurt from laughter.

[USALiberal]

9. Same here, weird to me! Nt

[GoCubsGo]

15. Yeah, I don't understand their appeal, either.

I think a lot of them look awful even before the skin ages. But, as you said, to each his or her own.

[Ms. Toad]

42. Me, either.

But there's actualy one kind I'm contemplating a few years down the road.

I've got two cancers (sarcoma and breast). I started flirting with a tattoo with breast cancer when I was contemplating a mastectomy. I ultimately decided against a mastectomy (and the scar from the partial is almost completely invisible), so no need for a beautifying tattoo.

Not so the scar from the sarcoma surgery in December. I "lovingly" refer to it as my shark-bite-Franken-arm. Quite the visible deformity because of the nature of sarcoma surgery - so I have a shark bite (more than 2" x 2" about a half inch deep) covered by a Franken-arm (a graft from my thigh stitched into place with visible Frankenstein-like stitches).

So - in the summer (when I don't wear sleeves) it is visible (and distracting) to those around me. So now I'm (again) contemplating a tattoo - using the graft as the center of a sunflower (the symbol for sarcoma).

If it's going to be ugly anyway, I've got fewer hesitations about trying to turn it into something beautiful by adding a tattoo.

[hlthe2b]

44. That would be one use of tattoos that would seem very beneficial and positive...

Good on you! And good on your recovery from necessary, but traumatic treatment!

[JoanofArgh]

3. Which is why I've never gotten a tattoo. I know that in

5 years I’ll look at it wondering what the hell I was thinking.

[Hortensis]

33. 5 YEARS? Refrigerators are hopelessly out of style in 5. :)

[Buns_of_Fire]

8. "It's a real beauty / A Mexican cutie / How it got here I haven't a clue"

~ Jimmy Buffett

All those "Trump Is God" forehead tattoos might be turning out to be limiting their occupational choices.

[SergeStorms]

10. I've never been tattooed.

Not that I'm afraid of the pain, pain is my constant companion, but there never was any image I wanted to carry around with me for my entire life.

I know dozens of people who have them, and are now sorry they did (mostly women) and would love to have them removed.

I think those who aren't tattooed are the "rebels" now, as it seems everyone has ink somewhere on their bodies.

[3Hotdogs]

21. What? Jimmy ain't her squeeze no more?

Last edited Sat May 22, 2021, 02:01 PM - Edit history (1)

[SergeStorms]

32. Yeah, that or....

that rose they had tattooed on their breast looks like a bloodhound now.

[3Hotdogs]

34. --- or maybe MOM

disinherited the asshole/

[bucolic_frolic]

12. I am so turned off by tattoos

In my world you have to be seriously tetched to ink one on.

[liberal_mama]

45. Me too! I think they look ugly. I'm glad my husband and kids also dislike them.

I don't think anyone on my side of the family has any tattoos. Now my in-laws are another story.

[betsuni]

13. Fashion is people doing things nobody else is doing.

Tattoos are like wearing knock-off Calvin Klein jeans in 1985.

[catbyte]

17. I had a friend from high school I lived with in college and stayed friends with. She dated a

tattoo artist at one point and got a goldfish tattooed on her abdomen. It looked like Moby Dick when she got pregnant.



I've never been tempted to get one. It's way too permanent.

[LiberalFighter]

38. Maybe there should be a before and after to show others.

[Grokenstein]

18. The best ones are Japanese/Chinese characters on a dude who doesn't understand them.

MST3K offers a sensible alternative: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4lpc34

[wellst0nev0ter]

19. Matt Groening was ahead of his time

[dalton99a]

29. +1. Along with this gem:

[genxlib]

22. Always been wary of tattoos

Look back at any photo from your past that is more than 20 years old and see if you still like the clothes, hair, furniture, etc.

The idea that you can choose a piece of art that will be cool for the rest of your life seems like folly to me. Never mind the degradation of the canvas underneath as we age.

Always figured that tattoo removal would be a growth industry.

[Brainstormy]

26. furniture, yes!

everything else, no.

[drmeow]

46. I'm sitting in my home office

with a piece of art I bought around 1986 (right over my desk - I'm looking straight at it, still love it), another piece I got around 1992, and right outside the door is a piece I got around 1988. I have a skirt which I still wear which I bought in 1985. If it still fit me, I'd wear my prom dress to this day (I stood out like a sore thumb at my prom - wore a classic and very classy black and white number).

Sometimes you just know, sometimes something just speaks to you, sometimes your taste develops early and doesn't change radically.

Do you still listen to music you listened to 20 years ago?

[genxlib]

49. Sure I do

But I don't still like ALL the music I listened to back then. There are still pieces of art or clothing I like but not every piece I ever bought.

Knowing the difference is the challenge. All I said was "wary"

If it works for you, more power to you.

[Frustratedlady]

23. That's good to hear. During a trip to the post office, I saw a guy in line who was wearing shorts..

but no shirt. It was difficult to tell that was all he had on, as his entire body was covered with tattoos up to his forehead. He looked like a snake. All I could think of was how he would look in a coffin at the end of his life.

I know, that's a strange thing to think, but that was a very strange-looking creature, too.

[Vinca]

43. I was behind an older, obese lady at the post office once. She was wearing shorts and

Winnie the Pooh - a very large Winnie the Pooh - was tattooed on the back of her calf. He was holding a balloon that drifted up her leg. All I could do was wonder what that woman was thinking of when she got that.

[3Hotdogs]

24. Carlin to the rescue again.

Paraphrase:

So I see these kids walking around. And they got metal rings out'a their noses, D batteries hanging from their earlobes, swastika tattoos on their forehead, fish hooks out of their cheeks. And I use'ta wonder to myself, what da fuck is wrong with these assholes?

Then I read where some psychiatrist says this kind of self mutilation is good for their self image.

So now, when I see one of these creatures walking down the street and he's got a bike chain hanging from his forehead, a swastika tattooed on each cheek, a tire iron hanging from his lower lip, I look at the guy and I say to myself,

"Now there's a happy guy."

[LiberalFighter]

39. Good for their self image? Don't see how it helps.

Probably something wrong with that psychiatrist.

[Hoyt]

27. My WWII veteran dad spent most of his life trying to hide a relatively small anchor tattoo on arm.

I think that has kept me from getting one.

I'm fine with people getting them, but I think a high percentage will regret it one day.

[Chautauquas]

28. I have two tattoos and I'm keeping them

One on a shoulder and one on my chest. They are both related to events in my life and they are both covered by clothing, with the obvious exceptions like when I'm swimming, kayaking, etc.

[Buns_of_Fire]

30. Gotta love that name, though: "Disappearing Ink" nt

[MurrayDelph]

31. The only tattoo I ever saw that I didn't think was stupid

Was one acquaintance who had the words "Penicillin Allergic" on his forearm, with the reasoning that MedicAlert tags could get lost, and the allergy was severe-enough that if he wasn't able to talk for himself, the penicillin would kill him before they could apply the Benadryl.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

35. I like tattoos

I like my tattoos.

Wanted a tattoo ever since I was a little kid.
55 now. And I have 8.

[meadowlander]

40. Me too.

I got mine when I was in my mid-thirties. It's deeply personally meaningful, designed by a calligrapher friend, and in a spot that's easy to cover up at work. Ten years on I still love it.

I think where you run into problems is people in their late teens/early twenties getting massive and/or random pop culture content tattoos because YOLO.

But you can't extrapolate from that to all tattoos are bad and tacky. I guess judgemental people just need grist for the mill but I would never make assumptions about someone else just based on the fact that they have a tattoo. Unless it was a massive Richard Nixon on their back.

[Mr.Bill]

36. The real genius invention would be

a tattoo that would just naturally fade away in a few years.

[Happy Hoosier]

37. I have two... both are important to me.

They are something personal. One is my daughter’s name. Another is a matching tattoo with her that is quite small. I cherish both... a part of her is with me even when she isn’t.

[LiberalFighter]

41. I can see a couple of small ones that have meaning.

But too many go way overboard. I am so not a big fan of those that do.

[drmeow]

47. Even great art

can looked cluttered and unattractive if there is too much of it crammed into too small a space.

Plus, there is a lot of bad art out there.

The same goes for tattoos

[Wingus Dingus]

48. Always thought they were silly except on people who had creative-type careers, like

artists and musicians. Not sure why anyone would do that to themselves. I can't see how injecting ink into the skin is healthy, even leaving aside risk of infection.