Ah, the lockdown. The perfect time to get a tattoo done.

There are no lines because everyone is at home, afraid of Covid-19.

You just quickly go in the studio, get the ink done and go home where you can rest and enjoy your new piece of art.

And what better time to recover than a quarantine? Just think about it:

1. You don’t have to go to work with your body aching
2. You can’t ruin the healing process with sunlight exposure
3. There’s no chance of getting it infected in the gym since it’s temporarily closed

But the real question here is: Should you?

Before you try to find an open studio, or even a scratcher, please consider the following:

Your immune system will be temporarily weaker

During a tattoo you will bleed. You are exposed to trauma. There’s heavy metals running down your blood stream.

According to science, tattoos will not only make you look badass, but will also make your immune system stronger. However, after getting new ink your defences will be down for a few days. Some people even feel mentally exhausted after a tattoo. That is natural.

Even if you regularly exercise, eat healthy, sleep properly and don’t stress, you will need some time to rest and it’s one of the reasons you shouldn’t get a tattoo during this period. Because if you get exposed to coronavirus when your immune system is down, you will probably develop more aggressive symptoms. And if this happens, you probably won’t die, but you might take a spot on the hospital beds in a time where someone else’s life might depend on it.

Artist with mask. By Antonino Visalli on Unsplash

You might contaminate the artist

Maybe you weren’t exposed to the virus. Fine. But how can you know for sure?

Let’s imagine you’ve been in quarantine. You have no symptoms after 14 days, you must be virus free, right? Not really.

You might have been exposed and are one of the lucky asymptomatic people. Maybe you have a strong immune system and won’t suffer, but this doesn’t mean you can’t pass the virus to other people. You can. And by not staying home, you might generate a huge chain of infection that will invariably kill other people.

On the reverse side, if the artist becomes contaminated, all client become exposed as well.

Keep in mind that if the artist is working with you, the artist has also been working with other clients. This multiplies the number of interactions you’re exposed to indirectly and shoots your chances of contamination through the roof. 

Remember: It might take up to 14 days before symptoms become visible and during those 14 days the host of the virus is already contagious.

This means that if any of the previous clients was contaminated with Coronavirus during the last 14 days, the artist will probably be carrying it unknowingly. In that case, even a mask will have little to no effect on protecting either of you. You might be getting a small tattoo, but this means you’ll be in close contact with the artist for at least an hour and for an airborne virus, this is more than enough.

If getting sick doesn’t worry you, at least think of your friends and family. Do you really want to expose the people you love by bring home a deadly virus? 

So, please, avoid anything that will weaken you at this time or expose you and other people unnecessarily.

The tattoo can wait.