Tattooing Procedures

Tattooing procedures have come along way in the last 12,000 years. Much of what we know about a culture, and what that individual culture values, can be derived from the way they apply tattoos. Early American Indian tribes, in both North and South America, would routinely tattoo the body and the face using a ‘pricking’ method that was devoid used to denote status. While Intuit tribes in the Arctic used thread coated with pigment to puncture the skin and create lasting symbolic tattoos that represented the spiritual dimension of their lives.

Perhaps no culture is as known for its tattooing procedures as the Maori people of New Zealand. Their Moko style, easily recognizable by its intricate lines across the face and buttocks and presence on Mike Tyson’s face, was as distinctive as it was painful. These examples of puncture tattooing were created by a bone-cutting tool, often used to carve wood, that was tapped into the skin to create intricate tattoos that were believed to help guide people in the afterlife.

Luckily, modern tattooing procedures don’t require anything as painful-sounding as a “bone-cutting tool.” Today’s tattoos are created by injecting the skin with a needle that is dipped with ink and attached to a tattoo machine. This tattoo machine allows the needle to move up and down very quickly, usually about 200 vibrations per minute, and inject ink into the dermis layer (secondary layer of the skin.)

Ironically enough, the technology used in the modern tattoo machine is not that different from the prototype invented in 1891 by Samuel O’Reilly. It still hurts, it still resembles a dentist drill, and it still creates a permanent tattoo on the body that can mean whatever the wearer wishes. Maybe on reflection tattooing procedures really haven’t changed all that much since 12,000 B.C.

Common Misspellings: Tatooing Procedures, Tattoing Procedures.