Part of the mystique of a tattoo is its perpetual aspect, the knowledge that you are making the image a permanent part of your body. By using laser-erasable inks to create tattoos that commitment is no longer there.
Roughly one in four adult Americans has at least one tattoo — and 17 percent are considering getting rid of theirs, according to a survey published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Now, one company has found a way to make tattoo inks that, while still permanent, are also easily removed. The company, Freedom-2 LLC, will make the special ink available next year.
Here’s how it works:
So how did Freedom 2’s ink achieve that “removability” factor? It’s removable because it is encapsulated in tiny beads made of polymethylmethacrylate, a synthetic material commonly used in surgical glue and in many types of artificial joints.
Because of the way these beads are formed, they fall apart when laser energy is applied. That particular laser energy would cost you around US$ 1,000, which is a small price to pay for a good impression.
So will a test come out so that your Significant Other can check to see if you made their name permanent or not?
It’s about time.
The inability to change your mind is one of a few reason why I don’t have any.
Takes the commitment out and puts the lame in.
I’m sure Katie Collman’s murderer wished his fellow inmates had used this new ink…
I agree that it takes the commitment out of the entire idea of getting the tattoo in the first place. You are supposed to really contemplate what you want burnished on your skin forever. I understand there are those that do get tattoos in haste or get names that they want removed later; and they can get them removed or covered. Now, like the article says, the mystique is gone. People will be getting tattoos like getting their nails done….they can either keep them on or remove them in a week, I know it’s an exaggeration….but still, it’s just not right. That’s my opinion anyway…
I look around at the people I know that are 30ish and getting tats.
I try to think of something I liked at that age (19 years ago) that I would still want to look at today (I mean in a tattoo). Nothing comes to mind.
You may as well get the tattoo transfers or a henna tattoo. Or a magic marker.
You can only defile your body temporarily now?
Right, it’s not the same.
My 75 yr old grandmother got a tatoo last yr.
My Great Uncle had two battleships tattooed on his forearms. In his eighties they were just dark blobs. I have to wander how well these multi-colored body art displays will weather time.
Ok… I gotta say it:
IMNSHO, People get tatoos because:
A) They are insecure about how much their appearance conveys individuality (hey, i’m a rocker and i don’t give a fck… ) However, i think these days this backfires a bit…
-or-
B) They enjoy attracting attention to their body (and hopefully have a good reason to)
Girls w/ tattoos look like sluts (or at least someone who would be cool with some anonymous sex in the bushes) and guys look like convicts that will spend the rest of their lives working in Guitar Center (where superficial appearances sell guitars to ignorant teenagers) or a factory.
Ya ya, i’m sure they’re just like anyone else, but face it. People with visible tattoos will never be treated the same as people without tattoos and they know it. That must be what they want?
oh, and back on topic: yes these are lame. If tattoos ever meant something profound, they won’t anymore.
…and Dvorak should get a windows logo on his arse. a real one….right next to the bill gates face.
#11 Okie
Are you a Fundamentalist Christian? That would explain your POV since usually they are the ones treating stuff not made by preachers like shite.
Heh, no, no I am not a Fundie…. Did you have an argument against this opinion or do you just like seeing your name on the screen?
It’s offical, so many people have tattoos today, tattooing has jumped the shark. With this technology it is no longer cool, so what’s next?
14. Big old quarter sized washers in your earlobe. The new fad, glad I dont do fads anymore. The tongue piercings and eyelids piercings are wierd. Kinda like the nipple rings though, go figure.
Tats stopped being cool about 20 years ago. Once they started showing up on sorority girls and preadolescent suburban boys, they pretty much went the way of earings on guys. And at least those you can take out and pretend you never wore one (unless you get the ubangi plate-style one, that looks like a wedding ring turned sideways in your earlobe). I never really got the body disfigurement fad. When bikers and felons wore them, they meant something. Now, the only take-home message is “hey, look at me…I’m such a brainless lemming that I went and paid a whole shitload of money so that I could look just like Brittney and Caitlyn and Amber and all the other girls”. Pffft.
#16, and not to mention that in ten years they will have blurred into something unreconizable and in 20 years will just be dark blobs.
I used to think tattoos were like herpes. Your’s for life. But the herpes doesn’t make your skin go black.
I love my dragon tattoos but they are hidden from view in normal work clothes. One of them is custom-designed by a renowned ethnic artist and my wife has the matching design.
I wouldn’t mind getting sleeved as well. My wife thinks they are sexy and I’m inclined to please her.
I’m in my late 30’s,I am a well paid professional in an industry that, if not encouraging, is highly tolerant of such things. If I can get them removed should I ever decide to masquerade as “respectable” then that makes the deal all the more sweet. I say piss on all you whiners who thinks this “ruins the commitment.”
Life is about pursuing enjoyment, not about having a stick up one’s rear over progress. If you really want them to be permanent, no one is suggesting that you can’t get permanent tattoos.
18,
But you have to admit there is more to the tattoo than simple body art.
#17 I used to think tattoos were like herpes. Your’s for life. But the herpes doesn’t make your skin go black.
*LMAO* 😀
#13
I just find that your POV sounds remarkably similar to what I have heard from many Christians down here.
11. “People with visible tattoos will never be treated the same as people without tattoos and they know it.”
To that I have to disagree. I have no idea how old you are, but having tattoos is quite common today among young people. While non-tattooers will probably never be in the minority, the population of tattoo wearers will become sizable enough to remove any prejudice against them. Put it this way, when your boss has a tattoo, it’d be hard for him to treat you differently for also having a tattoo.
That being said, I predicted quite a while ago that the one thing that could easily kill off the tattoo industry would be to make it temporary. Tattoos are cool because they are permanent. Once they become temporary they’ll also become passé.
Silliness. Tattoos are not cool because they are permanent. A disfiguring scar or 3rd degree burns all over your face are permanent and they don’t look cool. Tattoos are cool because of the art.
People get nose rings and piercings all the time and those things aren’t permanent. The permanency of tattoos doesn’t make them cool, it makes them difficult.
Very well said, BHK!
I have two predictions for the next fads. I am extremely brilliant and always right so pay attention. The next fads will be
1) colouring your teeth
2) cutting off your baby fingers
#21 SN
The problem is with religious zealots, down here in honduras you’ll be treated like a second class citizen by them, even as bad as if you were gay.