Tattoo has gone from being a symbol of rebellion to a fashion accessory. Soccer players, influencers And even your fifth neighbor look like skin designs. This mass acceptance caused an unprecedented boom, filling Spain with studies and artists. But the party is over. The bubble seems to have exploded and has left behind a precariousness and also repentance panorama among the different clients who decide to remove their tattoos.
Regretting what they tattoo. A phenomenon that we are seeing right now is to erase what one day was permanent in their skins. This was demonstrated by a study by Lutronic PBS, which pointed out that 60% of the people who tattoo in our country end up regretting.
The problem that arises is that eliminating a tattoo is not easy to do. The ink that is injected directly into the skin dermis, which is the second layer of the skin. This causes an aggressive treatment to be able to eliminate it completely.
The number of professionals who remove them increase. The demand for withdrawing tattoos makes new treatments and clinics appear. In 2023 there was a 30% increase in the number of demands in regard to eliminating tattoos through the laser technique. And it is that choosing a good professional is essential so that it is not marked on the skin.
And such is the ‘fashion’ of eliminating tattoos, which even in social networks can already see how trends and Hastag as #Tattoremoval where the before and after this treatment is shown. And sometimes people make these tattoos impulsively without having anything clear. And then the repentance is there.
The tattoo sector has a ‘dark side’. In addition to the change of opinion of many consumers of this art, the avant -garde has collected in a report as the market has changed radically. Raúl, a professional tattoo artist since 2001, reports that when he started in this world, the coil machine was an almost artisanal artifact of more than 300 euros. Now, this same machine can be found on Amazon for fifty euros with an initiation kit that includes needles and inks of doubtful quality.
This technological democratization has had an immediate effect: a marketing of the market. The National Union of Professional Tattooists and Anillers (UNTAP) estimates that in Spain there are about 10,000 “legal” tattoors, but they estimate that double works irregularly from their homes. These “home tattoors” are announced on Instagram and Facebook, competing directly with studies that pay rent, taxes and health licenses. And this is something that results in a fall in demand to professionals.
The ‘Glovo’ model has reached the tattoo. If unfair competition is a battle front, labor conditions are the other. The sector operates in a legal limbo where the ‘false autonomous’ has gained prominence, as they relate to the avant -garde. In this way, they point out that the studies have autonomous tattoors, who carry a percentage of the final Price of each tattoo, and the material costs are shared. The point is that some studies would demand to meet fixed schedules of up to 60 hours per week and with imposed vacations.
Emilio San Miguel, labor lawyer, is clear about it: as soon as an autonomous depends economically on a single payer and has time and tax holidays, it can be considered a false autonomous. “Almost all the tattooists who work in studies,” he says.
‘Chiquitatus’ and businessmen: the devaluation of art. This panorama has been the breeding ground for a new business model. According to Fidel Prieto, secretary of UNTAP, many of the new studies are not led by artists, but by investors who see tattoo as a simple business opportunity.
In this way, they take care of a place with a central location and hire young tattooists, with little experience and more likely to accept abusive conditions. And to be a large production chain, they specialize in ‘Chiquitatu’, that is, a butterfly, an infinity or a small symbol that has a cost of 50 euros. Something that denounces devalues the price of this work, and makes people have to work from their home and in black so that it deserves the penalty economically. Because becoming autonomous is something that many people cannot afford.
What you earn in the trade is not very attractive. As they point out in the report, a tattoo artist can have a good month and invoice about 3,000 euros gross. But it is not a stable trade, and it depends on the number of customers you have. In this way, in a bad month those income can collapse up to 700 euros easily. A tattoo artist, Virordia, points to that I would prefer to have a decent salary, a normal schedule and decent conditions.
The situation is as unsustainable that figures such as the “false hired” have emerged: a 10 -hour weekly contract for someone who works more than 45. The objective is to reduce the social security quota, a desperate patch in a broken system.
Tattoos have a future beyond the aesthetic. Although many people are tattooed for pleasure, science explores other options. For example, it is already explored to use them as a system to control glycemia or go much further to be authentic biosensors to analyze other biochemical parameters of our organisms in a little invasive way.
Images | Benjamin Lehman
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