Show me a man with a tattoo and I'll show you a man with an interesting past. Jack London - 1883

Beauty is skin deep. A tattoo goes all the way to the bone.
Vince Hemingson

Met with a tattoo artist recently. Will be starting my next tattoo within the next month (it's a big one, so it will take a while to finish). Haven't spent some time with my relatives lately, who don't really understand tattooing (I get a lot of comments like "You won't be able to get a job" and "you'll regret it when you're 40"), I thought I'd post some facts.

The National Geographic News stated in April 2000 that 15% of Americans were tattooed (or approximately 40 million people!)

Esquire Magazine estimated in March 2002 that 1 in 8 Americans was tattooed.

According to the American Society of Dermatological Surgery, they stated in 2005, that of all the people they treat with laser and light therapy, only only 6% are getting a tattoo removed.

Harris Poll, 2003, estimates that fully 36% of those aged 25-29 have one or more tattoos.

A 2006 a study done by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that 24% of Americans between 18 and 50 are tattooed; that's almost one in four. And the survey showed that about 36% of Americans age 18 to 29 have at least one tattoo!

Democrats are more likely to have tattoos (18%) than Republicans (14%) and Independents (12%) while nearly equal percentages of males (16%) and females (15%) have tattoos.

A majority of Americans with tattoos (83%) do not regret getting them, while 17% do feel regret. The survey found that regret for getting a tattoo was highest among tattooed Republicans (24%) and among those living in the South (21%). And, the reason cited most often for feeling regret about getting tattoos was "because of the person's name in the tattoo" (16%).