During our high school years, we are constantly hearing and seeing people with new piercings and tattoos. Ink expresses ideas and attitudes in ways that define people as individuals. Tattoos can be very important to students, and they can tell a story about themselves or a situation they have gone through that means something to them.

Tattoos last a lifetime, and what some people or students don’t understand is when you get a tattoo, they will be on your body forever. Oftentimes, those who get tattoos love them. 

For example, on August 20, 2016, senior Jarrett Mastriona went to Rising Tides in Boulder to get a tattoo representing the loss of his four dogs. His dogs meant a lot to him and passed away only a couple months apart from each other. The tree in the picture represents where his dogs were buried, and the triangle represents transcendence, a spiritual feeling he had with his dogs. This amazingly detailed tattoo is presented on his tricep. Achates, Thumper, Gibbles, and Hurley will always be in Jarrett’s heart, and now he can look down and remember them forever.

Looking for a great tattoo can be extremely difficult. According to nc.racked.com (Nordstorm’s website), you need to think really hard about what you want. Look at images, find the tattoo you want, and print it out. Avoid questionable tattoo places — the employees at the tattoo shop should be professional. Make sure you like the artist you picked because getting a bad vibe from a tattoo artist will not likely have a good ending. Lastly, get actual recommendations, and ask your peers where they got their cool ink.

Body artists won’t tattoo body art on a minor without consent from the minor’s parent or legal guardian. A good suggestion is to take a couple months to rethink your tattoo before asking a parent for his or her consent. Tattoo artists who ink a tattoo without parental consent can be fined 250 dollars and up. It doesn’t matter where the studio is, tattoo restrictions will always follow the rules of conduct.

Make sure to get your tattoos professionally done with parental consent. No one uses stick and poke anymore.