Friday, July 16, 1999
Minors get around tattoo laws
Teens take risk to be cool
BY AMY CAPPIELLO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Erlanger tattooist Jason Morgan works on Debbie Crockett, 40, of Fort Wright. He says he tries to dissuade teen clients.
(Patrick Reddy photos)
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Cindy Pinto was astounded when her 17-year-old daughter came home with a tattoo of a sun on her lower back.
Not only had the girl, a student at Notre Dame Academy, broken a house rule forbidding such a permanent mark on her body, she had also broken a state law that forbids minors from getting tattoos without their parents in attendance.
“I told her that once she was 18, I still wouldn't like it if she got a tattoo, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it,” said Mrs. Pinto, the former mayor of Fort Wright. “I thought at 17 there was a lot I could do. I guess I was wrong.”
In Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, written parental permission is required for tattooing those under 18.
Tristate school officials say they see increasing evidence that minors sidestep these laws.
The teens say it's worth the risk because of the individual statement the tattoos make.
TATTOO TIPS
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• Before: If a teen wants to get a tattoo, Dr. Lori Crosby, a child psychologist at Children's Hospital Medical Center, recommends parents discuss the motivations.
“Probably the best thing is for parents to offer teens a waiting period,” she said.
Sometimes the reasons a teen had for wanting a tattoo can pass during this period.
For teens who want a tattoo to mark a bond with another person, Dr. Crosby recommends helping the teen come up with an alternative way of signifying that connection.
• After: Tattoos can be removed at licensed centers that use lasers to break up the ink into molecules small enough for the body to flush out. The treatments can last several weeks and cost around $300 each, depending on the intricacy of the design and amount of ink used.
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“I want two of them,” said 15-year-old Bruce Robinson, a student at Withrow High School. “On my right arm I want two praying hands with "I am blessed,' and on my left arm I want my name in cursive with a rose.”
As more and more students arrive with hearts, crosses, dogs, mythologic symbols and astrological signs on their skin, schools are moving beyond tattoo discussions in health class toward a full-fledged educational campaign.
“Part of it is that kids don't realize how permanent this is,” said Gene Kirchner, principal of Walton-Verona High School. “The enthusiasm of youth clouds the judgment. ... We don't want to overreact, but we want to take care of our kids at the same time.”
Jean-Chris Miller, editorial director of Tattoo Revue magazine, said teen-agers get tattoos because they're still considered to be somewhat taboo.
“They're still something to do to shake up Mom and Dad,” she said.
The industry that traditionally catered to grown men and few women began to expand to younger audiences as art students became interested in body art.
Soon, athletes, actors and musicians — teens' idols — began appearing on television and in magazines with inked arms, chests and ankles.
“What it translated into was, "Our idols have tattoos. We want to be cool. We want to be like them.' So they went out and got tattoos,” said Amy Krakow, author of The Total Tattoo Book. “It's a badge for kids to say they've lived through the period.”
Elizabeth Grause, superintendent of Ludlow Independent Schools, agrees that this is a trend of this decade.
“Unfortunately, this trend is going to stay with them longer than a beard or funny-looking haircut,” she said.
At Lakota West High School in Butler County, most of the kids getting tattooed are doing so to make a personal statement and not to rebel, said Pieter Elmendorf, assistant principal.
But many tattoo artists, regardless of the rationalization, refuse to work on the minors — with or without parental consent. Legality isn't the issue; it's practicality.
“We try to dissuade people underage from getting tattoos because their body is still changing, still growing, so the tattoo they get at 16 or 17 may not be in the same place when they're 25 or 26,” said Jason Morgan, who works at Skin Art in Erlanger.
Tattoo artists also say that teens' taste changes so quickly that today's tattoo dream may be a nightmare years later.
But being underage didn't stop Mrs. Pinto's daughter. She says the parlor she visited in Northern Kentucky didn't ask for identification, and she didn't volunteer that she was 17. She paid in cash and doesn't recall signing anything, effectively leaving no trace she had been there — except for the silver-dollar-sized sun on her lower back.
Part of the problem appears to be lack of enforcement of the state laws.
“Nobody really checks to make sure you're (checking IDs),” said Jason Brunson, a tattoo artist at Designs by Dana in Cincinnati. “I know there are some shops that do minors because I've heard of people getting tattoos at 16 or 17.”
Most parlor operators say they not only ask for IDs, but make photocopies. That way, if someone comes in with a false card, the parlor has proof employees didn't know the teen was a minor.
“I've only seen it happen once where someone slipped through,” said Devin Sheehy, a tattoo artist at Big Tom's Uptown Tattoo in Cincinnati. “She was 17 and had her cousin's ID. Her dad was a lawyer and made a really big stink about it before she finally admitted that she used a fake ID.”
When parents refuse to sign the release forms, there are several alternative routes: using a fake ID, visiting a parlor that has a reputation for not checking identification, or doing it yourself.
Health care professionals say the most dangerous option is to do it yourself.
Risks of an unsterile environment range from mild infections to Hepatitis B or other viruses transferable through blood.
“That's why I think the state laws should be 16 to keep kids from doing it themselves and going to underground dungeons and getting some disease,” said Joe Kaplan, president of the Professional Tattoo Artist Guild.
Changes in lifestyle, practical consideration and professional image concerns have caused many to reconsider the tattoos from their pasts. This has fueled a relatively new industry of tattoo removal.
Dr. Lori Crosby, a child psychologist at Children's Hospital Medical Center, said some of her teen-age patients regretted either the tattoo as a whole or its placement, prompting them to cover up the images while at work.
“A lot of people who come in have made lifestyle changes, and they're trying to get rid of the evidence of that old lifestyle,” said Julie Crossley, a technician at Lighttouch Vein, Laser and Hair in Cincinnati.
For now, though, Mrs. Pinto's daughter isn't ready to expunge the memory of her tattoo parlor visit.
“I don't regret it,” she said. “I just regret getting caught.”
Molly Harper contributed to this report.
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