For some individuals, deciding to get a tattoo is a spur of the moment decision; but for others, careful deliberation has been made as to exactly what they want and where they want it placed. One thing that is not often carefully thought through is where they are going to go to get it? Many people go to a friends house rather than a local tattoo shop. This often is a friend of a friend who is trying to make a name and get started and has less experience than they probably tell you. Your best bet is to hit the local tattoo shop in town. Just as with any service industry (nail, hair, and tanning salon) the owners and operators can choose to ignore safety regulations, so it is important for your safety that you become your own advocate and only patronize those local tattoo shops with obvious safety compliance. How do you know you are at a local tattoo shop that is compliant to safety measures? When you arrive look around, while many have rock music playing and many other (often heavily) tattooed customers looking around, waiting or visiting, the local tattoo shop should first and foremost be clean. Secondly, when they get started, it is critical that as they are gathering their supplies, they are pulling tools directly out of a sanitizing device, where they have often been boiled to kill any germs; or that they open a new packet of disposable tools.
