★ BILLET TATTOO ★ WILDWOOD TATTOO BASH ★ THE TATTOO SHOPPE ★ BUYER’S GUIDE FOR BODY MODIFICATION PROFESSIONALS NOVEMBER 2018 #198 USA $10.00 Canada $10.00 Publications Mail Agreement #40069018 staff NOVEMBER Publisher Ralph Garza ISSUE 198 ISSUE Editor-In-Chief R Cantu Account Executive Jennifer Orellana [email protected] 505-332-3003 Managing Editor 12 Sandy Caputo [email protected] Feature: SOM 20 No Ragrets Art Director 16 Jason Bourne [email protected] Hidden Los Ask Angel Angeles Contributing Writers 18 Elayne Angel David Pogge Art Gallery: Austin Ray Darin Burt Hidden Los Angeles Tanya Madden PAIN Favs 25 26 The Tattoo Feature: Executive Assistant PAIN Favs 22 Shoppe Inking the Deal Richard DePreist [email protected] 30 505-275-6049 Billet Tattoo Spotlight: Artist Profile 36 Body Art Solutions Nate Laird 34 9901PAIN MagazineAcoma Rd. SE Spotlight: Albuquerque, NM 87123 H2Ocean [email protected] General Inquiries: 38 [email protected] Best Business www.painmag.com Shows Card Contest www.facebook.com/painmagazine 31 Subscriptions: [email protected] Wildwood Tattoo 40 PAINful Classic: Printed in Canada Beach Bash Beer Recommendations Publications Mail Agreement #40069018 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 737 Moray St., Winnipeg MB, Canada, R3J 3S9 advertisersindex contacts 505-275-6510 Fax Baller Inc. DC Tattoo Expo 19 Needlejig 27 505-275-6049 Editorial Body Art Solutions 41 Painful Pleasures 5, 13 cover sponsor Body Shock 11 Papa Tattoo Supply 6 CHAMPS Trade Show 42 Papillons Tattoo Supply 7 Since 2001,H2Ocean H2Ocean has been the world leader DASH Medical Supplies 3 PPIB 24 in tattoo and body piercing aftercare. H2Ocean’s ointment based, and water based products heal your new tattoo or body piercing Desert Palms Emu Ranch Gloves 17 Rejuvi Labs 21 faster because we use unrefined mineral enriched sea salt hand harvested from the worlds most diverse ecosystem – the Red Sea. Eternal Ink 4 Shining Light Body Jewelry 43 H2Ocean offers everything you need to safely and Face and Body 35 Tattoo Goo 15 naturally heal your body modifications. From pain relieving and Vegan products, to a sunscreen specifically formulated to protect H2Ocean Natural Aftercare Front Cover, 9 Technical Tattoo Supply 44 your new ink, we’ve got you covered. Hempzilla CBD Tattoo Cream Inside Back Cover That’s The Point 14 H2ocean.com (866) 420-2326 Hulk Professional Super Bond 11 Tommy’s Supplies 2 See pages 9 and 34 Metal Mafia IFC-1, Back Cover Tulsa Body Jewelry 35 Micky Sharpz USA Villain Arts Tattoo Conventions Copyright 2018 PAIN Magazine. All rights reserved. Published monthly by Pain, Inc. 10 39 Subscriptions available for $39/year (U.S. funds). Send requests to address listed Nat-A-Tat2 21 above. Please mail address changes, and include label from previous issue. For all other information call (505) 275-6049. For submission guidelines, log on to our website at www.painmag.com. Pain, Inc. assumes no responsibility for contents herein. Opinions expressed in articles are strictly those of the writer. PAINMAGAZINE 8 owdy folks and welcome to the November issue of Pain Magazine! Only two months left of 2018 and we are rockin’ it Hover here! How has your year shaped up? With so many incredible new launches on the horizon for Pain… I’d like to remind you all of what’s up next as we close out 2018 and enter 2019. First, we all know that the Internet has changed the way people and businesses shop for and buy products, which is why Pain has elevated its online presence. In addition to being the industry’s number one printed publication, Pain is in the process of launching THE premier online buying source for everything this fine industry has to offer! This digital marketplace will include a fully functional shopping cart feature; and wholesalers/vendors will be able to promote, market, and sell products through a personal digital page. Pre-qualified, registered buyers (shop owners and professional artists) browsing the site will be able to access participating wholesaler pages and place orders directly from the Pain Mall Website. Only approved and registered buyers will be able to make purchases through your direct digital pages. Please call Jenn today at 505-332-3003 to create your customer profile! And the best part… It’s FREE! Next, Pain’s Favorite’s is a new section where professional artists can showcase their work ---- artists will receive a full page of dedicated space, which includes up to 12 images, a bio, headshot, and contact information. This is an opportunity for your work to reach the entire tattoo and piercing community…Think of it as your big chance to brag. We’ll send you some extra copies of the magazine too so you can display it in your waiting area or frame up your feature and hang it in your work station. You can even send one to Mom! Call Jenn today at 505-332-3003. Lastly, Pain will be launching a brand new website in early 2019! Stay tuned for advertising options and details. Hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day this November…and don’t forget to start planning for the biggest shopping day of the year…BLACK FRIDAY! O PAINMAGAZINE 10 PAINFEATURE “You’re going to regret that when you’re older.” It’s catechism number one of the tattoo industry’s detractors. But is it true? If you sit in at an afternoon bridge club or hang out in the stands of a high school soccer game, you’ll likely hear enough anecdotal evidence to solidify the statement as gospel. But anecdotes are why people try to cure cancer with castor oil. What does the actual data say? Is there any on the subject? As it turns out, there’s plenty. Academia is watching. To cut through the speculation, we sifted through 15—yes, 15—peer-reviewed, academic articles, plus a public poll on tattoos, covering their evolving social status and their psycho- logical effects on those who obtain them. The process was illuminating, but mind-numbingly tedious. Academia has a real knack for sucking the life out of otherwise interesting subject matter. So, how much merit is there in the fearful mutterings of child-rearing suburbanites? Statistically, not much. First, we have the numbers from a national poll conducted by Harris Insights and Analytics in late 2015. Of those surveyed who had tattoos, only 23% expressed regret over their choice. Of that 23%, the most common regrets were what you would expect. They got it too young, their personality has changed, it’s an ex-lover’s name, it’s poorly executed, it lacks meaning; basically, all the textbook faux pas actively avoided by self- respecting artists. It should be noted, however, that tattoo regrets have risen by 9% since 2003. But considering the rapid growth of the industry during that period, it should be expected. In 2003, the percentage of the populace with one or more tattoos was at 16%. By 2015, that number had jumped up to nearly one in three. Among the youngest demographic (18-24) the rise took an even steeper climb, from 13% in 2003 to 35% in 2015. No, we’re not mixing up proportions with raw numbers. continued on page 14 PAINMAGAZINE 12 painfeature continued We are merely suggesting that the intense spike in the numbers, especially among the young, suggests a hastiness in the populace, perhaps recklessly so, which again, leads to the reasons for regret cited by the survey. Equally compelling is a 2011 academic study conducted by Viren Swami of the University of Westminster in London. Swami recruited 82 clients from a London tattoo parlor and conducted three surveys, one preceding the tattoo, one immediately following, and one three weeks later. The surveys focused on the overall confidence of the subjects, self-esteem, body image, etc. The results extensively erode the authority of the conventional wisdom on the subject, if not directly contradicting it. “Indeed,” he wrote, “the present study found that obtaining a tattoo resulted in a significant improvement in self-esteem over a three-week period among both men and women. This finding is notable because it highlights the positive impact of obtaining a tattoo on an individual’s overall sense of self.” Tattoos and the Self, a 2012 study that focused specifically on women with tattoos, further illustrates a low recipient-to-regret ratio. Of the women surveyed, 87% stated that they were happy with their choices and planned to get more tattoos in the future. Those that did express regret gave reasons largely analogous to those previously cited, which as already noted, can be largely avoided through the current existing practices of quality parlors. But not even academia is completely capable of pure objec- tivity. There was more than one study in which the authors seemed to rely heavily on residual cultural bias. One article from South Korea, for example, viewed the growing comfort with tattoos as cause for alarm, based purely on previous unsavory associations the trade has now largely shed. “Continuous attention to, and interest in, the increased inci- dence of tattooing and piercing are necessary, especially in terms of public interventions for health education and health promotion, as these forms of self-adornment are associated with behaviours that pose a risk to health,” they concluded. Somewhere within the thought process was an arguable confusion of correlation and causation, as well as use of outdated metrics. Overall, however, even the most biased of studies failed to prove any significant negativity associated with getting a tattoo regarding the internal state of the recipient. There is still more ground to cover on the external perceptions—meaning other people’s view of a tattooed person—but even there, the numbers are moving in a positive direction.