Tattoos and Business - updated

Yesterday I got a request to take off a picture from this blog entry posted May 24, 2009 from the lady in the picture. She was misquoted by the NY Post and I certainly and more that willing to do that for her. I checked the NY Post to see the original article and they had removed the picture as well.

This post has been one of the most read in the short history of my blog so I am reposting/editing it without our this dear lady's picture and I am removing any mention of her. The least I can do!


I added a picture of Abby Sciuto from NCIS fame instead!

Below is an article from the NY Post. I was linked to it by Tim Callies. I found it interesting because on the one hand we are told it does not matter what other people think about what we wear or how we look as long as we are not fat. Right?

I have a few rules for my 5 kids that deals with college. I will pay for 8 semesters if you do not break these rules:

1. Only 8 semesters
2. If you fail a semester, I not long have to pay for future semesters.
3. If you get a tattoo, the money is turned off.

The first two I will not defend. Here is my defense of the last one. When you are older and on your own it is your decision and a tattoo will not affect how much I love you or accept you. But I will not have paid for it - you have no $ in college .... And the wisdom that comes at 23 or so is so much more than you have at 18 or 19. When you are out of school you are less influenced by a crowd and you realize some of the truth of this world that is mentioned in the article below. Enjoy the article! Here is another article that talks about the pain & cost of removal.

Abby on NCIS

Here is a newer  article worthy of your reading.

Another article from a business consulting firm.

By ANNIE KARNI.

Last updated: 4:01 am

May 24, 2009

Posted: 3:22 am

May 24, 2009

When the Dow is low, the "tramp stamp" has to go.

Dermatologists across the city are reporting a boom in tattoo laser removals, as body-art fanatics fretting over their professional image rush to erase their inky mistakes.

"People can't afford to handicap themselves be cause of a tattoo in a tight job market," said Dr. Jef frey Rand, founder of the Tattoo Removal Cen ter in Midtown. "We're seeing a huge surge right now in people getting rid of their tat toos."

Mobeen Yasin, a graduate student at Mercy Col lege, said the script tattoo of his first name creeping around his neck is a lia bility.

"I can cover it with a collared shirt, but if I turn my head it sticks out," said Yasin, a 22-year-old planning a career in finance or law enforcement. "I used to idolize rappers with tattoos. Now I don't want it to hold me back from getting a job."

One 34-year-old pharmaceutical salesman said the Irish flag and the wizard that decorate his calves were costing him clients.

"I play a lot of golf with doctors, and these tattoos really stand out," said the salesman, who did not want to use his name because he feared losing clients.

"I'm embarrassed. I feel like they judge me, and it's affecting my business."

Now he gets costly laser treatments once a month to expunge the images from his legs.

Erasing a tattoo requires monthly laser blasts, which break up the pigment dye under the skin.

Each painful zap takes about two minutes and costs at least $200 -- and a small tattoo the size of a human chin requires a year of treatments to burn off.

More than 45 million Americans have at least one tattoo, according to an FDA report. At least 25 percent of tattoo-removal clients are erasing the name of an ex from their skin, New York dermatologists said. More than half of their clients are women in their mid-30s.

Dr. Carol O'Brien, owner of Midtown medical center Smooth Laser, said she has personally lasered off about 50,000 tattoos in the past 11 years -- including some of the body art of rapper 50 Cent. Her clients range from doctors and lawyers to former gang members and inmates.

"I have at least 10 tears [scheduled to be removed] right now," said O'Brien, referring to the common gang marking of a teardrop carved beneath the eye.

The tear symbolizes having lost someone to a violent crime or having committed a violent crime, said O'Brien.