#1
She was 14 (legal age where I live is 18) and she wanted her boyfriends name above her eye.
She was willing to compromise to her hand though.
No.
#2
#3
-refused to tattoo a young guy’s entire face blue ( I was actually the counter person at the time, not the tattooer. But I spoke with the client. )he was maybe early mid 20s and thought his parents would ‘like him better that color’ - several weeks later we got a thank you letter from him.
- I refuse to do any N**i, gang, white pride, etc tattoos.
- I will refuse someone if they make me uncomfortable
- I will refuse to tattoo someone if they can’t give ‘enthusiastic’ consent- basically meaning I’m not gonna let someone husband tell me the tattoo their wife is getting, while she hangs back and doesn’t say a word.
Knowing how common tattoos are, it’s likely that you know at least one person who has one, or you even have one yourself. Well, unless you’re living in a very conservative environment. Still, even there, tattoos are getting more and more accepted with time.
You would typically think that places like the U.S. Senate wouldn’t be places where a tattooed person would work, right? But John Fetterman is proof that they can. He has been the senior United States senator from Pennsylvania since 2023, and he has openly spoken about the ink he has and what it means.
#4
#5
#6
Or, let’s take South Korea, which is known to be a rather conservative society. In the past, tattoos were associated with gangsters and criminals, but with time, they’re now more and more accepted as a form of self-expression.
A big thanks for this societal view shift in Korea goes to K-pop stars like G-Dragon or Jungkook, who both have over 20 tattoos and are proudly showing them off. And if you know anything about pop culture, you know what a big influence K-pop stars, especially such big names as these, have on Korean culture.
#7
#8
Also, another thing that kind of got in the way of South Koreans getting tattoos more often is the fact that only last month (September of 2025), it was allowed for non-licensed medical practitioners with a license to open tattoo parlors (the permission will take effect in two years). Before this, only people with medical degrees could legally do tattoos.
That means that technically, tattoos were deemed to be similar to a medical procedure, which might scare off some people from getting one. Now, with this new change, tattoo artists will be able to move out of the shadows, legitimating tattoos as valid self-expression even more.
#10
I turned drunk people away several times. Plus people wanting to tattoo their SO's names. Nope. Won't do it.
#12
Yet, even if you go to a legal tattoo parlor, it doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to get the tattoo you imagine. And we’re not talking about the fact that there’s always a risk that an artist might mess up the art, like in these cases. What we mean is that an artist can refuse to fulfil your idea.
It happens more often than you think. We have a whole list here today to prove this. It’s made by various tattoo artists sharing what kind of tattoos they have refused to do throughout their careers.
#13
#14
#15
From herpes on the designated area or an extremely poor design choice, each of them had a good reason to refuse service. And later it made entertaining stories for us to enjoy – a win/win situation, when you really think about it.
Has a tattoo artist ever refused service to you? Or maybe you've refused it to someone? Please, share all your stories with us!
#16
#17
I was getting a tattoo by a buddy of mine who was the newest guy in the shop he was working at. This meant he would get a lot of the quick one to two hour walk-in tattoos. Some younger girl came in wanting something on her hands. He told her what the size tattoo would cost but said he doesn’t do hands. He said he’d do it elsewhere but not on her hands. I asked him about it after she had left and his exact words were, “you gotta earn that s**t.” He also told me he doesn’t like doing feet either since it’s tough for them to look nice. Regardless of how great the artist is. Definitely made me realize that at the end of the day tattoo artists have their reputation to protect.
#18
He said that he “keeps getting lost because we keep moving houses” so wanted to get his address and phone number tattooed on the kids arm.
He couldn’t grasp the idea that they may move again, it’s incredibly stupid, the kid was completely too young, it’s still pretty stupid, phone numbers change and maybe if you weren’t dragging this kid through town by the arm telling each tattoo studio he was mentally disabled and so was a liability and instead paid a little bit of attention to your kid, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t want to not be around you.
Luckily I own the shop I work at so I got to explain to him what a dumb f***g idea this was and how he should probably re-evaluate his choices in multiple areas of his life.
#19
