So you go to your local tattoo shop and you want to get a tattoo. You have an artist draw it up or pick it off a wall. You pay and are about to get in the chair. Your artist tells you to remain standing to put your tattoo stencil on and you see him grab a stick of deodorant. Usually speed stick. Let me be perfectly clear. While this will apply a stencil IT IS NOT CLEAN OR ASEPTIC.
The Break Down
Let me go a little more in depth. Skin prep for a tattoo should be a step by step process. First the skin should be cleaned with some sort of soap or alcohol based product. Then the skin has to be shaved in most cases. (There may be times where shaving is not necessary.) Here is where the problem lies with using deodorant for applying a tattoo stencil. When the skin is shaved it becomes irritated. In the process micro pores get opened up and sometimes cut. When applying a tattoo stencil to freshly shaved skin we are placing it over a thousand little open wounds. Some visual and some not.
So the skin has been shaved. The artist pulls out the speed stick and lathers it up then applies the tattoo stencil and put the cap back on the deodorant and proceeds to set up. While most people won’t think about it, you just had other peoples blood, cells and contaminants on your open wound. Even if the skin was in tact when they applied the tattoo stencil and no ones funk got into the skin. The artist is about to break your skin with a group of needles. In doing so they are going to push said funk into your skin. I would also like to add that simply wiping the top layer of the deodorant is not sufficient to sanitize the deodorant. Once its contaminated there is nothing that can be done about it.
What to Do About It
So what do you look for you ask? It is simple. Something that does not come in contact with a clients skin and can be disinfected. Some artists prefer green soap. Our shop uses Stencil Stuff for the tattoo stencil process. It makes for an aseptic technique when dealing with the client. The nozzle is plastic so it can be cleaned with any tuberculocidal wipe or even sprayed off after each use. It also does not come into contact with your client. Its applied to a clean glove and then applied to the skin for the tattoo stencil to take hold.
Small things like this can help prevent infection and should be looked for when you are about to get tattooed. Aseptic technique starts before you ever get into the shop. It is on your artist to keep things clean. However it doesn’t hurt to know what you are looking for.
We are not sponsored or endorsed by Stencil Stuff. Or any other tattoo stencil applicator.