Wait 24-hours Before Getting a Tattoo: DC Proposal

A recent DC proposal released on Friday mandates a person to wait 24 hours before getting a tattoo or body piercings. This is just among the provisions composing the regulations package of the Health Department of DC. This proposed regulation received negative reactions from body art enthusiasts, artists and enterprisers as well.

Most people get tattoos not for plain fashion sense but for deeper reasons and spend time thinking of the design. Some designs are there to commemorate their deceased loved ones or to as a form of self-expression.

On the other hand, the new policy will hurt the tattoo businesses since almost 50 percent of the earnings are from walk-in customers. Again, most of the clients have already decided on the body art long before they come to have the tattoo done and telling them that they need to go back after 24 hours after enlisting is disappointing.

The city officers on the other hand insist on the importance of this new regulation. Health Department spokesperson Najma Roberts explains to the Washington Post that the council intends to protect the public and prevent serious risks to their health. These covers required vaccinations for Hepatitis B, biohazard training for the industry artists and practitioners, and stringent standards on needles, gloves, inks, and other tools. It will also ban minors or those under 18 years old to have tattoos and piercings (except for ear piercings).

Roberts further said that the waiting rule will also prevent alcohol-intoxicated consumers from having permanent body piercings or tattoos that they may regret afterwards. In such states of mind where the mind is impaired, they cannot be held responsible for what they do and the city officials want to make sure that when they make a decision they are in their right mind and not ask the next morning what just happened.

If this practice is standardized, this will allow sober people to get their piercings or tattoos when they want. Overregulation may also jeopardize the profession and force the industry underground. This will make it less safe for those seeking body art services.