There are so many interesting and curious facts about tattoos out there, so we gathered just some of the most popular ones to share with you.

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If you know of any radical or fun fact about tattoos be sure to share with us below.

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Interesting and Curious Facts About Tattoos

1. According to a survey, there are more women than men tattooed in the United States.

According to a new survey released by the Oxygen Network and Lightspeed Research, 59 percent of women have actually tattoos compared to 41 percent of men, . What’s more, 40 percent of females made their tattoo experience a shared one, often getting inked with good friends and loved ones. See more from the study here.

2. When you get a tattoo, depending on the size of it, your skin gets pierced between 50 to 3000 times per minute by the tattoo machine.

3. The philosopher Confucius protested tattoos since he propagated that the body is a present. However, China’s stone sculptures depict guys with tattoos on their faces as early as the 3rd Century BC.

 

4. Full body tattooed men.

The second most tattooed men has tattoos on 99.9 % of his skin, with leopard skin patterns. He is from Scotland. The most tattooed individual is 100 % tattooed. Lucky Diamond Rich (born Gregory Paul Mclaren in 1971) is “the world’s most tattooed individual” (a title formerly held by Tom Leppard), and has tattoos covering his whole body. He holds the Guinness World Record as of 2006, being 100% tattooed. Check the top 10 most tattooed people in the world here.

5. A tattoo is engraved in the second layer of the skin, the dermis. The cells of the dermis are more steady than those of the skin.

6. ‘Tattoo’ is among the most misspelled words in the English language.

7. ‘Holiday’ is the name given to the area where the color of the tattoo has actually faded.

8. Laser surgery is the most efficient tattoo removal technique available nowadays. Black is the easiest color to get rid off as it soaks up a greater number of laser waves. Green and yellow are the most difficult to remove.

9. Rocker Tommy Lee entered the Guinness Book of Records when he became the first guy to be tattooed mid air in 2007.

10. Urine was sometimes used to mix tattoo color.

11. Not all skin on the body is the same and, therefore, will not take tattoo pigment the same. For example, tattoos on elbows, knuckles, knees, and feet are infamous for fading.

12. The first professional tattoo artist in the U.S. was a German immigrant, Martin Hildebrandt, who arrived in Boston in 1846.

13. From the mid-1960s to late-1980s, the Soviet Union imprisoned as many as 35 million people in prison camps.

14. Tattoo artist Vinnie Myers creates 3D nipple tattoos for breast cancer survivors.

15. Modern ink may contain pigments from ground plastics, such as Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which creates extremely vivid tattooing with clearer, longer-lasting lines that are resistant to the fading and blurring of traditional inks.

16. The oldest physical body in existence, the Iceman (3300-3200 B.C.) has the oldest tattoos that have ever been preserved. He has a black cross tattooed on the inside of his left knee six straight lines on his lower back, and parallel lines on his ankles, leg, and wrists. When scientists X-rayed his body, they discovered joint disease under each tattoo, which suggests the tattoos were meant to relieve pain.

17. The Greeks learned tattooing from the Persians and used tattoos to mark slaves and criminals so they could be identified if they tried to escape. The Romans learned it from the Greeks and would tattoo “fug” on the foreheads of slaves for “fugitive.”

18. The most famous of all criminal tattoos are worn by the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza. They wear intricate and traditional designs in a full body suit that can be hidden entirely from view by clothes as an inescapable sign of their commitment to their gang.

19. Across the world, even the smallest tattoos can have significance to the prison population. For example, in the U.K. a single dot on the cheek indicates the wearer as a “borstal boy.” Three dots between the thumb and forefinger prove gang membership among the Latino population of U.S. prisons.

20. Samuel O’Reilly invited tattoo machines around the late 19th century. He based his design on the autographic printer, an engraving machine invented by Thomas Edison. They have not changed much since then.

21. Research shows that adults with tattoos are more sexually active than those without tattoos. Additionally, research shows that adults who have tattoos are more likely to engage in riskier behavior.

22. “Old school” tattoos are those typically inspired by Sailor Jerry. They are usually humorous, brightly colored, and nautically inspired. Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins was indeed a sailor before he was an artist and he sailed the world. He was inspired by the art and imagery of the Orient. He regarded his tattoos as the ultimate rebellion against “the Squares.”

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