Some say they’re repulsive and agony to get done. So why are there so many women having tattoos?
WE VISIT THE UK’S MOST FAMOUS TATTOO PARLOUR TO FIND OUT WHY GETTING INKED FOR LIFE IS GROWING MORE POPULAR WITH WOMEN.
Gripping the side of the bed, Maria Wilson winces in pain as the tattooist’s needle darts in and out of her skin. Luckily f or t he s queamish HR administrator, she can’t see the pinpricks of blood oozing out.
Slowly, her lower back is being marked with black ink that will still be there when she’s a pensioner with saggy skin. But at 21 that doesn’t bother her.
Maria is the typical ink-seeker, inspired by a culture of celebrity tattoos – from model Cara Delevingne’s lion on her finger to Cheryl Cole’s ever- expanding array of flowers and slogans – and she is here today for a revision of an old tattoo, which she had when she was just 16.
“I really like celebrity tattoos. Cheryl Cole has a big red rose on her back and I wanted that one so much, but it wouldn’t go down too well at work. So I’m having my current Celtic design redone,” she says.
No longer the preserve of sailors and truckers, it is thought that at least a fifth of adults in the UK have tattoos somewhere on their body.
And the trend just keeps on growing, especially among women – even the Prime Minister’s wife Samantha Cameron has one.
And no one knows more about the female appetite for skin art than the godfather of tattoos, Louis Molloy, who has marked everyone from David and Victoria Beckham to Wayne Rooney and Sir Bradley Wiggins.
While many find tattoos repulsive, this once edgy, niche activity is now almost as mainstream as pierced ears and with long waiting lists at many of Britain’s tattoo parlours, business is booming.
“Twenty years ago I had very few female clients, but these days it’s 50/50,” says Louis, 50. “Lots of girls want things they see in celebrity mags, such as the trendy hand tattoos. The hand is a bad place for a tattoo as it becomes easily worn but all I can do is give them my advice,” he adds.
Despite his A- list clientele, Louis’s studio is in an unassuming, even scruffy, building, tucked away on a back street in Middleton, Greater Manchester.
With a year- long waiting list, there’s always a queue at his studio.
Maria, his first client of the day, had been saving up for a car but decided the £400 tattoo was more important. This is her first session – complex tattoos are always done in stages and her tattoo will take another two sessions to complete. The legal age in the UK for anyone who wants a tattoo is 18 – a limit Louis strictly adheres to. However, Maria was 16 when she had her first.
“I told my mum I was going shopping, but I headed straight to the local tattoo shop instead. I just said they could choose one for me. “It was a Celtic design from a book in the shop. I wish I hadn’t got it now but I’ve plucked up the courage to have it changed,” she says.
A fan of tattoo- mad Jodie Marsh’s body art, she confesses to spending hours scouring the net for what she considers are “nice” celeb tattoos.
“I would like more one day, but I don’t want to be one of those people with a mismatch of tattoos all over their bodies. But I never say never,” she says.
Two hours of agony later she leaves with throbbing red skin but insists she’s happy. Next week she will come back to get a rose and skull added. “It is definitely worth it,” she says. “Lots of my friends have them now, so it’s not unusual.”
It is mid-morning but working under bright fluorescent lights in a windowless room, it’s easy to lose track of night and day. Working six days a week and 12 hours a day, Louis’s clients come from as far as Australia and the USA. His stint on reality show London Ink made him more famous and he recently launched Forever Ink – his new range of skincare products f or tattooed skin. After 24 years in the business, Louis has surprisingly few tattoos himself, apart from several colourful swirling tattoos all over his arms and chest.
“I have been asked for everything, from a barber’s pole on a man’s penis to Nazi swastikas on faces – and just get on with it. Society can be very judgmental about people with tattoos and look down on them, but it is changing,” he says.
Louis’s clients include barristers, lawyers and doctors. His walls are littered with thank-you letters, including a signed shirt from Arsenal player Theo Walcott that reads “many more to come I hope!”.
There’s no time for lunch before 40-yearold Sheena Selby arrives. Looking nervous, she lies down and shyly produces a picture of her Weimaraner dog. Louis tapes it to her leg as he begins work.
Sheena, a warehouse manager from Bury, Greater Manchester, explains: “This is my 40th birthday present to myself. Our dog Molly died a year ago. She was such a big part of our lives, so coming here today is