Body art might be an ancient form of body enhancement, but it is embraced by many people. There are a lot of reasons why people support skin art or body art and these include body markings, body painting, and more. There are some who do it for the aesthetic while others engage for entertainment, medicinal, identification, symbolic, or spiritual purposes.
The Tools
There are various tools that are utilized for body enhancement including incising tools, dabbing tools, tattooing tools, painting tools, smearing tools, and the likes. Materials that are utilized for body parts range from special cleaning agents to tattooing dyes. For amateur tattoos, printer inks, Indian ink, and Pelican ink are some of the most popular writing and drawing inks. Dyes and pigments are used as colourants. Artists also utilize carbon, soot, plant extracts, and ochre.
Health Hazards
Body art also has its health hazards and the majority of them are caused by contamination of the instruments that were used. This usually happens when skin penetrating equipment such as electrolysis needles, lances, and extractors are not thoroughly cleaned and sterilized before using on another person, or when equipment that are single-use are not discarded right away after usage.
Another health hazard that is associated with body art is toxic and allergic reaction caused by impurities during the manufacturing process of dyes and pigments utilized for tattooing. Take note that tattoo inks are notorious for having aromatic amines with carcinogenic ability that can lead to cancer. Tattoo dyes, specifically blue, green, yellow, and red dyes can also trigger allergic skin reactions, like itchy rash on the tattooed body part.
Skin Problems and Aftercare
In addition to this, skin problems like granulomas or bumps grow around tattoo ink. Due to abnormal growth of scar tissue, tattooing can also result to raised areas or keloids. It might cause diseases that are blood borne, as well. For example, if the tools utilized to make the tattoo are contaminated with blood that is infected, the person can suffer from hepatitis B, hepatitis C, tetanus, or worst HIV/AIDS.
Precautions
Fear not because you can fight off these health hazards with several practical steps. For starters, make sure that the equipment and materials utilized to make the body art are sterilized. Chemicals should also be labelled properly to avoid accidental substitutions and must be stored in secured containers. Instructions on how to properly use them must also be followed religiously. Working areas used, like chairs, tables, couches, and benches should be cleaned, rinsed, and dried meticulously. More importantly, wash your hands to prevent infection.
Techniques
In terms of techniques, there are a lot that can be associated with body arts. The most popular technique used is painting. The process involves utilization of a brush to apply the paint, pigment, or dye. Other common techniques include printing, laser printing, incision, and more.
Body art is an interesting way to express your artistic side and it should be associated with healthy practices to combat health hazards in the utilization of instruments, materials, and tools.
Photo Attribution:
1st and featured image from https://pixabay.com/photos/adult-tattoos-body-art-dark-girl-1867485/
2nd image from https://pixabay.com/photos/tattoo-body-woman-human-poznan-1205704/
