I have  ten piercings. I have seven tattoos- and it's not nearly enough. For the sake of this piece, I shall introduce myself as Carpathia. To give you some background information, let me tell you more about myself. I am twenty years old and grew up in a small town in the northern half of the United States. And not unlike many many many people of the world, I love tattoos and piercings. 

 I would guess that there are more people that are educated in tattoos and piercings than people who are not, but that would be only a guess. So on behalf of those that don't know, or maybe those that do and just want to do some reading on the subject, I'm here to answer a few questions in reguards to the art of body modification. Such questions are what are tattoos and what are piecings? Why do people do this to themselves and what history lies in the past of the practices? What are the most commonly seen tattoos and piercings, and what taboos lurk in the corners of this topic? What are the dangers and how does one go about taking care of their beautiful wounds?
       According to thefreedictionary.com the definition of the word tattoo is 1. A permanent mark or design made on the skin by a process of pricking and ingraining an indelible pigment or by raising scars or 2. a design made on the skin with a temporary dye such as henna or ink. The same website defines piercing as 1. To cut or pass through with or as if with a sharp instrument; stab or penetrate or 2. to make a hole or opening in; perforate. By definition, both of these practices would make those with a low pain tolerance wince, and yet still, thousands of people in the United states can claim a piece of this body art as their own. Tattoos can be modeled after virtually anything. Piercings on the other hand are slightly more complicated. There are many differect types of piercings. Some commonplace piercings are the earlobe piercing, nose piercing, eyebrow piercing, naval piercing. A few others include the anti-eyebrow piercing (a personal fav of mine), the helix piercing, the tragus piercing, the rook piercing, the lip piercing, and the monroe piercing. I consider those piercings to be standard. They are small, and the easier type to take care of. More elaborate piercing types include the corset piercings, tongue piercing, and intradermal piercings.

 Intradermal piercings are piercings where a plug is placed under the skin where the tissue underneath surrounds and grows around it. The top half of the piercing can be screwed on and off with ease. Just today I encountered a girl at the grocery store with an intradermal peircing just below her eye. One little speck of shiney on her cheek.

 Another friend of mine had her collar bone done up in the same fashion.

When it comes down to it, both tattoos and peircings offer an extremely wide variety to help people express themselves with their own unique combination. That is what I love about the idea. No one has all the same tattoos or piercings in the same combination or in the same location on the body. I'm unique in that expression. 

 So why do people get tattoos and piercings? It would be a good idea to start in the subject of history, where you'll find tattoos and peircings have had many purposes in many cultures. Some, such as the Polynesian or Somoan tribes, used tattoos to relay social status thoughout the tribe. Also in such cultures, tattoos were shown as a rite of passage for the youth. In Inuit and Borneo peoples, women would cover their arms and faces with tattoos to show tribute for their marital status and attributes to being a good wife. In Roman and later Japanese lifestyles, tattoos were placed upon the forheads of their slaves to show information reguarding the property themselves. In ancient Japan, it is said that the full body tattoo was a political strategy used to show rebellion against the idea that only the wealthy and noble should wear fine clothing. The year I was born (1991) a man dubbed Otzi the Ice Man was found between the countries of Austria and Italy. The mummy was dated to be about five thousand years old, and they found he had a total of 57 tattoos. Each was placed particularily on his joints and lower back. This has led scientists and researchers to believe that they were placed there are a way to treat arthritis. Piercings were also used for similar purposes. Roman centurions would display pierced nipples to show sign of their virility and courage. In ancient Egypt, naval piercings (the belly piercing) was a sign of royalty,

 and commoners were not permitted to sport the piercing. The African Dogon, Kudi, and Lobi people would pierce the nose, lip and ears in order to keep bad spirits from entering the body. In India, a nose piercing was thought to signify if a woman was single or married. The ancients had all kinds of ideas for their body modification. Whether it was to protect them from evil, cure pain, show status, or tell a story, the idea can be traced back all over the world. Today we have a different but still a strong view on piercings and tattoos. I looked up the interest tattoos on facebook and found that 657,439 people Liked it. I did the same for Piercings and found the number of Likes to be 294,097. That is on facebook alone. I took the liberty of asking around and I didn't find many people who weren't open and enthusiastic on the subject. I found that most people believe that tattoos should have meaning specific to the person and that it would be foolish just to get a tattoo because the feel it looks nice. Many responded that they want to express themselves through their body art and that is a vivid and extreme way to do that. Some people get tattoos as a memorial for loved ones, others a reminder of who they are or what they believe. 

   Tattoos and piercings in combination and style form a unique work of art on the body. But oftentimes people share the same ideas about what tattoos they are interested in. Some common tattoo ideas are astrological symbols, memorials for loved ones, crosses, wings, roses, stars and tribal designs. I myself have a tattoo of an orange rose on my stomache, and I know four people that have roses as well.

  

We share a common theme but our tattoos differ in color, style, and size. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the extremely different tattoos. I would take the liberty to explain some of them, but a picture is worth 1000 words:

      In the world of tattoos and peircings, there are also many ideas that can be catagorized as taboo. To tattoo pictures of drugs or sex related topics is considered bad form in the business world, especially if easily seen.

 A tattoo of another person's name can be controversial as well. Names of our children or spouses is becoming more common in the tattoo community. The problem with tattooing names is that they are permanent, where our feelings about the person named may not be. If you are considering such a tattoo, think carefully. Some piercings can be considered taboo as well. I met a man here in my city that had his tongue pierced a couple times. He then took the liberty of going to the doctor's office to have it split, so now he speaks with a slight lisp, but can twist and almost tie the two halves of his tongue. Genital piercings have become attractive to the youth of today and are most often done to increase sexual pleasure. Common piercings among these are the Prince Albert, Jacob's latter, the Hood piercing, and the nipple piercing. I'd say these are taboo because not only would they probably hurt terribly (IDK) but try talking to the older generations about it and they would probably look at you like you're crazy. lol. 

      Both tattoos and piercings can be dangerous. If done incorrectly, you could experience nerve damage, discoloration, infection, or rejection. It is for these reasons that professional tattoo and body piercists must be trained and use sterile equiptment in a professional setting. They have been taught exactly the places to avoid and know what can be done and what shouldn't. These guys make their living out of helping people fill the need of body art expression. Let them do it!!! Experts will tell you to use sea salt water to clean your piercings, and tattoo artists will tell you to use tattoo goo to keep your tattoo from getting dried out. DO NOT USE RUBBING ALCOHOL OR PEROXIDE ON PIERCINGS! DO NOT PICK AT YOUR TATTOOS!!! Those are big deals. by putting rubbing alcohol or peroxide on peircings you kill of the bacteria your body needs to heal the wound efficiently. You can dry the area out and make irritation due to dryness occur. By picking at tattoos, you pull the ink out of your skin with the scab you are pulling at. In the end you could be left with uneven tones or perhaps blotches in the work you were hoping to be so proud of. Don't ruin your body art because of your impatience. A good way to clean a piercing-  Fill a bulb syringe with warm sea salt water and putting the tip to the one side of the piercing. Squeeze firmly (make sure you have a towel handy). The water pressure from the syringe will clear out infection and icky stuff. My piercings healed beautifully. 
       Well I hope you've enjoyed reading my little page here. But now is the fun part. So what is your opinion on tattoos and piercings? Do you have any comments or questions? Any good stories about the subject? I'd love the feed back. Thanks for reading. Until next time-

                                                                                    Carpathia