Well, glow in the dark tattoos are actually two very different kinds of tattoos, depending on what the main material is that they are made from, besides the ink. They can be a phosphorus-based ink that is basically invisible during the day, making them the perfect type of tattoo for professionals who don’t want their tattoos to show up during the day. But at night, they glow with their own fiery light. The other kind of glow in the dark tattoo is a UV tattoo, called this because of the Ultraviolt light that is needed to see the tattoo. Although these are both true glow in the dark tattoos, there are differences between the two that are important to know if you are considering getting one.

Glow in the Dark Phosphorus Tattoos

An ordinary tattoo is usually a metal-based pigment suspended in either a vegetable or plastic medium. This is what gives them their distinctive look, and the colors in tattoos are achieved the same way. However, for a glow in the dark tattoo that is completely invisible during the day and only shows up at night, a different medium is used. For a tattoo that will simply glow without the help of black lights, phosphorus is added. The addition of the phosphorus ink can be either for the entire tattoo, or it can be added as a special effect in a current regular tattoo.

But the thing that anyone getting a glow in the dark phosphorus tattoo needs to stay aware of is that phosphorus is a known carcinogen and has some safety concerns attached to it. There is no known phosphorus solution that the FDA has yet approved as safe. Because the side effects of phosphorus when it comes in contact with skin are severe blistering, severe pain and rashes, some tattoo parlors will not even consider working with them.

UV Glow in the Dark Tattoos

The other alternative if you want a glow in the dark tattoo is to use UV inks, some of which are even approved for use by the FDA as safe to use. These tattoos will only show up when exposed to UV light or what is commonly called “black light”, making them perfect for clubbing. Because a wide range of items glow under UV light, including club soda, vitamins A and B and even white cloth, it is easier to find a safe material to make these inks. In fact, there are glow in the dark UV tattoos with colors such as blue and red as well as the usual glowing white.

So you see, when you ask just what are glow in the dark tattoos, the answer is a little more complicated then you would think. The basic idea is pretty cool, that you have a tattoo that is completely invisible until night. Most of the glow in the dark tattoos I have seen take advantage of the “spooky” nature of them and have a goth skeleton theme to them. You have to admit – having a glowing skeleton on your arm that only shows up at night or when you are under a black light can be pretty awesome looking!

But then there were some paparazzi pics of her that definitely showed off her knuckles, and this time it looks more like the gal has indeed gone and done the deed.

But the celebrity tattoo bonehead move to beat them all came when boxing champ Floyd Mayweather tweeted pics of his 13 year old son’s new tattoos, which are not small or insignificant.

Of course, part of me is not exactly pleased that Mayweather has bad enough judgment to allow someone like 50cent to “babysit” his son. Yes, I have heard the word –they are good friends and both have sons and have been seen hanging together a lot lately. Doesn’t change the fact the kid is just 13. In fact, without the father to give permission, whoever did the tattoo should not have done it.

But I guess if you are a tattoo artist and 50Cent walks into your place wanting a bunch of tattoos for his friends son, who am I to deny that bit of glory?  With any luck, the things will fade in a week or two. But they look pretty permanent in the pics I have seen.

And finally, Dallas Bradan has to have gotten one of the silliest tattoos for any celebrity tattoo I have seen for a while. Dallas is the pitcher for the Oakland As baseball team. He had recently done a commercial shoot with famed baseball pitcher Rollie Fingers and must have been really impressed by the guy. Not long after the shoot, there he was showing off his latest tattoo – of Rollie riding a dolphin over a rainbow. Not sure what the significance of the dolphin and rainbow are – but aren’t they cute?

So it may only be January but I think this may be the biggest year yet for a new batch of weird and wild celebrity tattoos. I guess only time will tell!

City Claims Health Risk

When Anderson applied for a city license he was told that tattoo parlors posed a health risk in the city and so Hermosa Beach did not allow them. When asked to clarify, they stated that the “open wounds” that are created in a tattoo could lead to infection and disease. In support of their claim, the lone tattoo parlor inspector in Los Angeles County said that he saw many violations and plenty of tattoo parlors that do not follow proper hygiene rules.

9^th Circuit Ruling Protects First Amendment Rights

When Anderson took the battle regarding tattoo regulations to the courts, he spent three years fighting the city-wide ban on tattoo shops. Finally the court case came before the Court Circuit of appeals that ruled Anderson was entitled to his First Amendment right of freedom of expression. The court ruled that it still applied to tattoo parlors and that freedom of speech should not be abrogated simply because it was on a person’s body.

Today several tattoo parlors have opened in Hermosa Beach. Although the city was not happy with another tattoo parlor that opened with a punk rock concert that it was not licensed for, it looks like tattoo parlors are here to stay. And that suits tattoo artists Johnny Anderson just fine.

The publisher is EasyRider and since it is a company that primarily publishes magazines about the world of street motorcycles, it is pretty easy to see how they happened to decide on a couple of tattoo magazines. The fact of this relationship is seen in the publication, which centers more on the lifestyle aspects of bike-riding tattoo folks then it does on the “artsy” aspects that other tattoo magazines often focus on. They also publish two other tattoo-themed magazines: Savage and Flash.

The upcoming March issue is a pretty good example of the type of articles they tend to carry – with the emphasis on street culture (Barcelona and Will Rise Tattoo) but some spotlights on bands with tattoos (Eve to Adam) and of course the usual Tattoo Parlor Spotlight that has become a staple of many tattoo magazines.

All in all, it isn’t the most flash tattoo magazine out there, but it has some solid articles every issue, always shows off some of the reader tats and even has contests for the best tattoo. If you were going to get another tattoo magazine to add to your collection, it is worth checking out. Hint: if you get one and like it, get the subscription as they give you a big discount over the newsstand price.

Royal Tattoos

The one person who really made tattooing popular amongst the upper class however was when the Prince of Wales visited Jerusalem in 1862 and had a tattoo done at the time to commemorate the visit. It was a tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross and he not only got the tattoo done, but his sons when they were older had the same tattoo done by the same tattoo artist. We know this because they wrote home about it at the time. Both of them, including the Duke of York who was later to be King George the V were said to have even more tattoos, as they also had tattoos done while they were in Japan. This is because their father instructed their tutor to take them to the master tattoo artist Hori Chiyo while they were there. The truth is, many royal houses in Europe embraced tattoos. For a look at just how many, be sure to read this reproduction of an article from a magazine published in 1898 that names just who in the many royal houses of Europe had tattoos. You may be surprised.

Tattoos and Crime

Another area where tattoos began to surface in Europe in the 19^th Century was for the identification of bodies. The most well known case was of a body found in Berlin in the 1850s that started a discussion of the use of tattoos to ID the dead. The publicity that surrounded this particular case created a storm of discussion on the use of tattoos for identification amongst the various law enforcement groups in Europe. Criminologists and forensic scientists soon were brought into the discussions with police officers and the talk continued throughout the century. A record of these discussions on why people got tattooed, what various tattoos could tell us about the person (such as their country of origin) and the various techniques employed for tattooing are still a valuable resource for tattoo historians today.

As you can see, the use of tattoos was much more widespread during the 19^th Century then our fuzzy concept of “Victorian Europe” could possibly comprehend. Royalty had numerous tattoos, the underclass used them as a source of pride and many police experts looked upon tattoos as an identification device for unidentified bodies. All in all, it seems that there may well have been a fairly vast underground world of tattoo art during the 19^th Century in Europe.

But the tattoos that pretty much floored me the other day were ones I saw in a fashion blog I was checking out for a client. It seems that a couple of gals decided it would be fun to create some temporary tattoos that you can sport on your boobs. On your ta-tas. I don’t know- what do you call them? Whatever you call them, I am not so sure that I would want even a set of temporary tattoos on them.

All I know is I tend to avoid t-shirts that have slogans placed strategically across “the chest” so why on earth would anyone want to put a couple of slogans on the skin? But it has gotten some good press across the web, well heck here I am writing about it! If you really do want to check it out, the site and I think company name is Ta-Ta Toos (okay- I will admit that is kinda cute) and you can see if this is what you want for your next birthday party right here.