Tattoos

[Obo]

Can anyone confirm or perhaps deny whether it is illegal in the UK to have a tattoo either above the collar or below the cuffs (i.e. on your hands and face)? (oh and is the plural of Tattoo, Tattoos?)

[rekstout]

It may be a condition for members of the armed forces/police but I doubt it would be so for the general populace

[mikewith]

Can't find the info on the Net -- I must be slipping ;-( -- but I can ask at my local parlour tonight... where the artist has spiders' webs and teardrops all over his face but does NOT offer tattoos over the collar or cuffs. Whether this is a legal issue, or as may be the case a question of self-regulation (or regulation by a Tattooists' Professional Body) he'll be able to tell me. I know that in Hawaii, only medical practitioners are allowed to taattoo the face (ie corrective tattoos rather than cosmetic).

[WendyW]

No it is not illegal but the majority of Tattooist do not do it.

[andy hughes]

A lot of tattooists avoid these areas because they cannot easily be covered, and like it or not, people do make instant judgements about peoples' appearences, espcially with regard to tattoos. Some pubs and night clubs will not admit patrons with visible tattoos - it may be unreasonable to make such judgements, but it's society, and a lot of tattooists are mindful of that fact, and restrict their activities accordingly.

[DavidUK]

Why post an "answer" when you obviously haven't a clue (rekstout!)? Anybody can guess. Please don't clog up "theanswerbank" unless you have a useful answer or you have something amusing to say (or you want to complain about somebody else's useless message, like me).

[GeordieSteve]

It's legal but you'll have to find a tattooist that doesn't care about doing places like that or you will have to be known on the tattoo scene and been involved in tattooing for a while