26 Tattoo Fun Facts

1. In the US, more women than men have tattoos.
2. However, women are more likely to get their tattoos removed.
3. A public defender named Travis Williams tattoos the name of every defendant whose case he loses in court on his back.
4. The longest tattoo session was 50 hours and 10 minutes. Ouch.
5. Johnny Depp has a matching tattoo with Damien Echols, an innocent man who spent 18 years on death row.
6. While getting a tattoo, your skin is pierced between 50 to 3,000 times a minute.
7. The majority of tattoo ink is made from metal salts instead of dye.
8. Until the 1970s, “nice girls” had to have marriage licenses and bring their husbands to get a tattoo.
9. The two most tattooed objects are angels and hearts.
10. There’s a US charity called Clean Slate Org that offers discounted tattoo removal for former gang members.
11. Americans spend around $1.65 billion on tattoos every year.
12. US sailors used to get tattoos as a means to prove their citizenship, so they wouldn’t be forced to join the Royal Navy.
13. Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist sued Warner Bros. after Hangover 2 used his trademarked face tattoo.
14. The most tattoos given in a 24-hour period came out to be a whopping 577, by artist Robbie Koch.
15. The FDA doesn’t approve of or regulate tattoo ink.
16. Russian prisoners used to get tattoos of Lenin and Stalin because guards weren’t allowed to shoot pictures of their national leaders.
17. About 40% of US adults between aged 26-40 have a tattoo. President Theodore Roosevelt had a tattoo of his family crest on his chest.
18. Black tattoos are the easiest color to remove.
19. The Macy’s logo is a red star because its founder R.H. Macy got a red star tattoo while working on a whaling ship as a teenager.
20. The oldest mummy ever discovered with tattoos had over 50, which he made by puncturing his skin and rubbing in charcoal.
21. The majority of tattooed Egyptian mummies were female.
22. Stephen Baldwin has a tattoo on his shoulder that reads “HM” for Hannah Montana. The ink was the result of a pact that he would be allowed to cameo on the show, which he never did.
23. Sean Penn gave David Spade a Calvin and Hobbes tattoo on his left arm.
24. When social security cards came out in 1936, some people actually got their numbers tattooed on their arms.
25. There’s a brothel in Germany that offers a lifetime of free service if clients get a tattoo of their logo.
26. Tribal tattoos are the most popular design requests.