Shanghai has a reputation with many Westerners it hasn't earned in the past 150-years. It's not a city where you'll get Shanghaid, with massage and tattoo parlors on every corner with opium dens in between. It's as modern and progressive a metropolitan as you'll find anywhere in the world, but that doesn't mean you can't find trouble. What it does mean is that you shouldn't go trying to find trouble, because like any city, you'll find it.
We've covered other kinds of trouble, like prostitution and scammers, but we haven't talked about getting ink work done, so let's talk about that.
If you're looking, you can find tattoo parlors, but there are many reasons to avoid them.
1 – If you think you're going to save money, you may be disappointed. Any first-world quality shop with modern safety standards and quality equipment will charge you as much as you'd pay back home.
2 – Unless you are fluent in Chinese, or your artist is a native English speaker, you run the very real risk of agreeing to something permanent, only to find that a subtle misunderstanding leaves you with something you didn't want.
3 – The materials and equipment, from needles to guns to the ink being used, can not be guaranteed for quality. Many inks used overseas are not FDA approved, and not for a lack of trying. When you notice the quality of the chair you're sitting in is well below expectation, consider the quality, attention to detail and concern for satisfaction that are likewise utilized in the inking process.
4 – No follow-up touch up work can be offered if you're flying out in less than a month. If you need a touch up, which happens, you're going to have to pay someone else back stateside to fix it, negating any savings you may have reaped originally.
5 – The biggest concern is health safety. The standards that govern Western tattoo shops is not only absent from businesses in China, but the regulations that do exist are enforced with lesser frequency than other businesses. Needle safety and blood-borne pathogens are new concepts in China, and although the risks of HIV or Hepatitis infection are low, that will come as no consolation if you become infected.
Fat Tony, a tattoo artist in Everett, Washington, explains the seriousness of the health concern. "When I was in the Navy, we were all warned against getting tattoos overseas." He told me that, "The health issue is a big deal because you don't know what kind of ink, if they reuse needles or how they even sanitize the gear."
"I've done many tattoos and piercings," Tony explains. "So that means I've used like two million different needles, and they all go in the [biohazard removal bin] when I'm done. Single use is the only way in this business. Two piercings on the same person? You may ask. Two different needles, every time."
The bottom line is that if you want a tattoo, you have to be smart and cautious. Fat Tony pointed out that, "The cost of amazingly good work in the states is so cheap when you think about the fact you're going to have it forever. It just doesn't make sense to try to save maybe $20 when you're going to have it forever and being cheap could cause you serious problems down the line."
