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Dublin: the capital city of tattoo

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Ireland, home of Pierce Brosnan, Cilian Murphy and, of course, Guinness…but also world capital of tattoo.

If you want to visit the island to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, drink gallons of cider and go on beautiful hitch-hikes, it may be worth your while to consider getting a tattoo in Dublin too.

Through the last decades, the green city became famous in the whole world for its numerous tattoo artists.

Don’t worry, they are not limited to drawing clovers and leprechauns on your skin – on the contrary, they can showcase a great deal of creativity.

If you want to get something in Gaelic engraved though, make sure you double-check what it means. Don’t be that guy who asked for a “You will forever be in my heart” tattoo in Dublin and got a “show me the way to the toilets” tattoo instead.

You will find trustworthy – and a few Gaelic-speaking – tattoo artists at Black Hat Tattoo.

Dublin tattoo convention: a large-scale event

When the Dublin tattoo convention was created, a few decades ago, Dublin was a long way from becoming the capital of tattoo.

Back then, having a tattoo was still frowned upon by most people. Now, tattoos are mostly aesthetical, sometimes even spiritual. But a few years ago, it was an obvious sign showing that you did not belong to a good society. People who got tattoo in Dublin in those years usually were non-conformists, mavericks, and, as such, they were marginalized. It was a mark you got to show you were a soldier for instance, someone who travelled a lot, who didn’t belong.

Read here a beautiful story about a tattoo artist who covered up self-harm scars for free.

If today, diversity is mostly tolerated and sometimes even encouraged, it was not always like so. There was a time, a bygone era when originality was just not something people used to look up to.

Since then, times have changed, it seems. The annual Dublin convention is a huge success, getting bigger every year. In 2017, the attendance rate was so high they had to find a new venue to make sure everyone could fit in. It was the best time to get a tattoo in Dublin, because the best tattoo artists, not only in town but also in the whole country, were present. The convention was the perfect place to admire the great variety of patterns and techniques that you can find right now.

How can I find the best artist to get a tattoo in Dublin?

Now that you know why it is the world capital of tattoo, you must yearn for getting a tattoo in Dublin. But as there are so many parlours there that it can be hard to choose between them. So here is some advice to choose your tattoo artist.

Be – very – picky on hygiene

It is worth knowing that getting a tattoo is considered by doctors as a minor medical procedure. If you are looking forward to getting your tattoo in Dublin, don’t rush it. Make sure everything is very clean even in the display – it is a good clue on how the tattooist behave with their needles.

Need advice on discreet tattoos? Visit this page !

Ask around

Try to find people who already got tattoos in the parlour you’re looking up. They will be able to tell you how their tattoo held up through the years.

Check out reviews

Well, if you already tend to read tons of reviews before going to a restaurant, you should invest a whole lot more time in investigating tattoo artists, before getting a tattoo in Dublin.

Just A Guy Thing is a men's lifestyle magazine focused primarily at guys wanting to better themselves.

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