The moment you see someone with a tattoo, the common question that comes to your mind is does it hurt? Almost every person including celebs is adorning a tattoo on their bodies. Right from the famous soccer player David Beckham to our Bollywood stars like Akshay Kumar, Eesha Deol and many others. Tattoos are indeed the latest fad among most people. Before going for a tattoo, you must be curious to know what tattoos are, how they evolved and whether it hurts and so many other doubts...

Tattoos have never developed overnight. They have been existing since decades. What have evolved are the designs and the methods. Let us find out how...

What are Tattoos?

The word tattoo evolves from the word Tahitian "tatu" which means "to mark something." It has been arguably claimed that tattoos have been existing for the past 12,000 years. A tattoo is a deep puncture made on your skin using ink. Tattoo inks are made of pigments like carbon, calcium, lithium and others which are mixed with solvents like alcohol or water.

The ink is injected in the second layer of your skin which is called as the dermis. The dermis cells are stable and this makes the tattoo a permanent mark and last longer. It does hurt but not much. It feels not more than an injection shot.

History of Tattoos

It is believed that tattoos were done by the Egyptians as early as 300 BC. The Egyptians used animal design tattoos to decorate their bodies. The tattoo fever took on China around 1045 BC.

In Japan, tattoos were used to mark criminals. They used to mark first offences with a line mark around the forehead; a second crime would add an arc to the line, a third offence with another line. Together, the markings would form the Japanese structure for dog.

Slowly, with time, the Japanese escalated the tattoo into an aesthetic art form. Only those from the royal family were allowed ornate clothing. The middle class started decorating their bodies with tattoos. A highly tattooed person in a loin cloth was considered as the best and great dressed person.

The Greeks used tattoos to communicate among their spies. Tattoo markings helped in identifying and ranking the spies. All this while the skin was punctured first manually and then ink was applied using hands.

In 1891, Samuel O'Rtiely patented the first tattoo machine. It was based on Edison's electric pen which punctured paper with a needle point.

In 1960s, tattoo gained lot of popularity. Countries like America and others had many tattoo parlours opening that offered unique designs and used modern methods like disposable needles to avoid health hazards for their clients. The designs have also undergone lot of changes considering the people's demands as per the fashion trends.

Since then tattoo market has just been growing and it is very popular among all age groups. What you have to do is get the right tattoo artist to help you get the right design and at the right place of your body.