Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

130 The Tattoo Relationship
As seen in the quotes above. regretful tattooees tend to feel personally
responsible for the unsatisfactory quality of the work they
have acquired. They blame themselves for choosing to patronize a
particular studio or tattooist prior to searching out information.
They also attribute their regret to having chosen the wrong body
location or design. not communicating their desires more effectively
to the artist. or not conSCientiously following the aftercare
instructions provided by the tattooist. This attribution of dissatisfaction
to errors of consumer choice encountered in tattoo recipients
is a feature of the post-purchase regret of service clients
generally. This tendency to blame the self is understandable given
the central importance of client-serviceworker interaction in service
delivery and the relative lack of information carried by consumers
of specialized services (see Zeithaml. 1984: 196-197).
Due to the relative permanence of tattooing. there are only a
limited number of options available to the dissatisfied tattoo consumer.
If he or she is disappointed with the technical qUality of
the work. the tattooee may return to the artist and request to
have the piece relined or recolored. Most reputable commercial
tattooists will agree-albeit reluctantly-to redo their own work
free of additional charge. The most common option chosen by regretful
tattooees-the one chosen by the interviewees quoted
above-is to have a "coverup" tattoo placed over the unsatisfactory
image. In many tattoo establishments covering up or extensively
reworking badly executed tattoos accounts for between 40
and 60 percent of the business. 5
Individuals who regret having chosen to get a tattoo have three
major options. Most simply. they can conceal the offending tattoo
with clothingor flesh-colored makeup. A far more extreme response
is seen when dissatisfied tattooees attempt to remove the design
themselves. 6 More commonly. extremely dissatisfied tattooees
seek the services of a dermatologist or plastic surgeon. The major
medical approaches to tattoo removal are dermabrasion. salabrasion.
surgical excision. and vaporization of the tattoo pigments
through the use of a ruby or carbon dioxide laser. Most of these
techniques result in unsightly scarring. and even the more sophisticated
and experimental laser removal cannot return the dermis to
its pretattooed appearance and texture (see Goldstein et al.. 1979).