Check out local body art studios for tattoos, piercing and more
During Soviet times, a tattoo on a man’s hand signified that he had served a sentence in prison, and a young man with a pierced ear would constantly be reproached by elders and considered a hooligan or even a potential criminal. However, since Western fashion trends invaded Ukraine, wearing a tattoo and piercing your nose has become a regular element of style for both girls and guys.
Body as art
Body art is one of the oldest kinds of art. It even appeared long before architecture and music. Body art includes tattoos, piercings, permanent make-up, scarification and drawing pictures on the human body with acrylic paint and henna.
Scarification is one of the most extreme kinds of body art, and is done by creating pictures on the body by making wounds using a scalpel, which later turns to scars. Permanent make-up is, on the other hand, popular mostly among women, and is a regular service at most beauty salons. In this case, tattooing is performed to emphasize eyebrow line or outline the lips. The effect of temporary make-up usually lasts for up to two years, and then it disappears or becomes almost invisible, due to the fact that the skin on the face changes more quickly than it does on rest of the body. Temporary tattoos using henna are an ideal variant for those who like body art but are not ready to have a permanent tattoo. The effect of a tattoo made using henna lasts for about one month.
The most popular kinds of body art are tattoos and piercings. Tattoo is a special kind of art where pictures are made on the body with the help of a special needle, which delivers paint through the upper layer of skin to the middle layer. The oldest tattoos were found on the body of a frozen man called Otzi, who was discovered in the Alps by two hikers in 1991. According to scientists, Otzi most likely lived about 5,300 years ago.
In ancient times tattoos were used by people all over the world to accentuate their social status and affiliation with a certain tribe. Piercing has a long history as well, but it was more popular in Africa, the Americas and Polynesia. The most popular kinds of piercings are made by placing jewelry in punctures made in different parts of the body, and earlobe “tunnels,” which are big rings that are inserted through the earlobe. There are two ways of making tunnels. The first way is by stretching the earlobe by inserting bigger rings in it. The second way is to cut the lobe. In this case it is possible to put in a big ring at once. With the popularization of Christianity during the Middle Ages, the culture of body art was condemned as a sign of paganism.
Body art came back into fashion only in the 1950s due to a powerful change in youth culture. Over the course of time, the demand for quality body art grew, which lead to the appearance of special body art salons and studios, where professional artists could realize the most daring and extraordinary ideas. There are also plenty of private body artists, whose services are cheaper, but of course the quality of their work is much lower and you can’t be sure whether all the instruments are sterile. Besides, there are special risks that come with piercing. There are a lot of places on the human body that should never be pierced, or a person could face serious health complications. So as not to risk your health, have professionals create body art on you.
Tattoo from Planet or House
Having searched local tattoo and piercing options, I located three professional body art studios in Kyiv. One of these studios is Planeta Tattoo. The studio is situated in the center of Kyiv and offers a wide spectrum of services, including artistic tattoo, body piercing (Hr 30 to Hr 100), scarification (Hr 200 for three square centimeters), permanent make-up (Hr 650 to Hr 750), temporary henna tattoo (Hr 50 for a tattoo the size of a match box) and extreme hairdos (dreadlocks and African braids). You can find a full price list of all the services that Planet Tattoo offers on the studio’s website.
Planet Tattoo also provides training for wannabe body artists, so if you’re interested to learn tattooing or piercing, you can choose among several different body art programs: tattoo ($1,000 for 20 lessons), permanent make-up ($500 for eight lessons), piercing ($250 for six lessons), scarification ($300 for five lessons), and two master classes in tattoo ($500 for nine lessons) and permanent make-up ($400 for four lessons).
But in spite of the wide assortment of services that Planet Tattoo offers, they are not always the best quality. Two years ago I went to Planeta Tattoo to get my eyebrows pierced in three places. Instead of explaining to me that making three punctures at the same time may be risky – as I found out later – the specialist agreed to do it. After I had it done, my eyebrow became swollen and my piercings didn’t heal for a long time, so I had to take them out. Hopefully their services have improved since then.
For awhile I was thinking about getting a tattoo, but I couldn’t decide on the right image. After a lot of thinking I came to the conclusion that it would be better to choose an abstract image. This would relieve you from the necessity to answer stupid questions like “what does your tattoo mean?” There would also be less chance that you would grow tired of it. After choosing the picture, I had to pick the right studio to have it made at.
Because of my unfortunate experience at Planeta Tattoo, I decided to try a different tattoo studio. One friend of mine, who is a big connoisseur of tattoo and piercing, told me that one of the best body art studios in town is Art Studio Tattoo House. So I decided to check it out, and if I liked it, get my first tattoo there. I found out that Tattoo House is the biggest studio that specializes in body art in Kyiv. It consists of three tattoo studios and its services include tattoo, piercing, semi-permanent tattoo using henna and acrylic paint, and permanent make-up.
The prices for tattoo start from $50 and depend on the complexity of the work. Piercing is divided into two categories: common piercing (Hr 100) and extreme piercing. Extreme piercing includes ear tunnels, plane piercing and intimate piercing. The Art Studio owns a shop where you can buy jewelry and equipment for tattoo and piercing.
So I made my choice and decided to try my luck at Tattoo House. When I arrived and explained to Vasyl Kukharchuk, the tattoo artist, what I wanted my future tattoo to look like, the process of tattooing began. I expected that this procedure would be painful, but honestly, the pain wasn’t so bad and I didn’t feel much discomfort during the half an hour that the procedure lasted. Anyway, even if it had been painful, a popular proverb says that “beauty is pain.”
While tattooing, Vasyl gave me some advice about how to take care of my tattoo. First of all, you should not drink alcohol at least one day before tattooing and three days after. Alcohol increases blood pressure and prevents quick healing, and may even cause a scarring. The second thing you should do is protect the tattoo from sun rays with sunscreen, or tattoos will start losing their color. It is also bad to smear lotions on your tattoo while it is still healing, because microbes can multiply underneath it.
If you take care of your tattoo properly it will remain bright and beautiful for at least 10 years. Of course, with time it will loose color because of sun rays and because human skin continually renews itself. However, if your tattoo gets faded, you can simply go to a body art studio again and get it brightened.
One more reason why it’s preferable to have body art performed on you in a professional establishment, is that after a few days have passed and your tattoo heals up, you can go back to the place you were tattooed and ask the tattoo artist to make little corrections to your tattoo if you notice anything wrong with it.
Most importantly, before having a tattoo made you should make sure that the tattoo artist uses medical gloves and unused needles. And of course, you must be sure that the tattoo paint is high quality. Bad paint can cause an allergic reaction or even something worse. Besides, some people are allergic to red paint. “This may happen because red paint includes cadmium oxide. But this is only the case with one person out of 100,000,” Ihor Hruzhevskiy, a tattoo artist at U Deda (At Grandpa’s) studio told me.
Get pierced at Grandpa’s
At Grandpa’s is the oldest and most famous body art studio in Kyiv. The studio has been dealing with body art for the last 11 years and has gained recognition and respect among all body art lovers and artists. U Deda provides services that include tattoo, scarification, and all kinds of piercing except for male genital piercing. Also, Art Studio U Deda doesn’t perform pattern tattoos – all the tattoos created in the studio are unique and their cost is determined on an individual basis.
“Your tattoo lives together with you,” says Ihor Hruzhevskiy. “If you feel bad, or your mood is lifting, the tattoo reacts the same way.” The cost of piercing starts at Hr 150, but it may be discussed individually as well. Ihor also said that the biggest problem concerning piercing is the low quality Chinese jewelry that is being sold everywhere. This jewelry is made of cheap, low quality steel and can cause allergic reaction. One more problem is that people often don’t take care of their piercings the way they should.
The most important thing to remember if you decide to get a tattoo or try scarification is that the image that will appear on your body will stay with you forever. Of course, there are ways of removing it, but they are quite complicated. There are three techniques for removing a tattoo. The first one is called micro grinding, and involves cutting the skin off layer by layer with the help of a blade. The second way is by burning it off with a laser. There is also a technique which includes burning the tattoo off with an electrode placed under skin. All these techniques can’t fully remove a tattoo and leave deep scars. You will face fewer problems if you decide to get rid of a piercing. All you have to do is to take out your jewelry and the puncture will disappear over the course of time. The one problem is getting rid of ear tunnels. If the tunnel is 10 millimeters round, the hole won’t disappear. You will have to use one of two methods: plastic surgery or erosion. Both methods are almost painless and leave no scars.
Planeta Tattoo (13/42 Saksahanskoho, 289-9654. www.planeta-tattoo.kiev.ua)
Art Studio Tattoo House (1 Borysohlibska, 417-6470; 5 Hryshka, Alladin shopping center, 496-3120; 9 Basseyna, 235-2819. www.tattoo-house.com.ua)
U Deda (48 Shovkovychna, office 104, 487-7698. www.u-deda.com.ua)
