Albite the concept of body art is embedded with human culture for centuries, its popularity has taken it into the mainstream. The most popular form of revamping the body include body painting, tattooing, body marking, body piercing, hair micropigmentation among others. While most people consider body art for aesthetic purpose or individuality, many consider it for therapeutic, spiritual, acting/entertainment, or symbolic reasons.

Tools and Materials

A variety of tools are used for body art or its beautification. These include painting tools like brushes, dabbing tools like dabbers, tattooing tools like tattoo guns, scalp micropigmentation tools like pigmenting pen, body piercing tools like needles, etc.

Materials that are used for body arts mainly include tattoo inks, dyes, drawing inks, low-grade classes of inks, and a variety of cleaning agents. The extracts of Henna, a natural plant, are chiefly used for temporary beautification of hands and legs. Apart from plant extracts, ochre, the pigments used for tattooing may include antimony, cobalt-nickel, beryllium, lead, arsenic, etc. Among the additives used for painting include binding agents, surfactants, fillers, perfume, preservatives, and more.

Techniques

When it comes to the techniques used for body art that varies based on the type of body art. For body painting, body marking and tattooing, the artist uses the skin surface as the canvas and accordingly sketches the outline or layout of the design. Then dyes or pigments are applied by using varieties of brushes for body painting or marking, however, tattoo inks are deposited by means of tattoo guns and needles.

Given that tattoo art is for permanent purposes, a tattoo gun is used to introduce the pigments in the lower surface of the skin also known as the dermis layer. Similarly, dabbing is done using foam or a sponge for transferring a design onto the skin surface. Sometimes computerized design papers with permissible ink are transferred onto the body surface. The hair micropigmentation technique involves applying micro-pigments with SMP pens for replicating natural hair follicles onto the areas of the scalp that experiences thinning hair. Also, by the interlocking of natural-looking hair strands (synthetic fiber), a variety of hairstyling is done aka braiding.

Health Hazard

It is, however, intimidating that often body art results in various health hazards. Unfortunately, this happens due to sheer carelessness to practice health and hygiene which leads to contamination of the blood. Use of poor quality pigments, improper sterilization of tools/ instruments, and lack of best practices affect millions of body art enthusiasts’ from varied skin infections.

While the use of tattoo inks especially red, yellow, green, and blue dyes can pose severe skin allergies, the use of impure or contaminated inks and instruments can lead to skin infections like granulomatous reactions, eczematous hypersensitivity reactions, inflammatory reactions, photo-aggravated reactions apart from skin scar. Similarly, contamination of blood may cause blood-borne diseases like hepatitis B, HIV/Aids, hepatitis C, or even HIV/AIDS.

Prevention

The tattoo and piercing studios need to follow industry-standard health and hygiene practices to ensure the prevention of such health hazards. Some of these practices are listed below:

• Body art practitioners or tattooists should be well-versed in skin penetration procedures and must be license holders from local councils.

• The floor surface of the setting should be cleaned with disinfecting compounds and alcohol.

• Proper ventilation and sufficient lighting is a must.

• Basins for handwashing should supply clean, warm, sterilized water.

• Chairs, benches, tables used in the procedure room should be washed with non-toxic detergent and warm water and should be mopped with clean single-use clothes.

• All artists must wear disposal globes and those must be discarded after a single-use.

• The setting should have an automatic hand dryer and towels should be single-use.

• All instruments and tools used for tattooing or piercing must be sterilized by an autoclave machine.

• Only high-quality and industry-standard pigments should be used.

• Inks that are taken out of the container for inking purposes, the remaining part (if any) must not be poured back.

• The use of masks for artists should be compulsory.

• The use of waste disposal bins is also a must.

If you are thinking of getting your nose pierced, searching online for “nose piercings near me” can point you toward a center in your location. Since a nose piercing is a permanent body modification, it is advisable that you think carefully before going ahead with it and find out as much as possible about what is involved in piercing your nose. You should also only get the procedure done by a professional, experienced nose piercer.

History of nose piercing

Nose piercing is a body modification commonly seen in women in many traditional societies and has gained popularity with both women and men in some modern communities. This type of body modification has been around for at least 6000 years. There were various reasons for piercing one or both nostrils in women, such as an emblem of status and wealth, a wedding gift from a husband to a wife to signify protection, and a procedure to ease future childbirth.

Types of nose piercings

When you research “nose piercings near me,” you may come across information about the following three types of nose piercings:

Nostril piercing

Nostril piercing is the type of nose piercing that is most prevalent in traditional societies in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. While people may pierce one or both nostrils, the preference in India is for piercing the left nostril in women. There is a cultural belief that the left nostril is associated with the reproductive organs, and so a woman who gets her left nostril pierced will have an easier time during childbirth. It is common for many young girls to get a nose piercing in their early teens.

The piercing is also for the sake of beauty adornment. The woman might wear a ring, a stud, or a pin in different styles and sizes in the pierced nostril and, at weddings or festive occasions, might even connect a nose ring with a decorative chain to the left earring. Gold and silver nose ornaments are the most popular ones and some come studded with pearls and precious gems.

Nasal septum piercing

In nasal septum piercing, the practitioner will pierce the thin skin close to the septum separating the two nostrils. This type of nose piercing is frequent in traditional and some modern societies. In traditional communities, women mostly have a nasal septum piercing and generally wear gold and silver septum rings. Modern fashionistas may wear circular barbells and bead rings.

Bridge piercing

Bridge piercing is a modern invention and not a very common nose piercing choice. As the name indicates, it involves making a piercing in the bridge of the nose and wearing a barbell in it. This type of nose piercing can be risky as you are piercing close to your eyes, and you could get a scar or an infection in the area. It is also likely to be a painful procedure and may take longer to heal. Do not undertake it until you understand all the risks and only get it done by a professional experienced in bridge piercing.

How to care for a nose piercing

Whichever piercing you decide to get after researching “nose piercings near me,” it will be necessary to care for it for at least two months until it heals. The following tips may be helpful:

• While the piercing is healing, avoid getting it wet or touching it frequently with your hand.

• Wash your hands beforehand when you do need to touch the piercing.

• Keep the piercing clean by wiping it with a saline solution at least twice a day.

• Use an ice compress to soothe the piercing if it is swollen and painful.

• Try not to use a towel to wipe the piercing until it has healed.

• Do not blow your nose energetically while the piercing is healing.

• Do not adjust or remove the nose ring while the piercing is healing.

• Avoid smoking, taking drugs, or wearing make-up while the nose piercing is healing.

• If the piercing does not seem to heal fast and remains painful, consult your doctor and check if the area has become infected.

After the nose piercing heals, you can wear the nose jewelry of your choice in gold, silver, or other materials.