Tattoos are forever. Except when that Southern Cross on the shoulder, dolphin on the ankle or ex-boyfriend's name on the bicep starts to look a little tired a few years on.
Being tattooed is the new normal with one in five Australians (19 per cent) having one or more tattoos, according to a study by McCrindle research last year. For females the number is even higher with 24 per cent inked.
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Tattoo removal session
Watch as a woman gets her unwanted tattoo removed at Expired Laser Studio. Raw vision.
It's a growing sector, with IbisWorld valuing tattoo and piercing services at $160 million for 2016.
The research group says the prominence of tattoos among celebrities, particularly sports and movie stars, has helped change consumer attitudes so tattoos are now perceived by most people to be normal.
Not all of them are works of art
However the increased amount of ink means tattoo regret is also on the rise. McCrindle's study found 27 per cent of Australians with tattoos regret it, and 15 per cent have begun or looked into tattoo removal.
IbisWorld projects tattoo removal services will grow as a proportion of industry revenue over the five years through 2021-22, as tattoos begin to fall out of favour.
Hilary Quinn, owner of Melbourne Tattoo Removal, says she is one of the "old guard" of tattoo removal businesses and has seen an influx of competitors in recent years keen to cater to those who want to get rid of their tattoos.
Quinn has been in business for nine years and says when she started out there were only five tattoo removal businesses while now "you couldn't count them".
She says tattooing is firmly "back in fashion", leading to steady demand for tattoo removal.
"There are just more people being tattooed and therefore more business," she says. "You would be shocked by how many people get tattooed on their 18th birthday."
But Quinn says people who get a tattoo at 18 often don't want them any more by the time they are 21 or 25.
You would be shocked by how many people get tattooed on their 18th birthday.
Hilary Quinn
"They might not have gone off tattoos but have gone off the design they have," Quinn says. "A lot of them say to me 'I didn't even give it much thought' when they got their tattoo."
Jeffrey Heimann, owner of Laser X tattoo removal in Sydney and Canberra, says there has been a "huge uptick" of interest in people looking to get into the tattoo removal industry.
"More people have realised 'Oh these tattoos don't get better looking with time' and not all of them are works of art to begin with," he says.
"I think people are trying to outdo each other and going for more shock value so there's more necks and faces and hands getting done than ever before."
Not easy or cheap
Removing a tattoo is not an easy or a cheap process, requiring from one to 25 treatments.
Prices start at $1000 to remove a small tattoo while removing a "sleeve" costs around $5000.
However both Quinn and Heimann says tattoo removal is not a road to riches. There is increased competition, with many tattoo parlours and beauticians now offering tattoo removal as well.
Barriers to entry have been removed as IPL lasers cost between $10,000 and $15,000 in comparison to the top line Q-switched tattoo removal machines that cost from $150,000 to $300,000.
However Heimann warns the cheaper machines and untrained operators can lead to problems.
"It's really the skill of the operator that determines what you get," Heimann says. "Getting proper training is very limited. Plenty of people that come to us are scarred and say 'Can you do anything?' All we can do is remove the remainder of the tattoo, we can't remove the damage that has been done."
Quinn says the cost of the equipment and setup far outweighs the amount of money being made by operators.
"The companies building the machines are not willing to compromise on the cost of the machine and trap people into expensive service contracts," Quinn says.
"Now if anyone rings and asks me I say 'Don't do it for the money, you might lose the lot'."
Quinn says turnover from her business is "comfortable" but not many tattoo removal businesses make more than $100,000 a year.
"You're not making a million dollars out of it that's for sure and I think that's what some people think," says Heimann who puts Laser X's turnover at under $200,000.
Second thoughts
Despite the lack of financial incentive, demand for both tattooists and tattoo removalists looks set to continue to rise.
Australians aren't stopping getting tattoos, they're just having second thoughts about leaving them there permanently.
"It's still more popular to get them than it is to get rid of them," Heimann says.
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