Tattoo Parlour: 5 Things To Know About The Tattooist's Job
While tattooing is experiencing a real revival and is becoming more feminine, you may have a professional project to open your own salon. For all those who are tempted by this type of business creation, here are 5 things to know about the tattoo profession.
1- This job requires artistic and relational qualities
The first of the 5 things you need to know about being a tattoo artist is, of course, the qualities required to practice this profession.
If you have the dream of opening your tattoo shop one day, you should know that you must first possess artistic qualities and excel in the art of drawing.
In this field, the offer has diversified a lot in recent years and it is no longer enough to know how to tattoo hearts or names on manly biceps... Most tattoo artists today consider themselves artists and practice different styles such as dotwork, mandala or watercolor.
The most gifted tattooists design their own designs and manage to make their art a full time job.
In addition to the talent needed to practice skin drawing, you also need to have good interpersonal skills in order to build a trusting relationship with each client who walks through the door of your tattoo parlor.
Tattoo artists are indeed obliged to provide their customers with a set of information about the risks of infection, the healing time, the precautions to be respected in the weeks following the drawing, the foreseeable pain and the permanent nature of the design.
Listening skills are essential to fully understand the clients' wishes and provide a satisfactory result.
2- There is only one recognized training but it is not essential
The second of the 5 things to know about the tattoo artist profession is the existence of only one recognized training in France.
The tattoo artist diploma is issued by the French Tattoo School at the end of a 2-year course including mandatory first aid training (PSC1).
However, most tattoo artists become tattoo artists without going through this initial training. They follow a continuous training in apprenticeship in an existing tattoo parlour.
3- Opening a salon is subject to specific health regulations
If you have the ambition to open your own tattoo parlor one day, you must declare yourself to the ARS and respect specific health regulations.
The third thing to know about the tattooist profession is that it is necessary to be trained in the rules of hygiene and sanitation in an authorized organization before being able to set up on your own.
This mandatory training lasts 3 days. It can be completed by a training course with the equipment suppliers who propose to the tattooers to be trained with their material.
French regulations also require that tattoos be done in a room set aside for this purpose. It is possible to practice at home, in a room reserved for this activity, but not to tattoo in the homes of customers.
To learn more about the obligations to be respected, we advise you to inquire with the National Union of Tattoo Artists or SNAT (see link below).
4- A tattoo parlour is a business like any other
The world of tattooing is becoming more and more professional. What was once a passion or a hobby has now become a real profession. Several thousand people in France exercise the profession of tattoo artist part-time or full-time, as an employee in a salon or on their own account.
If you have the ambition to open your own tattoo parlour, be aware that you will have to make yourself known and gain a sufficient clientele for this activity to become profitable.
Your notoriety on Instagram in particular will be your best asset to make your business viable despite incompressible expenses (cost of equipment and renting a space). The salary of a tattoo artist generally varies between 1000 and 2000 € net per month depending on his notoriety.
You will also have to respect the steps of creation of company and to register you with the center of formalities of companies (CFE) :
- the CFE of the URSSAF for a sole proprietorship
- or the CFE of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for a company.
5- This profession is becoming more and more feminine
The last of the 5 things you need to know about being a tattoo artist is that this profession is becoming more and more feminized.
If you like drawing in general and skin drawing in particular, don't hesitate to go for it even if you are a woman! At the last Evian Tattoo Show convention, women made up 40% of the exhibitors, while there were only two in 2007.
Female artists have imposed themselves in a macho environment thanks to a style that does not follow traditional codes. For these tattoo artists, this art also allows to reappropriate her body and overcome her complexes.
This is particularly the case of the association Sisters of ink which helps patients operated on a breast cancer to embellish their scars with tattoos.
