There's a huge libertarian streak
that runs through the tattooing
community because we
don't like being told what to do.
Tattoos are a way of putting images
or words on your body that no
one else can control.
It's a way to sort of stake a claim
on yourself.
Paul Smith co-owns Red Stag
Tattoo in Austin, Texas.
He's been tattooing me since 2017.
I really like working with Paul
because he specializes in the type
of style that I really love.
I love American traditional.
When I first got interested in
tattooing, it was very like
generic millennial girl, hipster
type stuff that I was into.
Lots of fine, detailed line work,
the sort of things that you see on
Pinterest that are really trendy.
And Paul, very quickly and
kindly, but also with a certain
bluntness, explain to me that shit
doesn't age well.
That stuff is not nearly as
respected in tattooing world.
And he sort of showed me the ropes a
little bit more about what is
actually regarded highly in
this industry.
The tattoo industry was hit super
hard by pandemic restrictions, even
in Texas.
So Paul, what happened
to Red Stag Tattoo in March 2020?
COVID hit. We saw our business
sort of dissipate almost
immediately. People were scared.
So we we shut down our our
shop before it was mandated,
thinking that that was the right
thing to do
since everybody home.
And then a few months after that, I
guess we had COVID restrictions,
which literally shut us down.
And that was tough, that cost us
all of our shops savings, all of our
personal savings.
I own the business with a business
partner.
We both were kind of wiped out
financially.
How much money did you guys
ultimately lose out on in terms of
lost rent or lost sales?
Well, because we depend on
appointments plus people coming in
off the street to do walk ins style
tattoos.
It's a little bit of a moving
target. But if you add up all of
the employees here and what they
generally make, we probably lost
somewhere around a quarter million.
And yet Smith and his business
partner decided not to apply
for money from the federal COVID
relief program, which was rife
with fraud and in which the federal
government handed out about $800
billion to millions of small
businesses.
The bill ultimately cost taxpayers
between 170,000
and $257,000
for every job saved over 14
months of the pandemic, according to
a National Bureau of Economic
Research Working Paper.
I didn't get unemployment.
I didn't get anything. I just used
my own savings, as did
Caleb. And
yeah, we just made it work on our
own. We didn't
look to our landlord to be lenient
on us. We knew that they needed
rent, just like any landlord would
need rent.
So we just made it happen.
In May 2020, Texas
Republican Governor Greg Abbott
allowed hair salons, gyms
and other personal service providers
to reopen.
They took us out of that
classification and put us
in with businesses like
titty bars and things like that.
Ohio also excluded tattoo
shops from the state's reopening
plans, which may have been a
violation of their First Amendment
rights.
Both state and federal courts have
recognized tattooing as a
constitutionally protected form of
free expression, noted Reason's
Damon Root.
Tattooing started to shed its
reputation for degeneracy.
In 2005,
when the reality show Miami Ink
premiered on TLC, running for
six seasons.
Kat Von D, one of the stars of
the show, also became a successful
model and makeup entrepreneur
following her breakout role.
Today, celebrity icons like Joe
Rogan, Justin Bieber, Rihanna
and Lena Dunham are heavily inked in
tattoos, have become much more
accepted in other realms of the
music and film industries.
So you look at this democratization
of tattooing as a generally good
thing, or do you look at it as
something that perhaps waters down
tattoo culture?
Well, as a tattoo shop owner and
somebody who makes my money doing
it, you know, the more people that
want them, the better.
It's not as shocking anymore.
Maybe that's a good way, because I
every now and then, I will land in a
place where there are no tattooed
people at all.
And it's not a city like Austin
where everyone has tattoos.
And you definitely can tell that
someone is uncomfortable when
they're around you just, you know,
they don't understand.
It's still a little bit of a stigma
surrounding like like I don't have
my hands tattooed.
And that's for a reason of like, my
body's not totally covered up with
tattoos. And in the tattooing
community, it's there's like a
little bit of a taboo around
getting these ultra visible areas,
like hands and neck tattoos.
Again, I think it does depend on
sort of the generation that you're
attaching artists comes from, right.
Like the younger guys and ladies
coming into the
industry are going to be way more
open to allowing you to jump on to
your hands and neck before you have
sort of significant coverage.
But you wouldn't let me you go.
I probably wouldn't have I.
Haven't earned again. I haven't
earned my stripes, you know.
But, you know, it's.
The day you allow me.
To, like, have a little bit of
sort of a methodology
to the whole thing. You get your
body done first, and when you're
completely covered, then you go to
your hands and then you go to your
neck. You know, I personally tend
to stay away from the face
altogether, although I have done
some face tattoos, but it was
always on people that literally had
no other room left but their face.
Yeah, I know a few people now who
are my age who have little dainty
hand tattoos, but they have very
little other stuff.
And I just think, like, hmm, I can't
get away with that. Paul would never
know. Here is what we.
Call that, the hipster bodysuit.
You get your hands and neck done
first, and then when you put clothes
on, you look like you got a suit.
I'm proud of the floating sleeve
that Paul has helped me create over
the years, all of my tattoos have
been done in the American
traditional style.
They're more a reflection of my
enjoyment of the art form, its
purveyors, and they're bad ass don't
fuck with me, ethos.
It's not too painful.
I'm pretty used to this.
I honestly get pretty relaxed when
Paul's tattooing me and just
generally feel at ease.
I could probably fall asleep most of
the time. You know, you get really
in the zone and you're sitting for a
while.
And there's my newest sparrow.
What do you know?
Maybe the next 20 years of tattooing
look like.
You're going to see people sort of
start to infuse lots of technology
into tattooing.
I do know that they make a little
bitty sort of chip that you can have
put under your skin and it will
radiate a color.
They haven't figured out images yet,
but you can you know, you could turn
your shoulders green or something
like that.
I think there will be a certain
amount of people who will sort of,
you know, try to develop that end of
it.
The thing I really struggle with is
the whole idea of
a government official designating
what's essential and what's
non-essential. Because you sort of
don't know what brings people value.
And also, you know, it's not just
from the consumer side, it's also
like tattooing is an essential
thing for you in your life because.
Everyone's income is essential,
right? Yeah, everyone's job is
essential to them.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
It felt very unfair.
I got my sparrow
from Paul looking pretty good not
feeling too bad, pretty
fun being able to fork over a little
bit of money, sort of post-pandemic
after a lot of restrictions have
been eased.
And get something I'm really happy
with. I'm really hoping to come back
and figure up a little bit more.
And I'm hoping that coming COVID
waves don't ever shut down his
business again.