Hey everybody and welcome back to
another episode of Tattoo Talk Tuesday
So if it is your first time joining us on the QKND channel
Tattoo Talk Tuesday is our interactive talk show where I take
user submitted questions and try to lend my experience to you guys
as a tattoo collector
So it's a little bit of a unique episode today because
this question didn't come from me virtually but rather
in person, from my long-standing lifetime-lifelong bestfriend
So we went out to eat last weekend and she said, "Hey, I have a topic for your show."
So I was like 'Oh shit, I'm listening!"
So my friend, Justine
You may have, you may know her if you've been following the channel for a while
She's had little clips here and there
And in one episode I pretended to be her to talk about having tattoos on the feet
Cause I don't have any
So I pretended to be Justine
So Justine, she works for Wawa
Which is an awesome company in kind of...
the east coast!
So Wawa is kind of like an east coast one-shop deli kind of thing
corner store, superhero to all of us
If you've ever talked to anybody who has been to Wawa
They will tell you how much they love it
So Wawa is a pretty cool company
and they were hosting a blood drive
So, you know, my friend Justine she went through the motions
to sign up for the blood drive
and then they told her because of her tattoos, she wasn't able to donate
So her and four of her other coworkers
were not allowed to participate in the blood drive
So she said, "Hey, what's up with that?"
So I thought I would take that and kind of run with it today
and talk to you guys about how being tattoed
and pierced can limit you when you want to donate blood
in America
I checked out some online research
and if you have been tattooed in some of these under regulated states
you are not allowed to donate blood with the American Red Cross
if you have been tattooed within a 12-month span
So Justine who had been tattooed in August couldn't participate
These are the states where, if you've been tattooed in these states, you cannot donate blood
So those states are Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada
New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wyoming
So I had a little bit of knowledge about this but not so much
"research knowledge"
When I was 16, my highschool had a blood drive
and if you are 16, at least in Pennsylvania, you could participate in the blood drive
with your parent's permission
So I remember I brought home a permission slip
my parents signed it, I got permission from my teachers to leave class
so I could go to the blood drive, got to the blood drive
signed- filled out the paperwork and realized one of the questions was
'Have you been tattooed?'
And, you know, I was too eager to be like
'Ya, I'm 16 with a tattoo of manatees!'
and they told me, they refused me
and I remember I was kind of scared to give blood anyways
so I was like "No sweat"
That's the only experience I've had and it was 10 years ago
So it kind of slipped my mind
But then thinking about how Justine wanted to participate with her company
and do something kind of heartfelt
obviously they were doing it to generate awareness and do something cool
I wanted to dive in a little more and figure out exactly what's up
So according to the American Red Cross
the big worry is about Hepatitis
Hepatitis being spread through needles being reused
Whether it be through piercings or tattoos
That is something that is obviously a concern to me being a resident from Pennsylvania
You know, you wonder, why isn't this as regulated as other states?
Why is it in Philadelphia I may receive a tattoo that could contain Hepatitis?
So pretty worried about that
I reached out to the tattoo artist who you may remember from the convention vlog
Akira. And I messaged him because I was like "Hey, you know"
I have my own feelings about being tattooed in Pennsylvania and stuff
But then when I realized New York was on the list
I was like "Uh oh"
I primarily get tattooed in New York and I don't understand what these relaxed regulations would be
versus being tattooed somewhere else
For example, Virginia isn't on this list and when I was tattooed in Virginia
my experience didn't vary from the times I'd been tattooed in New York
So I wasn't really sure what the differences were in regulation
So I reached out to him and said, "Hey you know, I'm gathering research for this video I'm making
about being unable to donate blood if you've been tattooed in these states"
and thanks again for your help by the way
He said that the government has a very misunderstood conception
of what exactly happens in tattoo shops
On the Red Cross' website it says that one of the big things
and the big concerns about spreading Hepatitis through being tattooed or pierced
is ink and needles being reused
However I have never been to a tattoo shop where they reuse needles
and at the end of my experience you know they didn't take the little ink
unscrew it, and dump it back into the bottle
That would be insane
I don't know anyone who's received a tattoo under that kind of regulation
or misregulation
And I've literally never heard of that before
Maybe in school when we were talking about sharing needles and what could happen
You know they probably showed us a film where it was like
"Uh I'm gonna get a tattoo! You wanna get one, too?" "Yeah, bud"
And I don't anyone in my company who would be excited to get a tattoo with a reused needle
I think, at least in my experience, I usually sit with my tattoo artist while they're setting up their equipment
you always see them peel back tattoo needles right out of the new packaging.
And even when I'm watching tattoo artists set up, they're very careful about their ink
They put on gloves to fill up their little ink cups
they use paper towels to take the lids off
Everything is very sterile and very contained
So I asked Akira like, "What is the misunderstanding?"
And he said that the government really doesn't have much of a grasp with what goes on
in the tattoo shops
You guys might remember two or three years ago
a lot of tattoo artists were encouraging people to sign a petition against
New York implementing single-use needle cups
and ink cups
which would be like getting a thing of Jello
it would be an ink cup and ever single time you would use black, pink, blue
you would have your little thing, peel off the lid, and that would be your single-use ink
This was going to be implemented because of, like I said, the spread of Hepatitis
However, that's not really what happens in tattoo shops
You get the little cup, you fill it with the ink, and sometimes
you'll see tattoo artists who have like 7 or 8 blacks all in a row
because they know they're going to use them all
and there is no, like, dumping it back into the bottle at the end
So Akira said that this all just comes from misunderstanding
and government really has no idea what the fuck is happening inside of these tattoo shops
and he said it's almost better this way
because if it was even more regulated then that big call-to-action
like two or three summers ago about the single-use needle (single use ink cups)
would either damage tattoo artists because single companies would
monopolize this single ink whereas tattoo artist already have the ink they know and love
or that fit their sort of lifestyle
I mean, I don't know if the company who makes the single ink cups uses vegan ink
So then it's like, where do I fall in all that?
Do I have to figure out, I have to go to a different state now to get tattooed
because a single state has this weird regulation?
So, like he said, it's kind of better that the government doesn't know
or is a little clueless
But then it falls back to this
Tattooed people from these states can't donate blood
However, this brought up a lot of questions
and I'm sitting here asking them to my cat
But, but you have to wonder
You know, in February I made that whole video about Philadelphia Tattoo Convention
But there were tattoo artists from all over the world there
There was a tattoo artist from Paris
and it's like, if he learned how to tattoo in France
went through all of their regulations, and that's where his apprenticeship was
and that's how he understands tattooing
and those are the regulations he knows, if he comes to Philadelphia Tattoo Convention
and gives someone their very first tattoo, is that the same thing?
Would they still be able to donate blood?
Their tattoo happened to happen in Philadelphia PA, one of the states where you can't donate blood
however it was given to somebody who was taught regulations somewhere else
So these are all questions, you know, you would bring up
You go to donate blood and here you are asking, "Um, a french guy gave me my tattoo so..."
"Here you go, take it it's yours!"
I don't know
It leaves me with so many questions, but while I was doing all this research
the most information I found was the same five sentences
cut and paste over and over and over again
However when I was talking to Justine, she said that the only time that
blood will be taken people who've been tattooed in the lesser regulated states
would be in a state of emergency
So if there was a big accident in Philadelphia and a lot of blood was needed
then the tattooed people could come and donate blood if there was a state of emergency
But then it's like, okay...
So if there's no emergency you can't have my blood cause it might have Hepatitis
But I promise it doesn't
But if there's an emergency you can have it and we'll just cross our fingers
that no one double-dipped the ink
So it's a little confusing and a little...
You know the wording is really undefined and really confusing
and honestly what's the difference if I was like "Oh all my tattoos were done in Virginia
"But I live in Philadelphia"
They'd be like "Great! Have a seat!"
I'm not really sure
So it's one of those things where it's like, is this just an old kind of stereotype?
that like things that happen in tattoo shops are sketchy and people are sharing needles
and people are double-dipping their ink and all of this stuff?
It's a little confusing
I'm not saying that these practices don't happen
Your local sketchy tattoo spot isn't any more or less regulated than your favorite tattoo shop in New York
I don't know
But hey, if you happen to be tattooed on Ink Masters, guess what?
You can't donate blood anymore
Buy wouldn't you say that all the tattoos practices that happen on that show
are very heavily regulated?
They even have a medical staff there the entire time
But, because it was done in New York state a person can't donate blood
In my lifetime there has only been one year I have ever been able to donate blood
Because in Pennsylvania, 16 with parent permission, 17, 18, 19 you can donate on your own permission
But I've been tattooed in either Pennsylvania or New York at least once a year since then
and it's hard because you see things happen on TV, tragedies happen where they encourage you
to donate blood and you're like "Yeah, take my blood if it's the least I can do. I wanna help people
I'm seeing things happen and I wanna help."
But I can't
Even if I do my research and go to the best tattoo artist, the cleanest shops
I know that all the regulations are there and all the precautions are available
I still can't donate blood
Something for you guys to think about
Let me know, do you live in any of these states that I mentioned and did you find out something new?
Did you just find out you can't donate blood?
Have you donated blood anyway and maybe someone didn't ask you?
It's strange because like Justine said, don't they test the blood that they receive anyway?
Very confusing
Who knows?
And is someone without tattoos just as likely to have similar things?
I don't know
Let me know if you are from another country
Let me know what your kind of blood donation procedures are
If there are any laws attached to having piercings and tattoos
Or is it just you receive a test, if you're clear to go you can donate
Let me know
Thank you guys so much for all the support for Tattoo Talk Tuesday
Give this video a thumbs up if you are here for Tattoo Talk Tuesday and you are interested
Thanks you guys for submissions always and thank you to Justine and Akira for helping me
with the information to make this episode all come together
I think this was a really interesting topic and something I really didn't know about
until Justine told me, "Hey I couldn't donate blood the other day. It was such a bummer"
Thank you guys so much and until next time! Bye