Matt Lodder

Yeah, I mean, they're basically magic, right?

If you're a kid, it's like scribbling on your arm and you can't rub it away.

But the reason you can't rub it away is because the ink particles are suspended in your skin by your immune system.

So essentially, tattooing is a product of our immune system response.

All this today on Something You Should Know.

Hi, thanks for having me.

How are you?

Probably a mix of both, right?

Definitely more people are tattooed now than ever, but I think you'd probably be surprised how much tattooing was going on under people's clothing in the past.

So, you know, there's this constant cliche that tattooing is...

You know, this hot brand new thing, not just for sailors anymore.

Everyone's doing it.

But yeah, tattooers have been reporting that they've had much more diverse client bases for about 140, 150 years now.

Yeah, I mean, they're basically magic, right?

If you're a kid, it's like scribbling on your arm and you can't rub it away.

But the reason you can't rub it away is because the ink particles are suspended in your skin by your immune system.

So essentially, tattooing is a product of our immune system response.

You stick a foreign body into your skin layer.

Your body sends lots of what are called macrophage to try and remove that

particle into your immune system and if they're too big to remove which tattoo ink pigment usually is um it encapsulates that particle for you and it can't you know be taken away so it gets protected from your immune system and just sits there in the skin for you know decades as one tattooer said for life plus six months you know it'll be there as long as as long as you are and then a few months after as you rot away in the ground nice how lovely