Shoulder tattoos date back thousands of years to the Pacific and African tribes who used them as a means of identifying an individual’s tribe and rank within a tribe. hey were also used to commemorate battlefield accomplishments. There is even some thought that shoulder tattoos should represent whatever the wearer wants to carry through life, be it a relationship, a belief, or even a favorite flower.
Shoulder tattoos are great for those who want or need to cover their tattoos periodically, for work, school, or to keep a significant other happy. Unlike upper arm tattoos, shoulder tattoos don’t require you to wear long sleeves in the middle of a heat wave in order to avoid offending people, and unlike back tattoos, they don’t require you to go topless in order to show them off. A tank top is ideal.
If you’re concerned about the level of physical discomfort associated with getting a tattoo, the pain is usually proportionate to the amount, or of lack of, padding on the area being tattooed. Shoulder tattoos are generally considered, after upper arm tattoos, the least painful.
Another advantage of shoulder tattoos is their longevity. One of the realities of getting tattooed is that the location of a tattoo correlates directly to the length of time it keeps its brightness and definition.
The two most important factors you should consider in positioning your tattoo for a long and eye catching life are how much sunlight it will receive and how much bending it will have to endure.
The less sunlight and tanning your tattoo is forced to undergo, the better, because this sun is a notorious fader of tattoo ink And the less bending it experiences, the less likely its inks are to “migrate,” and cause blurring of its details. Having shoulder tattoos, however, does not excuse their wearers from protecting themselves with sunscreen.
Another advantage of shoulder tattoos is that, as well as being some of the longest lasting, they are some of the easiest to do, and therefore, some of the least expensive.
Location has always played a part in the cost of a tattoo, because some parts of the body are simply harder to access and work on, and will require frequent touch-up work, which is usually free.
The biggest positive abut shoulder tattoos, however, is that the contours of the shoulder lent themselves to some truly stunning tattoos.
Floral garlands; shooting stars; never ending Celtic knots and dragons; or abstract tribal designs; in fact, any tattoos to which you’d like add a three dimensional look are all perfect ideas for shoulder tattoos!
