I got tattooed and the experience was great. Be sure that not only your artist is good, but knows what he or she is doing. Getting tattooed is a way of life. There are no health risks provided the artist is following health procedures.

It is not standard in all countries and I think it should.

Never reuse needles, it should be sterile and packaged
Never get tattooed with barbed needles.
Never get tattooed if the artist does not clean their stations properly.
Never get tattooed if the artist uses their contaminated hands on anything that has not been bagged.
Make sure used ink caps are disposed.
If steel tubes are used make sure the shop have been inspected and passed the spore tests.
I prefer they used disposible plastic tubes. Which are a one time sterlized use. (Much safer I think)
Using disposible plastic tubes are a choice for the artist and it should be pushed to be used more in the industry, as it saves time from going through the process of cleaning and sterlizing the steel tubes.
And one last thing, if they use contaminated gloves and open the bottle of ink with those dirty hands and shake it to add more. Well don’t get it done by them.

It’s your life to enjoy, and tattooing is not bad at all! Just watch first how the artist works first. Just cause he\she is good does not mean he\she is CLEAN!!

Get tattooed the clean and safe way! Don’t try to save a buck, because the artist in the basement or shop down the road is cheap and dirty. There is no price out there thats worth the health of yourselves.

GET TATTOOED IN A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT! NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!