TEMPE, Arizona — The temporary shutdown is done and now those hoping to get permanent ink are headed back to tattoo parlors. 12 News spoke to the owner of Living Canvas in Tempe about what safety measures are in place for those looking for fresh ink.
Inside Living Canvas, surfaces are clean, faces are covered and customers like Raymie are eager to get inked.
"The masks are a big part I feel like, in general, I've always felt more sanitary in this shop, but the fact that they have more stuff in this shop like precautions makes me feel even better," she said.
Raymie was ready for her tattoo touch-up after sudden closures caused delays. But during the quarantine, shop owner Mark Walters wanted to make sure sanitization and safety came back stronger than ever.
"They use a special sprayer that adheres to all the surfaces with a chemical and then they swab it again, and they look at the swab again and run it through a machine and they show that the place has been sterilized," Walters said.
They're bringing in the big guns to eliminate bacteria beyond what they already do to ensure a sterile environment.
"We also clean all our surfaces with MadaCide, which is a chemical cleaner, which we're constantly doing throughout the day," he added.
And while wipe-downs and medical-grade gloves are standard in the tattoo industry, Walters went a step further with the full-blown disinfectant bath.
"We've never seen anything like this. We're used to dealing with blood and blood-borne pathogens but this virus is a whole new thing for all of us, so we just wanted to step it up and make it safe for everybody," Walters added.
Even if ink isn't your thing, safety and sanitation are keys to the reassurance we all need moving forward as a society.
MORE STORIES:
