Dear "Body Language", I have never had a tattoo. I will never get a tattoo, so it is impossible for me to say if this is a good or bad tattoo shop. I didn't want to mark ANY stars, because I have nothing to compare to, and therefore I really cannot objectively rate a tattoo shop in comparison to other tattoo shops. However, the review site is set up in such a way that you must mark at least one star. My son, who is legally an "adult" at 18, decided against my warnings to get a tattoo. He has a friend at the Body Language Tattoo parlor and was excited to be getting a cheaper price, and from a person he trusted. I never was permitted by him to meet the tattoo artist, or see any "certificates" or educational awards of the artist. He's 18, so I don't get to give or deny my kid permission to get a tattoo. All I could do was to try to get him to educate himself about the health risks of tattoos, and the investment of cash that is NOT buying food, college tuition, clothing, laundry, gifts, charity, or his own medical needs. His parents pay for all those things. He read a few websites, and felt confident that he was grown ass enough to do want he wanted. So he did. He got a perfectly generic horoscope symbol about the size of a deck of cards on his shoulder; not a memory of a deceased loved one or friend, not his mother's or first love's name, not a creative design that covers an ugly scar from a childhood surgery or injury, not even a mysterious Asian symbol that might say "Peace", but probably actually says "soy sauce" upon further study. EVERY human being has a Zodiac symbol associated with their birth date. Never before has he ever cared about his star sign. In spite of reminding him that colored inks can be more dangerous than black as I learned from the web, he did get some red in the design. I must say, it looked fine at first. I was disappointed that he had decided to go ahead with it, but again, adults must make adult choices with their bodies (let's not point out that until he's 26, he's on his parent's health insurance.) He rubbed Neosporin on it over the next few days, at the direction of the tattoo artist. I was mad, but I got over it, and life moves on. I continued to check in with him each day: "Are you keeping it clean?" "Yes!" "Are you using the antibiotic ointment?" "Yes, Mom, it's healed, now!" Today, Saturday morning, he bolted out the door at the last minute as he always does to get to his job as a car mechanic. After about an hour at work, he began to itch violently from the bright red hives that he woke up to. They were going up his trunk, from belly button to chin. They itched so bad he had to leave work and he ran to an urgent care, which was closed. Believing it must be an allergy to something, he took some Benadryl. He's NEVER had a skin allergic reaction to anything but poison ivy. We called his doctor, and they confirmed it. This is an allergy to tattoo ink. It can happen a few days after, but it can also happen weeks, months, or even years, depending on how much of the ink leaches into the bloodstream. The ink can spread quickly into the body or slowly. There ARE unknown toxins in tattoo ink and it is NOT regulated by the medical community. There is nothing we can do other than keep giving him oral Benadryl and monitoring him to be sure he doesn't have other more serious allergy symptoms. He's so sleepy, he can't work on cars responsibly, so he is missing a day of work. I'll let him figure out how much money he is losing today when he's awake enough to use a calculator. I hope it was worth every dollar he spent on it, and every extra dollar he will use recovering from it. I understand you are running a business, Body Language. I understand you consider yourselves artists. You draw real pretty pictures of both significant and equally flimsy designs that would look just as lovely on a t-shirt or a mural. I also understand, that my son is an adult who thought he understood the risks, but he really didn't, nor did he care, because he's young and dumb. I can't sue you. I can't do anything but bitch and complain about it. But also please understand that right now, I am one angry mother. If he was 17, it would be a much different case, sadly I am here typing this miserable review on Yelp. Have a nice day. read more