10 Tattoos That Tattoo Artists May Refuse To Do

Many people outside of the tattoo industry may not realize that artists have the right to turn down any client or tattoo that walks through the door. Although tattoo artists work with customers on a daily basis, they have the authority to refuse anyone for any reason. In most cases, artists are happy to accommodate but there are a select few tattoo requests that are likely to lead to a rejection. Take a look at the 10 tattoos most commonly turned down and why in the gallery below, then let us know if you’ve had an artist refuse your tattoo idea in the comments section on Facebook. 

One of the biggest tattoo requests that artists turn down on an almost daily basis are face tattoos. Face tattoos have become increasingly popular over the years, in large part because of the young hip-hop artists who’ve come up recently. However, unless you’re a celebrity or are already heavily tattooed, an artist will likely turn down a client asking for a face tattoo.

While many tattoo artists specialize in fine-line or micro tattoos, not everyone will do one of these tiny tattoos. All tattoo artists have different skills, specialities or preferences—which means that not every tattooer is down to do a micro tattoo.

Name tattoos, specifically the name of a significant other, are a big taboo in the tattoo industry. Many artists will deny name tattoos and in most cases, it’s for your own good!

Pocket watch tattoos have become very popular over the last decade and many artists are sick of doing them. Although pocket watch tattoos look nice, creating their perfect circles presents a huge challenge to a tattoo artist. This means many artists refuse to do them all together.

Inner lip tattoos were a huge fad a couple of years ago and because of this, many artists today will refuse to do them. 

One of the most cliché and overdone tattoos in history, some tattoo artists would rather tattoo genitals than another feather breaking into birds.

This should go without saying but racist, sexist, homophobic and otherwise offensive tattoos are off the table for most professional tattooers.

Like the feathers breaking into birds, infinity symbols are extremely overdone and lack any real creativity for an artist to show their skills.

Only a small percentage of artists today will tattoo someone’s palms and this is because it takes a specific set of skills to get the job done. Additionally, this location hurts like hell and many artists fear their clients tapping out of a tattoo. 

Last, but certainly not least, white ink tattoos may be cool when they’re fresh but many tattooers advise against them because of the way that they heal.