There is now a part 2
Tattoo Etiquette: Ariel Dejesus | Part 2
https://youtu.be/Ic2j-Z29ufE

Her letting her daughter tattoo clients is like a nurse letting their child give injections to people at the workplace.

At first, I was concerned that she was tattooing people while blindfolded. Then I was relieved the the clients were blindfolded. Then horrified that she drew that with her eyes open!

I know it's far from the biggest offense here, but watching her daughter drag a dry paper towel over the client's fresh tattoo gave me a visceral reaction.

I literally saw her take a dream catcher from Pinterest with a water mark that literally said “DO NOT STEAL OR COPY” print it out, and stencil it on someone

Okay so I get her daughter being interested in tattooing, it’s what her mom does. But you don’t need to let an eleven year old scar other peoples skin….. you can give her drawing assignments. You can ask her to do the three elements and create her own drawing and stimulate her artistic muscle if you will. Those are ways you can support a literal child in achieving her dreams of one day becoming a tattoo artist

Edit because people give the same point over and over again : no it would not be a good idea to give her fake skin, chicken, citrus fruit or any other replacement for live human skin to tattoo on. Why not? Because it’s still an ELEVEN year old handling needles. It is still a biohazard. There is still the possibility for her to accidentally stick herself with the needles. Don’t give tattoo machines to kids. It’s never a good idea. It’s not safe. Maybe when she’s 16 it’s a different story. But for right now, she can stick to drawings.

I’ve seen one commenter who said something about a practice tattoo machine that’s not actually moving needles but something else? Ive never heard of those, but if it’s without needles that could be a perfect replacement for her to practice with.

My 13 year old cousin is interested in tattooing since her grandpa does it, but she does it with old equipment that can’t be used on bodies but uses it on fake skin. She’s never left alone with the equipment and knows that she can’t do it by herself

I looked up her tattoo studio on Google, and she definitely wiped most of the bad ones off. There were a couple of negative ones lingering, and her responses to them were SO defensive. One called out the fact that she lets her 11 year old tattoo clients and she called it “cyber bullying”… it’s not bullying, it’s a FACT.

You did a great job with this. My biggest criticism of her is that she preys on lower income people who think they can’t afford quality work. She accepts “donations” for tattoos but has very openly encouraged people to use their government assistance money to buy food and trade with her for tattoo work. That’s scummy because if those people got caught, they would lose assistance and children would literally go hungry.

I also criticize that she accepts all of these donations and trades and I’m positive it’s all tax evasion because seeing how she operates, I’m sure she doesn’t claim the value and pay taxes on it. She’s bringing in thousands on bartered goods, groceries, cell phones, designer bags etc and little cash so she can claim she makes very little and not paying taxes. I love bartering but when doing it at the level she does… it needs to be taxed.

Can she show receipts of donations to non-profit organizations? Is she a registered 503c? Is she checking that traded groceries we’re not purchased through state assistance programs like EBT/WIC? I very much doubt it.

It’s crazy to me that anyone can just buy a tattoo machine online but you have to prove you have a cosmetology license to buy certain types of dyes and bleaches. It is so dangerous to just let these “artists” and “piercers” keep operating the way they do.

As an American its totally ok to come for our health care system. Good point made.

As someone who just recently got a tattoo apprenticeship and passed the Bloodborne pathogens, also the infections certifications. I find this situation very sickening. People who are like this shouldn't have access to tattooing equipment. She shouldn't even call herself an artist.

Lauren's comment about healthcare is so right. If you can't afford a tattoo, the bill for an infection will likely ruin you. I was visiting the states recently, I'm disabled so while my issue was minor for anyone else I had to go to the ER during my stay in California. I saw a doctor at triage for less than 10 mins and she prescribed treatment for me (a controlled substance I couldn't get anywhere else) I was in and out fast. So far the bill so being discharged has been $500, the bill for seeing a doctor for less than 10 mins is $570. Its all being sorted by my travel insurance so I don't know if anything more has been charged but imagine how much antibiotics and a 3 night stay would be! (That's how long I was in last year with cellulitis infection of  my face, which is an infection that a new tattoo can also get).

She doesn’t create tattoo designs. She literally just googles tattoo designs with specific prompts and uses those.

Seeing the child tattooing in that environment all I could think of was that tik tok where the artist caught themselves with the needle and went to the hospital to do everything correctly.  It seems like they don’t take sanitary measures seriously so I really worry about that child, especially when they are left unsupervised like that. It’s one thing for her to endanger herself with unsafe practices but she is also endangering that child and not even keeping a close eye. Also it’s dead up child labour, the kid is doing her job for her and she is profiting off the child’s labour. It’s just unethical all around.

this has nothing to do with ariel, but as a trans person who's been subscribed to you for around a year, I am so so grateful for how supportive and voal you are about the trans community and how much you clearly care about our safety and well being 🖤

I work in medicine and I just...wow. I'm horrified. She's gonna give someone a systemic infection. This is horrific.

the biggest kick about ariel letting her kid tattoo is that the 11 year old does better than the 11 year tattoo artist

The idea of washing a new tattoo with fairy liquid makes me want to die

First on my list of NO NOs is child endangerment.😤 As a mother I wouldn’t even leave my 11 year old son home alone.  This woman leaves her daughter in her shop alone.  Not only is she doing a tattoo but she’s leaving her with a stranger.  It boggles the mind.😩😩😩😩 It’s infuriating.  Of course there’s everything else but my first concern is her daughter.😢