How to choose a safe tattoo studio.

Why it matters

Health authorities advise travellers to be careful about tattoos and piercings abroad because unsterile equipment can transmit infections, including blood-borne ones. The advice is the same everywhere: choose a studio where needles are single-use and opened in front of you, and where the artist wears fresh gloves.

What to look for

• Single-use needles and cartridges, opened from sealed packaging in front of you.
• Fresh gloves, changed when the artist touches anything outside the work area.
• A cleaned, prepared workstation — surfaces wiped down and covered between clients.
• Single-use ink caps and disposable barriers on equipment that cannot be sterilised.
• A clear answer on reusable tools — how they are cleaned and sterilised.
• Written aftercare you can take away, in a language you understand.
• Healthy-skin checks — a studio that asks about your skin, medicines and allergies before starting.

Questions to ask — including us

• Which items are single-use, and will they be opened in front of me?
• How are reusable tools cleaned and sterilised?
• How is the workstation prepared between clients?
• Which inks do you use, and are they made for tattooing?
• What aftercare will I get, and in which language?
• Do you follow a recognised hygiene standard? Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends choosing a studio that follows the European standard EN 17169:2020, “Tattooing – Safe and hygienic practice”.

What no studio can honestly promise

“100% safe” or “risk-free” is not a real promise — every health source lists residual risks. What a professional studio can do is show you its hygiene, answer your questions and give you clear aftercare. Ask Tattoo Ink Side any of these questions in your inquiry; the studio answers personally.

General information, not medical advice. Your artist's instructions come first; for anything worrying, see a doctor.