Tattoo artists do more than accessorize Millennials. Many provide cosmetic and medical services.
Pat Peters of Chardon recently tapped into their services for eyebrows. “I was a child of the late ‘50s, early ‘60s. Back then, we all had to pluck our eyebrows. When you keep plucking, eventually they don’t come back,” she says. “Combine that with age and I lost the last one-third of my eyebrows. I couldn’t find the right color eye pencil to replace them and I got tired of crooked eyebrows. They never matched.”
After her husband’s death, Peters decided to do something for herself – get permanent eyebrows. “I’m trying to be the best me I can be,” she says. “Now I can’t picture my face without them. They frame my face. The color is perfect.”
Ink that Camouflages
Christine Gallowan, tattoo artist and owner of Mirror Mirror Artistry in Cleveland, works with people to camouflage scars from chemotherapy ports, to define lip shape after cleft-palate surgery, to recreate belly buttons and to restore breast appearance.
For example, mastectomy patients lose nipples and surrounding breast structure. “I will recreate in 3D — using shadow and highlight 0151 — a nipple and areola. Some women visit me before surgery or bring a photograph so when they come back after healing, I can recreate what they had before.”
“I’m not fixing anything, I’m camouflaging,” she says.
While medical issues draw many Boomers to tattoos, cosmetic changes due to aging such as hair loss and skin fading lead others to find a permanent and convenient solution.
Peters’ daughter, Anna Peters, 55, of East Claridon Township, had brownish-black eyeliner tattooed onto her lower lids several years earlier. “I like my eyes and like to show them off, ”she says. “Permanent eyeliner is the best thing I’ve done for myself. If I’m just hanging out around town, I never have to put makeup on.
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