Why tattoo removal is soaring: Five famous ink stories and some strategic removals
Veteran truckie Danny Bowers got arm tatts of naked ladies in his youth — when they were risqué but not overly offensive. Times have changed and he’s getting them scrubbed. He’s not the only Aussie with great ink regret.
Victoria
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Tattoo removal is soaring, with demand for skin ink to be scrubbed growing by 35 per cent in Australia over the past year.
And demand is tipped to grow further still, with the tatt removal market projected to reach $3.04m by 2026 — up from $1.14m in 2018, according to Allied Market Research.
In 2023 a whopping 30 per cent of Aussies had at least one tattoo, with 57 per cent of them getting their first ink between the ages of 18 and 24.
Now many of them are getting that same ink rubbed.
For South Yarra resident Emilia, 39, it’s just the name of an old dog on her left wrist that she now wants gone, while for Danny Bowers, 62, from Woodend it’s much more than that.
With some of the truckie’s tatts now decades old, Danny — whose considerable ink included a full sleeve and back — has his next and hopefully final removal session in Melbourne this Saturday.
Among the tatts Danny is in the final stages of having removed are two of naked women — one on each forearm.
Times were different when he got them in his youth, he says, adding some of his first tatts were inked when he was just 16.
Nowadays, the naked female art is not considered appropriate and raises eyebrows for all the wrong reasons.
They were inked when he was just 20.
“If I wear short sleeve shirts or polos or anything like that out to a restaurant these days, elderly people and children react quite differently. When you go out now and dine in nice restaurants and things, clean skin is what I’m looking for — to have nothing exposed that can be controversial,” he said.
“As you get older you tend to mature a little bit and have a different outlook on life. I’ve been married to my wife for 38-years now.”
Danny is still a fan of ink, however, just that of a slightly more discreet and meaningful nature.
Love for his wife, Kathryn, is behind a new tattoo of a tiger on his leg.
While she is a one-eyed Richmond fan, he’s definitely not, so the tiger tatt is a large gesture — even if he did draw the line at adding the club’s logo.
He also now has a tattoo of his beloved wife.
Tennis ace Nick Kyrgios famously had his partner’s name inked on his body in a grand display of love, but he and the stunning Costeen Hatzi have recently spilt — raising the question if he will be the next to seek a tattoo removal.
Tattoo removal company Removery — that will be exhibiting at this weekend’s Inked Tattoo expo at the Melbourne Convention Centre — says the current laser removal options are safe and effective.
Removery spokesperson Anthony Jornet said there were many reasons people chose to remove a tattoo, but the most common was changes in their life in the years since they had got their skin art.
“People simply change over time, as can the meaning or relevancy of their tattoos,” he said.
“The good news is that technology has come a long way, meaning safe and effective tattoo removal is more accessible than ever for those people wanting to make room for a new piece of art, or completely remove them all together.”
TATTS NOT SO COOL ANYMORE
Pretty much everyone with a tattoo has a story — whether it was obtained while drunk in a foreign country, inked in memory of a loved one or celebration of a person, pet or event.
Sometimes a tattoo is sought as a permanent reminder of the mantra a person hopes to live by.
But what about when love fades, allegiances change or inked-on popular culture references are no longer relevant or appropriate?
Here are five tatt stories that made the news.
Former union boss John Setka
Controversial former CFMEU secretary John Setka surfaced in August getting a neck tattoo that pledged his allegiance to the militant union as the Victorian branch was engulfed by corruption and bikie infiltration allegations. In a video posted to social media showed Mr Setka was shown topless with the words “GOD FORGIVES THE CFMEU DOESNT” freshly tattooed across his neck.
Tennis ace Nick Kyrgios
In 2023 Nick Kyrgios shocked even his mother with his back full of Pokemon tattoos.
Fresh from his 11th hour Wimbledon withdrawal, the Australian tennis bad boy employed a team of tattooists to ink his back with Pokemon art.
Photos uploaded to Kyrgios’ social media tagged gangatattoo and Pokemon — and with the caption “studio days in LA” — showed no fewer than seven people gathered around a table, working on his back.
Just a year earlier Kyrgios made a grand display of his love for his then girlfriend Costeen Hatzi by getting a tattoo of her name.
The pair recently split, after four years together, with Hatzi returning home from the US where Kyrgios was playing.
Pam the Bird tatts
The same Melbourne tattoo parlour that made headlines after inking John Setka emerged earlier this year offering free Pam the Bird tattoos to immortalise the prolific Melbourne graffiti vandal.
Classic Ink Tattoo in Yarraville started giving away tattoos of the well known cartoon tag while the prolific street graffiti artist, and Pam the Bird creator Jack Gibson-Burrell, was behind bars for his actions.
He has since been bailed to live with his grandmother in Geelong.
Toby Mitchell
When ex Bandidos bikie enforcer Toby Mitchell joined the feared rival Mongols club, there was one thing that just had to go — his old club ink.
A video of the underworld figure in 2019 having the tattoos lasered off were posted on his Instagram, showing the process in detail.
The footage revealed the removal of his former club’s logo of a sombrero-wearing bandit pointing a gun.
Just a couple of years later, in May 2021, Mitchell got himself some fresh ink ahead of a seven-day Victorian lockdown.
Mitchell filmed himself getting the Mongols gang’s symbol tattooed on his earlobe.
The tattoo was done at City Of Ink, founded by Mitchell and relaunched by best mate and former footy star Jake King.
Mitchell was last seen sitting next to Melbourne power couple Bec and Chris Judd court side at this year’s Australian Open as guests of champagne brand Piper-Heidseck.
The still heavily inked former Mongols bikies boss turned influencer seemed very happy to be next to the Judds and shared a photo to his more than 300,000 Instagram followers.
Penis tattoo
An Australian tattoo artist this year divulged her craziest story, revealing how a joke led to someone actually getting their genitalia inked up.
Rochelle, who works at Markd Tattoo in Redfern, NSW, revealed she had a female client come in with her boyfriend.
“She was, as a joke, egging her boyfriend on like, ‘You should get a tattoo on your penis,” the artist recalled.
Rochelle said by the time she’d finished tattooing the man’s girlfriend, he agreed he would get the tattoo.
“I was like, ‘OK, well. Let’s do it’,” she said.
“He got the outline of a wave cause he wanted to tell people — ‘Hey, do you wanna ride the wave’?”
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Originally published as Why tattoo removal is soaring: Five famous ink stories and some strategic removals
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