 |  | Report by Faye, web producer
If you’re scared of commitment, chances are a tattoo is as far down your wish list as marriage. But now our loyalty fears have been answered at last. As well as quickie divorces, you can now get temporary tattoos. All the fun, with none of the commitment!
| |  | Sassy hip tattoo
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There are other reasons for us wimps not to be into permanent tattoos, like the pain and the health rinks, and these airbrushed temporary tattoos solve those as well.
But do they look any good? Stick on tattoos can look a bit naff (especially if they wrinkle!) but airbrush tattoos can look as good as the real thing. I saw them at Clotheshow Live in December 2003 and was really impressed.
Henna body art has also been more widely available for a number of years now and still looks great. It’s a bit more hippy than rock, however, which gives airbrushing the edge, in my view.
Thinking of getting a new look to shock grandma over Christmas, I checked out the details and found out there are a couple of places I can get an airbrush tattoo in our area.
But now I need your advice on whether I should reveal a shocking new style over the turkey dinner!
Details and your thoughts
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Take a look at the details below and let me know if you have any airbrush tattoo experiences.
Have you had one done? Would you recommend it? What design should I go for? Do you think permanent tattoos are better?
Chat about it all by following this link to the message board.
| |  | Detail of an airbrush tattoo
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This is a low-down of the basics I’ve found out so far; airbrush tattoos are exactly what the name suggests. The artist uses your body as a canvas and produces a design with an airbrush either freehand or using a stencil.
It uses inks but because they sit on the skin’s surface (rather than being injected into the skin like in a permanent tattoo) they last just around four to six days.
They’re water resistant but the amount of time they last depends on the inks used. If you’re really not keen, at least you know you stand a fair chance of scrubbing it off with soap.
They cost anything from about £3 - £15, although the price can rise if you opt to have extra jewels or decorations added to highlight the design.
But I want to know what your experiences are. Should I go ahead and get one done? Is the money better saved and put towards a permanent tattoo? Let me know what you think on the message board.
| |  | Traditional rose tattoo
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I know the idea is to shock grandma, but just in case it all gets a bit out of hand I thought I’d better mention semi-permanent tattoos, too.
If you’re searching around the internet you might see people advertising semi-permanent tattoos that last anything from six months to eight years.
This sounds like a great idea as you get to have that extreme look you want without having to face being an OAP with a dragon on your arm.
However, there are also lots of pages on the internet that say this is a hoax. The semi-permanent tattoos claim to use the same technology to permanent tattoos, injecting ink into the skin.
So it's hard to see how they gauge how long the ink will stay visible. Scientists have been quoted saying once ink is in the skin, it may fade but it is permanent.
It’s probably not worth the risk as, if after 10 years the tattoo still hasn’t gone, are you confident you’d be able to find the same company to complain?
For advice and details on permanent tattoos follow this link to BBC One Life.
There is also really useful information about some of the health risks linked here on their health pages.
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