A glare of light hits the eyes, while the hot and painful tip of a tattoo needle pierces the skin for hours on end—an experience that most would find discomforting. The tattoo artist performs permanent modifications, tattoos, on clients, using the body as a canvas. Some teachers and students at Bonita Vista High (BVH) understand what it’s like to live a day-to-day life with a tattoo imprinted on their body.

Marine Biology and Chemistry teacher Kimya Mahzad is a well experienced tattoo patron. She shares that tattoos can be a way to express oneself, express a tradition or they hold special meanings. After receiving her first tattoo at 18 years old, a concern of being treated differently for having a tattoo when finding a job began. In later years, this resulted in Mahzad covering up most of her tattoos. 

“They [her tattoos] haven’t stopped me from getting any teaching jobs but I have definitely felt discrimination in many other situations,” Mahzad said.

Although some find getting inked painful,  senior Malosi Iuli brings comfort by explaining that “larger tattoos can take multiple hours and sessions, [which ] will eventually get the body accustomed to the pain.” Thus, allowing those like Iuli to feel minimal pain during a tattoo procedure.

“Tattoos tend to be more painful when they’re done over an area of the body where a bone is close to the needle,” Iuli said.

Iuli adds that receiving a tattoo near the bone can be painful because of the lack of muscle and fat in the chosen area. This makes it easier for the needle to hit a bone, which can be a painful experience. Everybody will have a different experience receiving a tattoo because everyone has various preferences for its location.

“For some people getting a tattoo can be therapeutic and for others, after a few seconds of the needle on their skin, they tap out and can never finish because the pain is too much to bear,” sophomore Javier Escalante said.

Escalante comes from a family of experienced tattoo artists and has a tattoo himself. Although he is not a tattoo artist, Escalante enjoys being able to share his knowledge with students interested in tattoos themselves. 

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“Being from a family of people who either have a tattoo or get a tattoo, I’ve seen a lot of tattoos, which is pretty cool but it’s also how I know it wouldn’t be too bad to get another one,” Escalante said.

There are an abundant amount of reasons for a tattoo to be done differently. Iuli discusses that his tattoo was made to symbolize the tradition that runs through his family—distinctive and special from most other students with tattoos. For Iuli, his motivation behind the tattoo is to keep the tradition in his family more than anything else.

“The tattoo I have is a Samoan tribal tattoo of a warrior that my family all has but each of them are different. There [are] no tattoos in our family that are exactly the same,” Iuli said.

Mahzad, Escalante and Iuli have shared the idea that when someone wants a tattoo they should think through the decision with care and fully understand and prepare for the consequences.

“If you are thinking about ever getting a tattoo make sure it’s something that’s meaningful to you, cause later in your life you won’t want to look back on it and regret it,” Escalante said.