Are you eating them?

My primal reproductive instinct says yes... mmm.

i have a half sleeve on one arm, and a band on the other. now that im finally not pregnant, planning to finally get a shoulder/sleeve that ive had done for my kiddos. i want a garden on my back. are they "paleo"? who the hell knows. paleo is my diet. my tattoos are one way i tell a story, and mark important milestones in my life. believe it or not, i actually consider them fairly private, despite their prominence. when someone asks what they mean, i usually lie.

I think it's pretty straightforward, tattoos are not paleo. Unless you really think injecting foreign substances into your skin provided evolutionary advantages umpteen thousands of years ago.

Doesn't mean you can't get tattoos now if you want. Just can't use Paleo as an excuse.

I don't know if they're paleo and I don't care. Lol. I have about 30 and will surely get more. :)

I've got a bunch! I'm Paleo. They might be neolithic, but that never stopped me.

I have a Japanese half sleeve on my right arm with 2 Koi and a lotus on my shoulder, a big chestpiece with a bleeding heart that has eagle wings, and a scroll that says my mom's name.

On my left arm I have a Japanese woodcut style Tiger (my spirit animal!), two black roses on my forearms, a dancing skeleton with a tophat and cane on my left elbow joint (he dances when I move my arm!), a lucky horseshoe on top of my left hand between the thumb and forefinger, and the piece de resistance... "PARTY 'TIL YOU DIE" on my left arm.

{No we're not naked! We're at our secret waterfall in Jersey, and these are from pudgier pre-Paleo days, forgive me.}

Hell yes they are! Only if theyre cool, though...and especially not tattoos of, like, a wheat stalk. ;)

1. Tattoos aren't injecting anything. Tattoos occur when a lesion is stained with a dye and that lesion heals from a scab, to repaired skin tissue permanently stained. This dye could be natural (I have a few homemade tats done in my early punkrock days with Indian Ink from a craft store).

2. Who cares if Tattoos are Paleo? Ask the Maori if their tattoos are Paleo...

holy crap, Futureboy! that was like the hottest picture i've seen for weeks!

Otzi the "Iceman" provides some of the earliest concrete evidence of humans practicing tattooing and, given that he is estimated as having lived around 3,300 BCE (over 5,000 years ago), I would have to say that AFAIK tattoos aren't "paleo". Then again debating such things on an interconnected network of programmable machines while staring into an artificial light source would have to qualify as far less "paleo" than tattoos. For those of us who are descendants of Europeans, tattoos would also be far more "paleo" than New World foods such as tomatoes, potatoes (regular and sweet), chocolate, etc.

In conclusion, tattoos are "paleo" enough for me to feel comfortable in sporting a few on my backside (see bottom picture).

Locations of Otzi tattoos:

Actual picture of tattoo on Otzi's back:

Actual picture of tattoos on my back:

The only argument against tattoos would be the fact that the dye contains heavy metals that in some cases have led to heavy metal poisoning. I do have tattoos myself and I'm not really worried about it, but it is a minor concern for some.

"Titanium and aluminum are often used as colorants in tattoos; more worrisome, inks using nonmetal colorants may include traces of antimony, arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cobalt, lead, nickel, and selenium (AESI filed over the latter eight metals). Sivas says the ink used for a 3 by 5 inch tattoo contains 1–23 micrograms of lead, versus the 0.5 micrograms per day permitted under Proposition 65."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1280436/

I vote YES! Very Paleo! Little to no risk if you go to a reputable place and the benefit is getting to wear a piece of art that means something to you or just looks good on your skin for all, or no one depending on the placement, to see. I love my tattoos and LOVE tattooed women. :)

Well, since I don't want it to fade, it's the one place where I still regularly apply sunscreen. Not paleo in that regard.

Are the inks they use for it the same as used in traditional society? My understanding (possibly wrong) is that some of the red dyes have mercury in it, so I would want to stay clear of any of that.

That said, I find tattoos extremely sexy on women, so please don't stop doing it!

I don't have any tattoos my self for personal reasons. But I have tattooed people, stick and poke stile. We would take a pin wrap the tip with string so just a tiny bit of the point stuck out. Then dip it in ink and slowly poke by poke apply the tattoo. It took a long time but it was kinda the style that we liked and it was more personal and free. We did this in very unsanitary conditions living in the woods, ride freight trains, etc and I never saw anyone get infected. For ink we used india ink from a art store or you can make your own out of various ashes or boiled plants. We also did branding and scarification or a combination (rub ink into a scarification cut) those are more risky but I never actually saw one go bad. So if your question is are tattoos paleo as in part os a healthy life style. I would say yes they are. They are very low risk health wise and if you really want them to be super paleo do them your self with a bone needle and ink you made.

Yes. Injecting ink into your skin is of course paleo.