The ‘Alternative Nation’ Team would like to make it known that they do not in any way endorse or encourage under-age body modification.
If you wish to seek advice towards a professionally performed modification, but are under the age of consent (in the UK this is 16, or 18 for tattoos and genital piercing), the response you will receive is one of caution and general discouragement.
The primary reason for this stance is the legality of under-age body modification; as such practices are illegal, those carrying them out in full knowledge hold little or no regard for the law and as such are unlikely to be of the quality desired for a modification which will (hopefully) last you for life.
If you do lie about your age and are pierced or tattooed by a more reputable studio, you have put the artist in a position where they may be sued by you or your guardian for abuse or GBH, and, in the case of genital or nipple piercings, abuse of a sexual nature. This could lead to the artist losing both his livelihood and reputation, just because you could not wait a few years or months to get your precious modification. The bottom line: piercing and tattooing those who are under-age is a
criminal offence.
Please, if nothing else, think about this before attempting to have any modification performed
There are countless other consequences of getting a permanent visible modification at such a young age:
Your job prospects will be severely limited in the future;
Something you have chosen at 14 may not be to your taste when you are 30, or even at 20;
You may not consider taking care of a fresh tattoo a priority, and thus are stuck with something blotchy and faded due to bad aftercare;
And you may be stuck with a permanent reminder of a silly childhood fancy.
Out final word is one of caution: we have explained our reasons for discouraging such practices, but we in no way can enforce our beliefs. We just hope that you take heed of our words and consider them carefully before undertaking any body modification project.
Mods.
P.S.
This is a thread which goes into under-age piercing in much more detail.
Here is an article outlining the tattoo removal process.
