The average human adult has approximately 22 square feet of skin, which, depending on what kind of person you are, sounds either like a useless bit of morbid anatomy trivia or a wide-open world of tattooing possibilities. Still, regardless of which camp you fall in to, there are a few areas of those 22 feet that you rarely expect to see inked — and the armpit is one of them. But in a world where people occasionally tattoo the whites of their eyeballs, the armpit tattoo seems perfectly tame. Now, it’s even trending.
Inconspicuous tattoos, whether they’re teeny-tiny or flat-out hidden, have been having a moment for a while now. Given that the armpit tattoo is naturally concealed, just by virtue of being in an armpit, it fits right in with the current craze. But think about the pain of nicking your pits while shaving, or worse, the eye-watering sting of having all the hairs ripped out from the root at once by a wax. Multiply that by a million or so, and maybe then we’ll start to get an idea of what that tattoo could possibly feel like.
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That said, if you consider your skin your canvas, then by all means — add an armpit tattoo (or two) to your collection. There’s plenty of inspiration out there for your perusal, like the over 7,000 photos that come up under the #armpittattoo Instagram hashtag. Just be sure you know what you’re getting yourself into — but on the other hand, if you don’t end up loving your decision, you can always grow your armpit hair out.