Alabama Tattoo Laws

These rules are applied and interpreted in order to protect the public health. Purpose of these laws is to protect the health of the public and thease laws establish some standards about prevention of diseases due to tattooing and branding.

Body Art Practice and Facilities 420-3-23

Purpose

Authors : Ronald Dawsey and Charlotte Denton
Statutory Authority : Section 22-17A-7, Code of Alabama, 1975.
Filed Date : March 15, 2001
Effective Date : April 19, 2001
Operative Date : May 4, 2001.

Definitions

1. Body art - It is the art of physical body decoration using invasive procedures like piercing, tattooing, cosmetic tattooing etc. The Alabama Licensure Commission lincensed Physicians are exempt from the rules.

2. Cosmetic tattooing - It is a tattooing in which permanent color or pigment in or under the skin and it is intended to be used in lieu of cosmetic make-up like the permanent eyeliner or lip color.

3. License - License is the the written document issued by the Department for the operation of a tattooing. one can get the approval only as per the rules and is different from other licensing requirement of any local laws, rules, or ordinances.

4. Single-use - It means items, which are intended for one-time, one-person use and have to be disposed after use on every client. It contains tattoo needles.

5. Tattoo - It means mark whih can not be removed after making it upon the body of the individual by inserting the pigment in or under the skin.

6. Tattooing - It means any method of drawing by ink or any other pigments into or under the skin or mucosa of the individual with use of needles or other instrument used to puncture the skin, which makes a permanent coloration of the skin or mucosa like cosmetic tattooing.

Sanitation and sterilization procedures

Storage of sterilized instruments - Unless and until it is been confirmed that the manufacturer is providing you the sterilised instrument, all needles used in tattooing as well as cosmetic tattooing have to be cleaned and sterilized before using. Again not only sterilization is important but thease have tobe stored in a dry, clean, tightly covered container mostly used for storing thease instruments.

Clean techniques required

All the instruments used for tattooing have to be stored in sterile packages until just prior to drawing a tattoo. One should have to use the disposable single-use gloves while assembling thease instruments and make sure that the instruments and gloves are not at all contaminated.

Inks, dyes, pigments, needles and equipment

The ink used while making a tattoo should be seperated as a single-use purpose quantity. On completing the tattoo, these single quantity may be taken in plastic cups have to be discarded.

Products applied to the skin

The jellies, soaps and the products used while making tattoo shall be dispensed and only applied on the skin to tattoo with sterile gauze so as to prevent contamination of the original container and its contents. The gauze also to be used only once and imediately discarded after use.