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More people are getting tattoos removed

For decades, Americans were covering their bodies with more and more tattoos. Now, they’re getting them removed as fast as they can. We speak with the patients going under the laser, the tattoo-removal technicians whose business is booming, and the tattoo artists whose work is being erased to understand how something so permanent became so ephemeral.

The worst part of getting a tattoo removed, apart from the searing pain and the two-year commitment, is the sound the laser makes as it hits your skin: a violent, unnatural popping and crackling that could soundtrack an animated video of someone being electrocuted. There are now over 150 Removery locations worldwide, part of a shift that has helped evolve the practice of tattoo removal from an obscure and brutal procedure to something as unexceptional as biannual dental cleanings or quarterly Botox injections. PRODUCTION CREDITS: Photographs by Hannah Khymych Styled by Haley Gilbreath Makeup by Andrew D’Angelo Hair by Henry De La Paz for Michelle Leo AgencyNails by Nori

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