Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Should you allow people with fresh tattoos to float? How fresh is “fresh”, anyway? Graham and Ashkahn share their experiences.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: And welcome. Our question for today is “if someone comes in with a relatively fresh tattoo, what do you do?”
Ashkahn: What do you do about the tattoo, huh?
Graham: What to do about the tattoo?
Ashkahn: Well, I mean, this one seems pretty straightforward. Well, relatively fresh, I’m assuming, is within a few weeks of them getting it?
Graham: Right. Yeah, yeah.
Ashkahn: What you do is don’t let them float.
Graham: All right. We’ll see you next week for …
Ashkahn: That’s pretty much it.
Graham: So, it gets confusing, though, when it does get up to that three, four, five weeks point.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: It can depend not only on the size of tattoo, but even how deep it went and how much concrete line work you had versus shading, stuff like that. So, once again, telling them to consult the expert in their field, which in this case is the tattoo artist who gave them the tattoo, is totally what you should do. They shouldn’t be floating until their tattoo artist says that it’s all right to.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Our general, like anything less than about six weeks is where I would still have some amount of concern. Around that four to six week mark is where things seem kind of to be on the safer side, but then the problem’s not for you. Nothing’s gonna happen to your float tank if someone gets in there with a tattoo that’s not properly healed.
Graham: Yeah. You’re not worried about the ink getting into the tank or some bloodborne bacteria getting in-
Ashkahn: The tattoo rubbing off.
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: Now there’s a tattoo on the bottom of the tank, just stuck there.
Graham: So, yeah, you are very much just worried about the person’s experience and their tattoo, and not causing any damage to it. It can happen. I’ve definitely heard at least one really terrible horror story of someone who had a relatively new center, and they left one of their staff in charge of it, and the staff didn’t know to turn the person away who had come in with the tattoo, and it was several weeks old, and they were like, “Oh, it’ll probably be fine.”
So, the floater went in and comes out really soon, after 10 or 15 minutes or something, and it was way too painful to actually stay in the tank. But the worst of that is was that even that small amount of time in the float tank, the saltwater had already kind of irreparably damaged the tattoo, to the point where the center owner had to pay to have an actual coverup expert, tattoo expert, come in and fix the tattoo. So, even more expensive than the initial regular tattoo work.
I’m sure it also sucked for the person with the tattoo, because now they’ve had to get it twice, and it didn’t end up exactly how they wanted it in the first place, so just a terrible, terrible situation all around. So, it’s one of those things where you just don’t want to take chances on it.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Yeah, that sounds, that does not sound like a great situation.
Graham: No. It was an unfortunate call to get one day, yeah.
So, just say no.
Ashkahn: To tattoos. Yeah.
Graham: Just say no to the tattoo. All right. Short episode for today, but no worries, because we’ll be back tomorrow. And if you have any questions in the meantime that you want answered, just go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast and we will answer them.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Post Pandemic Changes – OSP 13
https://youtu.be/JpDzbMd5In0Something in the world of floating have you stumped? Show HighlightsWell, it's been over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic and we know what you've been thinking: What have those Float On...
The 2021 Float Conference – OSP 12
https://youtu.be/HpsUSzirUPMSomething in the world of floating have you stumped? Show HighlightsThe ol' Graham and Ashkahn podcast duo is back at it to announce the exciting new updates to the 2021 Float Conference!...
What’s The Buoy Project? – OSP 11
Grashkahmn are back to talk about the latest product they’ve been putting together during quarantine: The Buoy Project, a social media toolkit designed specifically for float centers.
Beyond just a shameless plug, the boys use the episode to explain the nature of the project and what they hope it can turn into in the future with the help of the industry.
Adding Float Tanks to an Existing Business – OSP 10
Graham and Ashkahn kick off the New Year by discussing the things to consider when adding a float tank to an existing business. This is a fantastic episode to start with if you’ve already got a service-based business or are a practitioner looking to start up on your own and looking for ideas.
The boys talk about logistical considerations, the built-in advantages to adding on to an existing practice, as well as how nice it is to have a meatball sandwich after chilling out in a sensory reduced environment for an hour (Ashkahn has a serious one-track mind).
Tank Topics – Business Partners
Graham and Ashkahn round out the end of the year by talking about all the naughty and nice things about having business partners.
It’s a shorter compilation today, which gives you plenty of time to talk to your own business partners about what you think about them!
Latest Blog Posts
“What is a float tank?” and other preliminary float industry information
What IS a float tank, anyway? If you’re first approaching the idea of a business in the float industry, the best place to get started is to understand what a float tank is, how they work, and what initial concerns there are with offering floating from a business...
2021 Float Conference Live Blog
As we come together again as a community to celebrate the tenth year of the Float Conference, we are overwhelmed with joy from all the hugs, laughs, and excitement about the future. This is a live blog that will be updated as the Conference progresses. We will be...
The 2021 Float Industry Survey is LIVE!
Greetings Float Fam! It’s that time again. We’re gathering responses for the 2021 Float Industry Report through the end of July, and we once again need your help! Please take a brief moment to answer a few questions about your float center (or future float center)...
A New Idea on How to Keep the Industry Afloat!
Even before experiencing a global crisis, float centers have had a hard time navigating social media, marketing, and just generally keeping their customers engaged. That struggle is even more real in the wake of the COVID pandemic. We’ve spent the last two months (in...
