With an effort to slow down the spread of the never-seen-before Coronavirus, the tattoo industry will be evolving expeditiously amid many other small businesses. Earlier all the tattoo studios remained shut for months, but now, it’s slowly reopening its doors to meet their beloved tattoo lovers’ demand.
The tattoo industry, where physical touch is necessary, is actively restructuring its sanitization procedures, figuring out crowd control logistics and social distancing. So, if you’re an art lover seeking to get some ink work done, or a tattoo studio owner regaining speed to keep up the post-COVID world, here’s what you can expect to stay well-prepared and navigate your way through our “new normal”.
1. New Health and Safety Protocols
We get it, sanitization protocols and cleanliness routines are the basis of any tattoo procedure, but the post-COVID era calls for a serious update!
Your protocols will no longer stay limited to just sanitizing your equipment after every service – we guess, by now, you saw that coming – but every possible inch of skin, equipment, space you might share a mutual touch with your client. Needless to say, this will make your clients comfortable with your studio and with their decision to get inked. We don’t want their anxiety pumping, right?
Even though every possible integration of any brand structural change and precaution is ultimately about the safety of your co-artists and clients, the final decision rests with your tattoo studio. Here’s a list of practices you can expect with the state-mandated rules to present a squeaky clean studio that you and your clients deserve.
Periodic Health Screenings
Tattoo studios should certainly not skip this one, not at least until the end of this year. So, you are bound to notice a routine health check-up ritual set in stone. You will observe tattoo owners maintaining temperature logs with a contactless thermometer and giving anyone with a temperature over 100.3 a gentle nudge back to their homes!
Disinfect! Disinfect! Disinfect!
Maybe your favorite tattoo artist’s pastime – before the pandemic – was jamming to their desired tunes between the appointments, but it’s time you will start noticing their pastimes with a slight update.
Don’t get us wrong, and we aren’t signaling towards them suspending their hobbies and pastimes, but only coupling it with a few bottles of disinfectants. Yes, disinfecting floors, door handles, lounge area, stencil machine, printers, station walls, counters, bathrooms, pretty much everything – even mobile phones!
COVID-19 precautionary essentials
You’ll catch the tattoo industry, keeping up with the face masks and shields. If you’re a tattoo owner reading this, don’t forget to wear them or offer them to those in need. In addition, disinfectable or disposable aprons will be heavily practiced within the industry!
Crowd Control
Well, many tattoo studios, even before the onset of the pandemic, permitted only a few guests. As never seen before, expect the tattoo studios to be up and running at the maximum capacity of strictly two artists at any given time!
Post-visit protocol and follow ups
Gone are the days when follow-ups revolved heavily around post-procedure skin infections and irritations. The post-COVID world’s follow-ups will also include inquiring if the client has contracted the virus or is showing any symptoms. If this happens, it will be time to implement postexposure plans. This will include shutting down the studio for the next 72 hours, followed by deep cleansing and disinfection.
2. New Booking Processes
Next up, brand-new tattoo studio booking processes. Securing a favorite tattoo artist was never easy, and with the upcoming uncertainties, expect this difficulty rate to double-up considerably. Sadly, unless your chosen tattoo artist works in a private space or in a studio with a limited capacity, you can expect tattoo appointments to grow scarce.
The new wave of post-COVID will notice tattoo artists limiting the body parts they choose to tattoo, probably no face or neck tattoos – while maintaining the studio capacity at a bare minimum.
3. New Roles and Responsibilities For Tattoo Artists
It hurts to say this, but there will be a significant change in the structure of any tattoo artist’s job. A more of their brain and time-space will be solely dedicated to the processes other than the things they really care about. The frequency and scope of the sanitization procedures demand will sway them away from ‘the ultimate human and the art connection,’ tattoo artist’s love.
Additionally, with all the rescheduling, your administrative work will double the efforts it demanded yesterday. Lastly, the tattoo industry will notice itself holding back on some parts of the customer experience. You’ll no longer be able to extend some friendly gestures, like offering a warm cup of tea to calm your client’s nerves, for the next few months to come.
4. New Rules of Tattoo Appointments
This definitely, counts as the most significant change the tattoo industry will soon be unfolding, the era of tattoo shop management software. It’s 2020, and a considerable section of the tattoo industry is leveraging software to assist in daily operations. However, the present ‘contactless’ world will make it a necessity.
Here’s why. The practice where tattoo artists welcomed clients in their waiting areas, casually browsing through their portfolios, socializing with other guests and artists, signing in standard consent forms, and walk-ins will end. This will be switched with reading and signing COVID-19 protocol forms and managing appointments digitally – everything with the artists stationed as far as the tattoo studio allows. Nothing as much as setting up a tattoo studio software will guarantee the future appointment booking this much ease and comfort.
So, that’s pretty much it.
When it comes to sanitization, safety, and the feel of accomplishment as one completes a tattoo remains the same. However, for a studio that prioritizes connection and deep relations with the community, there’ll be a huge change!
The future holds a lot many foreseeable modifications and alterations in the upcoming times. These times might be tricky and even harder to get used to, but keeping up with the new health and sanitation protocols, booking processes, and online appointment management will help you stay afloat during the hardest of times.
