Finland— Tattoo scenes & cities

In Finland, sailors' tattooing was the subject of a study by the ethnologist Jari Ruotsalainen, published in 2014 in the journal Elore. It rests on oral-history interviews conducted in spring and summer 2013 in Uusikaupunki, Helsinki, Kotka and Kuopio with nine former sailors born between 1926 and 1953. These men want to distinguish their tradition from both contemporary tattooing and prison tattoos, which non-initiates cannot tell apart from theirs; their tattoos are part of their social identity.

In a Yle article dated 22 March 2023, Laura Koski, chair of the Finnish Tattoo Artists' Association (Suomen Tatuointiartistien Liitto), explains that the EU REACH chemicals regulation, whose rules on inks have applied since the start of 2022, requires tattoo artists to inform clients of the risks and of the substances placed in the skin; in her view, this has strengthened trust in the profession. She also notes that tattooing has become far more commonplace over the past decade.