Stick and poke tattoos, also called hand-poked tattoos or machine-free tattoos, have been around for a long time. Yet in the past year, they saw an unprecedented rise in popularity and resurgence as people turned to them as a solution during the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown for the problem of not being able to go to a tattoo studio for a standard tattoo. Yet this isn’t just a fleeting trend that’ll fade with the much-awaited lifting of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. In fact, it’s an art form and movement in and of itself with history and legitimacy that is worth learning about and understanding, especially if you’re interested in partaking in it yourself.
So to honor the stick and poke tattoo, here is an in-depth guide teaching you everything you could possibly want to know about hand-poked tattoos from what they are, to where they come from, to what you should know about them if you want to get one, to information that can help you decide what kind of stick and poke tattoo to get.