Hartford tattoo shops, as well as those in the Boston area, Springfield and Bridgeport are all shops that share a geographical region with Torture Ink, located in Enfield, Connecticut. Torture Ink continues to set the bar for itself, as well as the surrounding tattoo communities, by continually looking out for its customers and sharing updated information on tattoos, piercings and their reputation in the community.

Body art and body piercings are becoming more and more accepted as a form of legitimate expression and creativity. In the bigger cities such as New York or Los Angeles, they have grown to be a large part of the cultural landscape. Going back three decades, one in a hundred people sported tattoos in this country. Today, it has increased ten fold to one in ten people having tattoos.

Even though our tattoos and body piercings have become rather mainstream in our culture, and even though society is becoming more accepting to the liberal creativity, there are still some workplaces that are not so welcoming to the ever-increasing art form. Some employers may tell you that in order to work for them, you cannot display any body piercings or tattoos while working. This is actually their right, as they are breaking no laws. The law only protects people who are discriminated against based on race, color, religion, age, nationality, origin and gender. However, your company cannot use tattoos or piercings as a reason to fire you, just to not hire you.

As discovered in a recent Vault.com survey, employees and employers were polled about piercings and tattoos in the workplace. Sixty percent of the employers said that they would be less likely to hire an employee with visible tattoos or piercings, as they feared that it would reflect badly on the company. Some managers would rather let a good candidate for a job go by, than accept their body art.

As far as a reason why people would think less of a person with tattoos or piercings is perhaps because they associate these things with bikers, sailors, criminals and gang members, which is outdated thinking and completely stereotypical. While you may see it as self-expression or free speech, your boss may think it’s a sign of rebellion.

There are many employers that share this limited mentality of how their employees should present themselves. Surprisingly, one of the companies that do not allow tats or piercings to show is Starbucks. In order to work there, all tats must be covered and piercings removed.

The good news is that times are changing. There are employers that are embracing tattoo and piercing body art. Ford Motor Company allows everyone from the executive management on down to have whatever body art they want, with no restrictions, save they ask the factory workers to remove any piercings that may put them in mechanical danger. When Borders Books was thriving, they also allowed their employees to express themselves in the form of tats and piercings, as does Wahoo’s, a California based fish taco chain. Dutch Brothers Coffee is another business that allows free expression. These are just a few businesses of thousands that are seeing past the conservative stereotype of tattoos and piercings.

It is a good idea, however, if you are interviewing for a job, to take into consideration the fact that there may be restrictive policies regarding your body art, so think about covering them up until you know for sure.