What has to be on a tattoo consent form? 32 states say. Here is every line they name.

Type "tattoo consent form" into a search engine and what comes back is templates: a PDF written for no state in particular, with a signature line at the bottom. Whether that paper is a consent form where you work depends on the lines above the signature, and 33 state rules say exactly which lines. Here is what all 50 states and the District of Columbia say a tattoo consent form has to carry, in one table, each row read from the state's own rule and linked to it.

32 states require a consent form from every client. 3 more require one only when the client is a minor, and the parent signs it in front of you: Idaho, Missouri and Nebraska. 16 have no consent-form rule for an adult, and 3 of those, Hawaii, Iowa and North Carolina, still put the client's signature on the record the rule does require. Across the 33 rules that list what the form has to say, the line named most is the risks of the procedure (19 states), then the aftercare (17), a statement about the client's health (14), that the work is permanent (10), and what is being done and where (10). The whole count is under the table.

24 rows carry a * after the name. That marks a medium-confidence read. Most of them are states whose rule says little or nothing about a form, and a reading of silence is thinner than a reading of text. Read those rows with the citation open. Where a cell says the rule names no contents, take it as no state minimum, not as permission to skip the lines the rest of the country writes. Each state name links to its page on this site, which carries the whole rule: the age, the record, the health questions, who inspects you.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Your local health department has the final word. Ask them, and bring your records.

The lines most rules agree on

Counted across the 33 rules that list what the form has to carry:

• The risks of the procedure, disclosed to the client: 19 states
• Aftercare, written on the form or acknowledged on it: 17
• A statement about the client's health, or the health questions themselves: 14
• The parent's or guardian's signature for a minor: 13
• That the work is permanent: 10
• What is being done and where on the body: 10
• Infection, named as a risk: 8
• Who the client is: name, date of birth, address, phone: 8
• The date: 6
• The artist, by name or signature: 5
• That removal may leave a scar: 4
• An allergic reaction, named as a risk: 4
• The artist's signature beside the client's: 3

Put the top of that list together and you have the form most of the country is describing. Who the client is. What they were told about the risks. That this is permanent. What is being done and where. That they got the aftercare. Their signature. Texas writes that form almost line for line in 25 TAC § 229.406: the risks, told "verbally and in writing", the possibility of pain, that the markings are permanent, the risk of infection, the possibility of an allergic reaction to pigments, and a signed statement that the aftercare instructions were received. Colorado starts the same form from the other end in 6 CCR 1010-22 § 4-403: the client's name, address and phone, the date, the type and location of the body art, then the shop, the artist, and when to see a doctor.

The lines only a few states want

California makes the form say that tattoo inks and pigments are not approved by the FDA, in Health & Safety Code § 119303, and Louisiana wants a prominent statement about the regulatory status of the inks, La. Admin. Code tit. 51, § XXVIII-107. Nobody else mentions the ink.

A copy of the client's ID as part of the form itself: Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. That the client is not drunk or high, in the client's own words: Kentucky, Mississippi and West Virginia, while Utah, Oklahoma and Nevada's Clark County ask it as a question instead. How to file a complaint about the shop: Michigan, and nobody else. Vermont asks for the same information and lets a shop post it on the wall instead of writing it on the form. South Carolina puts a notice about giving blood after a tattoo on the form, and West Virginia's says a tattoo can interfere with an MRI.

Oklahoma puts the health questionnaire inside the consent form, 9 questions from diabetes to when the client last ate, Okla. Admin. Code 310:233-3-6.1. Utah does the same with 11, in R392-701-14, and its form also carries the warning that a heart condition means calling a physician first.

Vermont's is the form nobody else writes, though not for the reason it first looks like. Code Vt. R. 04-030-310 § 3.2(F) says the consent form must ask whether the client has used alcohol or drugs in the last 8 hours, whether it has been more than 2 hours since they last ate, and about nine conditions from a heart valve to an autoimmune disorder, on top of an explanation of the procedure, that tattooing is permanent, that removal may not be complete and may leave scarring, and the complications. The operator's own qualifications and experience are not on that form. Section 4.1 makes them one of four things disclosed to each new client, and a shop may disclose them by posting them and telling the client where they are posted. What the client signs for that is a separate document saying all four were disclosed; the tattooist signs it too and keeps the original.

Who writes the words

4 states approve or prescribe the form itself. Georgia's has to be approved by the county board of health, Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 511-3-8-.08. Michigan hands out department-approved documents and says a shop's own version "must be at least as comprehensive as state-provided sample documents", Mich. Admin. Code R 333.13110. Wisconsin's is "a form approved by the department", SPS 221.10. Virginia's is the client disclosure form "prescribed by the board", 18VAC41-50-410. Arkansas approves the parental consent form for a minor. Everywhere else the words are yours, and the rule is the list of what they have to cover.

The free PDF

The searches that bring most people to this page ask for a printable tattoo consent form, free, as a PDF. There is no form for every state. A template that fits Texas skips Oklahoma's 9 questions. One that fits Oklahoma never mentions Louisiana's ink line, West Virginia's MRI warning, or Colorado's request for the artist's name. The table above is the specification. Whatever you sign on, a clipboard or the client's phone, hold it against your state's row and add the lines that are missing.

The searches want a form. The rules want the lines. Get the lines right and the form is whatever carries them.