Studies of the remains of ancient Iranians reveal that many people had tattoos. In the past century, a number of Iranians got tattoos, most of them with some sort of significance attached. For example, women generally got tattoos because it was believed that they made them more attractive. They preferred images of birds, berry bushes or trees below the neck to make themselves prettier, or flower bushes on a breast or under the navel to supposedly boost sex appeal. Some women believed that tattoos would protect them from the evil eye. Men admired for their strength and masculinity usually had tattoos, typically consisting of images or a verse of a poem symbolizing their power or praising their mother.

In recent years, tattooing has become increasingly popular among youths, in particular among females. A little more than 20 years ago, Iranian women began getting tattoos as permanent makeup, which sometimes gets them in trouble because women need approval from guards to enter government buildings, which means they cannot show hair or wear makeup. If a woman has tattooed eyebrows or a permanent lip liner, she would have to demonstrate to the guards that no matter how much she rubs her face or lips with the tissues they have provided, the makeup will not come off.

Some tattoo artists travel and work in people’s homes, while others generally apply tattoos covertly in beauty parlors. The cost of a tattoo varies, depending on the artist’s experience, whether he or she works in the client’s home, whether he or she needs to pay royalties to a beauty parlor and, of course, the tattoo’s design, size and location.

The average price of a small tattoo on an arm, foot or leg is roughly equal to $100. The average cost of tattooing a medium-sized man’s entire body is around $3,000. A medium-sized Iranian male is about 172 centimeters tall.