The legal age limit to get a tattoo without parental consent is 18 years old, but high school students are finding a new way to get tattoos that don’t require anything other than a pen and a needle.

The process — sometimes known as stick and poke — has been common for years and is usually done when a real tattoo can’t be done. The process is commonplace in jails around the world and this makeshift method is almost as permanent as the real real, even if it fades in a slightly more pronounced fashion.

High school students might resort to the method for one of two reasons: Either their parents would freak if they got a tattoo or they are well below the legal age limit.

Not that you would ever do it, but exactly how is it done? Those who do it first get a skin safe ink, possibly along the lines of indigo ink. From there they secure a clean needle and attach it to a pencil or pen. From there, the ink-inclined do what you’d expect: They prick their skin with the ink-soaked needle to create whatever design they have in mind. Some designs seen around North Atlanta are smiley faces, stars, letters, words, or whatever the imagine allows.

Parents might not like it — and likely they don’t — and no doubt teachers and administrators are against it. But despite all that disapproval, the trend is taking North Atlanta by storm even with the self-inflicted pain that accompanies it. “Stick and Poke hurts more compared to real tattoos because it’s a slower process,” said junior Savannah Padgett. “But eventually that area gets numb from the constant stabbing and then it stops hurting,” she said.

But pain is like a spectrum due to people having different pain tolerances and other people may find the process a bit more enjoyable compared to others. “It takes a high pain tolerance but I find it kind of therapeutic,” said junior Kaheya Nash, who has a scorpio constellation on her ankle.

Society’s opinions on tattoos is that they should have meaning or that they should not be something to be regretted years later. “I feel that if something is important to you, you should get a tattoo of it if you want to; just as a little reminder of what you value,” Padgett said.

As would be the case with real tattoos, stick and poke fans say their art has meaning. “I think tattoos are art and I would recommend it to anybody that I know,” said senior Aldreijana Meister. “They’re symbolic and they represent who you are as a person.”

Meister has a female symbol on my left pinky. “It’s because I’m a woman and being a woman is great!” Meister said.

Whether to get a tattoo or not is always a personal choice. Regular tattoos require an age requirement but certain high-school teenagers have become crafty to find a way to get their own. Stick and poke is the improvised new wave and it would seem things are getting a bit inky around the hallways of North Atlanta.