Body modification on a baby is never well received.
It doesn’t matter if it’s an ear piercing , makeup, or hair extensions — all fall in the “do NOT do” category.
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Tattoos are even more controversial and permanent, especially when it’s on a newborn baby’s delicate skin. So when a tattoo artist tattooed a baby, all eyes were on the woman — and the parents.
Ayala Bratt is the tattoo artist behind the controversial ink.
The 22-year-old has been tattooing people since 2013. This includes husbands, wives, teens — and now babies.
Well, sorta. In the viral video, which has been viewed more than 28.7 million times on TikTok, Ayala is shown placing a tattoo stencil on a baby’s leg.
Meanwhile, the father who just got a thigh tattoo, happily holds and distracts his child.
The stencil was of a moon and sun shape. In another video, she also shared the process of stenciling a quote on the baby’s chest.
Both “tattoos” are temporary — a stencil is merely used for the artist to get the right placement and to make any modifications before actual ink is used.
Unfortunately, not a lot of people understood that concept. For this reason, Ayala was soon attacked on TikTok for what people believed was her permanently “tattooing” the baby.
“noooo, seriously,” one wrote with a mind-blown emoji.
“That’s the sound of da police,” another wrote.
“You can’t tattoo a child under 18 years old! And worse, he is an infant,” a third commented. The disbelief continued: “I can’t believe they did this.”
“I hope it’s a joke?” another horrified user commented.
Other people actually understood that it was actually a stencil.
“This is what they do to my baby when we get tattooed and it makes her very happy,” wrote one user.
“Do people actually think they tattooed a baby,” asked another person.
“The best part of the video is the people freaking out lol,” a third added.
Since the video went viral, Ayala has defended her actions , while also encouraging parents to expose their children to the world of tattoo art.
“I think opening kids up to the world of tattoos is completely okay,” Ayala told NeedToKnow.Online.
“It’s just art and it’s a way to express yourself. It’s not just something that is related to gangsters.” She acknowledged the mixed reaction to her video on TikTok .
“A lot of it was hate but some were funny,” she continued.
“Also, I’ve got so many requests from my customers asking if they can now bring their kid and ‘tattoo’ them – of course, I’ve said yes,” she added.
She went on to say that it’s clear in her videos (she has other ones of her stenciling children) that the kids are so happy.
“They even ask their parents if I can come to their birthday party to tattoo their friends as well.
When it comes to the designs for the stencils, she often bases them on a children’s favorite TV show, movie, or book.
“The cutest kid I ever had was a little girl from Germany. Her mom had a lot of tattoos but the little girl was initially afraid of them.”
“She even asked her mom not to get more tattoos because she didn’t like them,” she explained.
“But after we tried a fake tattoo on her, she was obsessed and decided it was okay for her mum to get more.”
