Hand Tattoos: The Best Designs for a Tricky Location

Tattoos on the hands are in a highly visible area and, therefore, are also a powerful form of personal expression. This can be a double-edged sword when it comes to a permanent tattoo —more on stereotypes in some cultures later— but as we always like to point out, it's a great place to experiment with temporary tattoos. We invite you to try!

Although the hands are one of our favorite places to place some tattoos, we have to admit, not all designs fit properly.

Mainly because of space —the surface of the skin on the hands or fingers is limited, and full of folds— and because of its mobility —as it is an area in constant movement, larger tattoos tend to break down sooner.

Therefore, for this location we recommend the smallest designs in our catalogue. They fit, for example, some objects such as the double diamond tattoo, our popular miniature toys design or this Alice and Wonderland set of black tattoos, good both for adults or children.

Other small tattoos that will suit your hands perfectly are our miniature flowers or any of our geometric tattoos, such as Odd Geometry or Paranoid Circles. Although in reality, any tattoo that admits an abstract composition can be a good candidate.

Other of our recommended tattoos for the hands are those formed by words or letters. At Tempo Tattoo we have a small collection of calligraphic tattoos, in collaboration with the designer Prolija, where you can find the most powerful words with a unique typography. All of our word tattoos come in different sizes so you can place them in different places of your body.

However, there are people who prefer to go a little further and get bigger tattoos. It is not the most recommended, since the durability of the tattoo can be compromised, but nothing is impossible with a little creativity and some patience. Remember that if you have questions about how to place a tattoo in a certain place, you can always contact us and we will be happy to help.

We also want to highlight that, although Tempo Tattoo tattoos are very easy to place, in the case of the hands we recommend doing it with the help of a friend or family member. This way you will avoid unnecessary movements while the tattoo gets fixed to your skin!

Likewise, and although they are not in our catalog —just yet— tattoos of symbols with personal meaning such as infinity, Viking runes or a small hearts are very common for this placement, but also words or letters of a different alphabet, usually of Asian or Arabic origin. ¡Don't forget at Tempo Tattoo we can design your custom tattoos if you need them!

Hand Tattoo Stereotypes

Although tattoos are increasingly accepted, in some cultures or countries there may be stereotypes —usually negative— associated with tattoos in highly visible areas such as the hands or face.

These preconceived ideas can be very diverse, but they usually revolve around an image of rebellion or impudence, and can become symbols of social marginalization or even of a criminal past —or present— and have caused problems for some people at the time to find work or establish some social relationships.

However, in other cultures, hand tattoos are commonplace and cause for celebration. For example, in Arab weddings it is a tradition for the bride to get henna tattoos on her hands in the so-called henna ceremony, which takes place a few days before the wedding.

In any case, with our temporary tattoos you will not have this problem. You can get tattooed and experiment with any part of the body, including hands or face, because they only last a few days. Plus, they're super easy to remove in case you change your mind!

Below you can see how some of the tattoos mentioned in this article look "physically", in case you want to buy one. But we encourage you to check our complete catalogue. We have many more!