Arkansas

What the form asks in Arkansas

Arkansas’s rule names things the standard waiver form did not ask. A shop in Arkansas gets them by default: the questions on its form, the rest on its record in the shop app.

• The artist's license number on the signed waiver, from the shop's artist list“The name and license number of the artist.” (Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.1.5)
• A photo of the client's ID (on every form)“A Photocopy of a valid government-issued photo identification for each client.” (Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.1.7)
• A cautionary notice the client ticks: a tattoo is permanent, is removed only by surgery, and removal can scar“A written cautionary notice to that effect shall be furnished to and signed by the client and retained on file at the establishment.” (Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules §§ 10.4.1, 10.4.2)

What the record must capture

• The date the procedure was performed
• The client's name, address, and date of birth
• Branch of service, rate or rank if the client is military
• The design and where on the body it went
• The artist's name and license number
• The client's signature and printed legal name
• A photocopy of the client's government-issued photo ID
• For a minor, the guardian's photo ID and proof of guardianship
• A separate book for each form of body art the shop does

Yes, a photocopy of a valid government-issued photo ID goes into the record for every client, and for a minor the guardian's ID and proof of guardianship go in too.

Digital records. Arkansas allows a digital system that holds the same fields as the bound book and is backed up. ("The records shall be preserved for at least two (2) years from the date of the last entry." — Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.1)

"The records shall be preserved for at least two (2) years from the date of the last entry." — Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.1

A license on a phone in Arkansas

Arkansas’s digital license is a real ID. It lives in Arkansas Mobile ID app, Apple Wallet, Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Ark. Code Ann. § 27-16-817, as amended by Act 17 of 2025:

A digitized driver's license or digitized identification card, except as provided in § 27-16-805(e)(2)(A): (1) May be accepted by a public entity for all state purposes authorized for a driver's license or identification card; and (2) May be accepted by a private entity for all state purposes for a driver's license or identification card. The text

A picture of one is not. “A digital copy, photograph, or image of a driver's license or identification card which is not downloaded through the application on a mobile device shall not be a valid digitized driver's license or digitized identification card as provided in this section.” The source

On waivers.tattoo: turn on “Choose from library” in Settings and a client whose license lives on their phone can pick a saved photo of their ID for your file. It starts off, and the signed waiver says when a photo was a saved one. The license itself is the proof of age, checked the way Arkansas requires.

Minors

18+. 16–17 only with conditions. 16 and 17-year-olds only, and only with all four: a Department-approved consent form signed and printed by the parent or legal guardian, that person present during the whole procedure, government photo ID from both the minor and the guardian, and proof of guardianship such as a birth certificate or court record. Under 16 is barred no matter what the parent says, apart from earlobe piercing and doctor-ordered repigmentation. Getting it wrong is a Class A misdemeanor; a fake guardian commits a Class D felony.

"An artist shall not perform body art on a person under sixteen (16) years of age, regardless of parental consent" — Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.3.2

On waivers.tattoo: turn on Tattooing under 18 in Settings and a client under 18 gets a parent-or-guardian section — who they are, how they are related, their own signature, and a photo of their ID. The signed waiver prints what Arkansas requires, nobody under 16 is offered it.

Piercing a minor

18+ to sign alone. 16–17 only with conditions. All four at once: a Department-approved consent form signed with the parent's or legal guardian's signature and printed legal name, that person present during the procedure, a valid government-issued photo ID from BOTH the minor and the adult, and proof of guardianship matching the ID, such as a birth certificate or a court or state adoption, guardianship, emancipation or marriage record. Under 16 there is no route at all except an earlobe.

Piercing the earlobe is the named exception to the under-16 ban, and an earlobe pierced with a pre-sterilized single-use stud or solid needle applied by a mechanical device is not 'body piercing' at all.

Off limits for a minor even with consent: nipple and genital piercing, and branding, for anyone under 18 regardless of parental consent.

Class A misdemeanor; a Class D felony for anyone who falsely claims to be the minor's parent or guardian

Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules §§ 10.3.1-10.3.5 The text

On waivers.tattoo: turn on Piercing under 18 in Settings and a client under 18 gets a parent-or-guardian section — who they are, how they are related, their own signature, and a photo of their ID. The signed waiver prints what Arkansas requires, nobody under 16 is offered it, and the form refuses nipple and genital piercings.

What the consent form must say

• A talk with the client about the risks and complications
• Notice that the work is permanent and removable only by surgery
• Notice that removal may leave permanent scarring
• A written cautionary notice signed by the client
• That signed notice kept on file at the shop
• For a minor, a Department-approved parental consent form

"A written cautionary notice to that effect shall be furnished to and signed by the client and retained on file at the establishment." — Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.4.2

Health history and aftercare

The rules require a risk conversation and a signed cautionary notice rather than a health-history questionnaire, though they do bar body art on anyone with a history of jaundice. Aftercare is doubled up: oral AND written Department-approved instructions handed to every client, with a copy posted in a conspicuous place in the shop. A patch test is required on request and before any permanent cosmetic work.

"After the procedure is complete, oral and written (printed or photocopied) instructions, approved by the Department, on the care of the skin where body art was applied ... shall be given to each client." — Ark. Body Art Establishment Rules § 10.5

Texting your clients in Arkansas

8am to 9pm, the client’s local time. Ark. Code Ann. §§ 4-99-401 to -408 (Arkansas Consumer Telephone Privacy Act), esp. §§ 4-99-403, -405, -407, in force since 2003. It does not say whether a text is a call. Treat it as if it is.

Consent. "prior written express invitation or permission", a call or message sent with it is outside the definition of 'telephone solicitation' (§ 4-99-403(6)(A)). The statute does not otherwise set a consent standard.

Your own clients. Yes - 36 months, one of the longest existing-customer windows in the 51. 'Prior or existing business relationship' means 'a relationship in which some financial transaction has transpired between the consumer and the telephone solicitor or its affiliates within the thirty-six (36) months immediately preceding the contemplated telephone solicitation' (§ 4-99-403(5)(A)). Merely having been solicited before does not create one.

It reaches your sender too. A service that texts on your behalf is inside this rule with you. Hiring one does not move the duty off the shop.

Make or transmit a telephone solicitation if that telephone solicitation violates the Federal Trade Commission Do-Not-Call rule set out in 16 C.F.R. § 310.4, as in effect on March 1, 2003. The text

No statutory damages. § 4-99-407(a) makes a violation of § 4-99-405 'an unfair or deceptive act or practice' under the Arkansas DTPA. The DTPA private action, § 4-88-113(f), is narrow: only 'a person who suffers an actual financial loss as a result of his or her reliance' may sue, recovery is limited to that actual financial loss, private class actions are barred, and the court may award attorney's fees.

Federal law is the floor under it: 8am to 9pm, the client’s local time, prior express written consent for a marketing text, and a STOP honored within 10 business days (47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1), (e)).

What to do

• Ask separately. A yes to marketing texts belongs on its own tick, not folded into the box a client has to accept to get tattooed. Keep it with the date and what it said.
• Text between 8am to 9pm, the client’s local time. An area code is not where somebody lives, so when you cannot tell, use the tighter window.
• Honor a STOP that day. Federal law gives you 10 business days. Same-day is the version nobody argues with, and it is what the carriers expect.
• Keep the count low. Arkansas sets no cap and neither does federal law, but a shop that texts a client more than a couple of times a month is teaching them to reply STOP.

Who inspects you

One state agency does all of it: ADH issues the body art artist license, issues the establishment license and Certificate of Sanitation, and sends the inspector. There is no county or city body art permit layered on top.

Cosmetology & Body Art licensing; rules promulgated by Environmental Health Protection

At least 1 inspection a year by the Department, plus the renewal inspection behind the Certificate of Sanitation. The inspector can enter any part of the premises at any reasonable time and is entitled to see all required records, so the bound book has to be reachable, not in someone's car.

Licensing

Your shop. An establishment license plus a Certificate of Sanitation from ADH, both expiring December 31 each year and renewed off an inspection; operating without a current license is a Class D felony, and the certificate is posted where the public can see it.

Your artists. A body art license from ADH, $100 a year, earned through an artist-in-training program and the Department's written and practical exams, renewed annually with proof of blood-borne pathogen certification. An establishment may not let an unlicensed artist work in it.

The licensing page

Using a generic waiver app in Arkansas

A generic waiver app is one form builder for every industry — rafting outfits, gyms, trampoline parks and tattoo shops all start from the same blank template. The tattoo part is yours: you write the questions, you keep them current when the rule changes, and you find out whether you got it right when an inspector reads your file.

In Arkansas that is 2 things to set up and keep in step yourself:

• The artist's license number on the signed waiver, from the shop's artist list
• A cautionary notice the client ticks: a tattoo is permanent, is removed only by surgery, and removal can scar

On waivers.tattoo, a shop in Arkansas gets all of it the day it starts. Your page opens with Arkansas’s questions already on the form, your client signs on their own phone, and the signed waiver prints what they answered.

Arkansas in our state-by-state posts

• Texting your tattoo clients: the hours, the caps, and all 51 state rules
• Can a minor get a tattoo with parental consent? State by state
• Can a minor get a piercing with parental consent? 45 states say yes, each on its own terms
• Do you have to ask health questions before a tattoo? 20 states say yes. Here are the questions.
• Do you have to give tattoo aftercare instructions in writing? 38 states say yes.
• Is a tattoo consent form signed on a phone legal? Yes, since 2000. Here is what your state adds on top.
• What has to be on a tattoo consent form? 32 states say. Here is every line they name.
• 26 states make you check ID before a tattoo. The other 25 give you a reason to.
• How long do you have to keep tattoo consent forms? Every state, one table