Tennessee

What the record must capture

• The date of the client's visit
• The client's printed name and signature
• The client's address
• The client's age
• The design of the tattoo
• Where on the body it went
• The tattooist's name

The rule makes you record the client's age but never names a photo-ID check, so how you verify age is your own call, the 18 rule still binds either way.

Digital records. Tennessee's 1996 statute says records "shall be entered in ink," and the Health Department's rule, revised in 2024, has no such line and asks only that the records stay on the premises for 2 years. Tennessee's electronic transactions law says a record kept electronically satisfies a law that requires a record be in writing or be kept, even one asking for the original, unless a law passed after July 1, 2001 specifically prohibits an electronic record, and the ink sentence is older than that and never mentions one (Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 47-10-107(c), 47-10-112(a), (d), (f)). Your county inspector reads the statute, so if they want paper on the shelf, print the signed forms. This is our reading of the two laws side by side, not a lawyer's. ("Records shall be entered in ink and shall be made available to the local health department upon request, at a reasonable time, for examination." - Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-38-207(b))

"Records showing the date of the client's visit, printed name, signature, address, age, design of the tattoo, its location on the body, and tattooist's name shall be kept on the establishment premises for a minimum of 2 years." - Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-23-03-.04(4)(e)

A license on a phone in Tennessee

Tennessee does not issue a digital license. A license on a phone is not an ID a shop here can rely on.

What we read: Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security home and Driver Services pages (tn.gov/safety), 2026-09-11: no digital license offered or announced. Public Chapter 297 (2025) read in full (publications.tnsosfiles.com); General Assembly bill page for SB 1297 (114th GA): 'Companion bill has been assigned Public Chapter Number 297', effective 04/24/2025. Apple App Store search for a Tennessee state ID app: none (the only IDEMIA 'Tennessee' app is a proctoring app). Apple Wallet, Google Wallet and TSA lists (2026-09-11): Tennessee absent.

On waivers.tattoo: a shop can let its clients choose a saved photo of their ID in Settings. It starts off, and in Tennessee a saved photo is only ever a picture of a card: a copy for your file, never proof of age.

Minors

18+. 16–17 only with conditions. A 16- or 17-year-old can be tattooed only to cover up an existing tattoo, and only with written consent from a parent or legal guardian who stays present during the procedure. Under 16 there is no exception.

"No person shall tattoo another person who is under the age of eighteen (18) years. However, a minor sixteen (16) years or older may be tattooed with the written consent of a parent or legal guardian to cover up an existing tattoo" - Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-23-03-.02(3)

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 Tennessee requires, nobody under 16 is offered it.

Piercing a minor

18+ to sign alone. Minors only with conditions. The parent, legal guardian or legal custodian has to appear in person at the shop at the time of the piercing, produce proof of their own age, and sign the shop's form, which states the minor's gender and age, explains the procedure and the aftercare, and carries a certification whose wording the rule sets word for word. A copy of all of it goes to the department within 30 business days.

Only when the ear piercing is done with an ear piercing gun; a needle through an ear is body piercing.

Class C misdemeanor for impersonating a parent, guardian or custodian, up to 30 days or a $50 fine or both (1200-23-06-.03(10))

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-23-06-.02(3), .03(3) 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 Tennessee requires.

What the consent form must say

• The client's printed name and signature on the record
• Written parental consent when the client is 16 or 17

"Records showing the date of the client's visit, printed name, signature, address, age ... shall be kept on the establishment premises" - Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-23-03-.04(4)(e)

Health history and aftercare

No health-history questionnaire in the rule, though you may not tattoo anyone under the influence of drugs or alcohol or any skin showing unhealthy conditions. Written aftercare instructions go to every client, and the same instructions get posted somewhere the client can see them.

"After each tattooing, written instructions shall be given to each patron or customer on the care of the skin of the tattooed site to prevent infection." - Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-23-03-.04(4)(f)

Texting your clients in Tennessee

8am to 9pm, the rule does not say whose clock. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 65-4-401 to 65-4-410, esp. § 65-4-401(7) (text message solicitation), § 65-4-402 (identity; hours), § 65-4-404, § 65-4-405 (registration; penalties), in force since 2023-07-01. It names text messages, so a text counts.

Consent. Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-401(7)(B)(i) takes out of 'text message solicitation' any text "With the subscriber's prior express permission", permission, with no writing formality specified. Separately, § 65-4-402 conditions texting outside the 8am–9pm window on "the permission of the residential subscriber."

Your own clients. Yes, but on a TWELVE-MONTH clock. Tenn. Code Ann. § 65-4-401(7)(B)(iii) excludes a text to a residential subscriber "Who is an existing customer, including a residential subscriber with whom the person or entity making a text message solicitation has had a prior relationship within the prior twelve (12) months." A client who last came in more than 12 months ago falls back inside the statute.

It reaches your sender too. Its own words are “make or cause to be made”, so a service that texts on your behalf is inside this rule with you. Hiring one does not move the duty off the shop.

a person or entity who makes a telephone or text message solicitation shall not call or text the subscriber at any time other than between the hours of eight o'clock a.m. ... to nine o'clock p.m. ..., prevailing time The text

No private right of action in this part. Tenn.

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 rule does not say whose clock. 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. Tennessee 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

The state Environmental Health Program licenses tattoo artists and permits and inspects tattoo establishments, but the paperwork runs through the county health department where you are, you get the permit application from an environmental health specialist in your county, and that local health officer issues the permit after inspecting the place.

Environmental Health Program, tattoo artist licensing and tattoo establishment permitting

• Local county health department (environmental health) · Every county, the permit and the artist license both come from your county

The local health department inspects on a scored sheet where critical items are worth 4 or 5 points, and the permit has to hang where the inspector says the public can see it.

Licensing

Your shop. Yes. Apply to the local health officer through your county health department before you open; the permit is issued after an inspection, and a change of ownership means a new application.

Your artists. Yes. A tattoo artist license takes a 1-year apprenticeship, an approved sterilization course, and a passing score on an exam about Title 62, chapter 38, all handled by the local health department.

The licensing page

Tennessee in our state-by-state posts

• Texting your tattoo clients: the hours, the caps, and all 51 state rules
• Texas and Tennessee let you tattoo a minor for one reason: to cover up an existing tattoo
• 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.
• 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