West Virginia

What the form asks in West Virginia

West Virginia’s rule names things the standard waiver form did not ask. A shop in West Virginia gets them by default: the questions on its form, each client’s signed copy by email, the rest on its record in the shop app.

• The risks of a tattoo the state's rule lists, in writing on a tattoo's consent“Before tattoo administration, the owner or tattoo artist shall discuss with the patron the risks involved in the tattoo requested, including the potential that a tattoo may interfere with the clinical reading of a magnetic resonance imaging study, should the patron intending to be tattooed ever encounter a medical need for such a study.” (W. Va. Code § 16-38-3(a)(4); the risk factors themselves, WV Department of Health, Manual of Environmental Health Procedures DC-11 (September 23, 2025))
• A box the client ticks to say they received the state's written information on the possible complications of a tattoo“The owner shall provide the patron with written information regarding the possible complications that may arise from receiving a tattoo. The written information shall be prepared by the Department of Health. Receipt of the information shall be acknowledged in writing by the patron.” (W. Va. Code § 16-38-3(a)(4))
• The client's answer that they are not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, asked where the state names it or the shop turns it on“The person receiving the tattoo shall attest to the fact that he or she is not intoxicated or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.” (W. Va. Code § 16-38-3(b)(3); 64 CSR 80 § 13.3)
• Aftercare instructions, acknowledged in the consent (on every form)“Printed instructions on the care of the skin after tattooing shall be given to each patron as a precaution to prevent infection” (W. Va. Code § 16-38-3(c)(1))
• A copy of the signed waiver emailed to the client the moment they sign, to the email they typed“One copy of each form shall be retained by the facility and the other copy shall be given to the client.” (64 CSR 80 § 14.1)
• The risks of a piercing the state's rule lists, in writing on a piercing's consent“Verification that the client was given written and oral notification of the risks associated with body piercing;” (64 CSR 80 § 15.2.a; Public Notice 64-80A)
• The aftercare suggestions for the client's piercing, on the consent and the signed waiver, headed by the placement they picked“Care specific to the site of the piercing;” (64 CSR 80 § 14.13.a)

What the record must capture

• Patron's name and signature
• Address
• Age
• Date tattooed
• Design of the tattoo
• Location of the tattoo on the patron's body
• Name of the tattoo artist who did the work
• No scleral tattooing
• For a piercing, no work on skin with sunburn, rash, pimples, infection, open lesions or other unhealthful signs
• For a piercing, the client's own copy of the client information and consent forms
• For a piercing, written care for the site, jewelry tightness, restrictions, signs of infection and when to see a physician
• For a piercing, signed proof of written and oral notice of the risks
• The care sheet, the permit and the state's public notice posted

State code makes you record the patron's age but does not require you to check or copy a photo ID. Check one anyway, the consent rule turns entirely on whether the patron is a minor.

"All records required by this section shall be kept on file for five years by the holder of the studio registration for the studio in which the tattoo was performed." - W. Va. Code Sec. 16-38-3(a)

A license on a phone in West Virginia

West Virginia’s digital license is a real ID. It lives in West Virginia Mobile ID app, Apple Wallet and Samsung Wallet. W. Va. Code R. § 175-2-4.2.3, as amended by HB 4245 (2026):

4.2.3. A valid West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (WV DMV) identification or a valid West Virginia Mobile ID issued by the WV DMV showing that the holder is at least 21 years of age and the photograph on the identification or WV Mobile ID matches the holder. The text

A picture of one is not. “Note, any other digital identification or any other photograph/copy of an identification is not an acceptable form of identification.” The source

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

Minors

18+. Minors only with conditions. One parent or guardian gives prior WRITTEN consent before the tattoo, and you keep that consent on file for 5 years. State code sets no floor age and does not require the parent to be present, so many shops set a stricter house rule. The statute's own words: "Prior written consent for tattooing of minors shall be obtained from one parent or guardian" and "All written consents shall be kept on file for five years by the holder of the studio registration for the tattoo studio in which the tattoo was performed" (W. Va. Code § 16-38-3(b)(1), (2)). Nothing in the article asks for the parent in the room, an ID or proof of the relationship, and it sets no floor.

"Prior written consent for tattooing of minors shall be obtained from one parent or guardian" - W. Va. Code Sec. 16-38-3(b)(1)

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 West Virginia requires.

Piercing a minor

18+ to sign alone. Minors only with conditions. The minor has to be accompanied by a parent or guardian, and that parent or guardian must have valid picture identification. The rule asks for no notary and no state form. The rule's own words: "A person under the age of eighteen (18) years may receive body piercing provided he or she is accompanied by his or her parent or guardian. The parent or guardian shall have valid picture identification." (64CSR80 § 13.1), and the client record keeps "In the case of a minor, the proof of parental or guardian presence and written consent." (§ 15.1.h).

W. Va. Code § 16-37-2(c): body piercing "does not include the use of a mechanized, presterilized ear-piercing system that penetrates the outer perimeter or lobe of the ear or both", and 64 CSR 80 Section 1.5.b leaves out of the rule "Persons who use a mechanized, pre-sterilized ear-piercing system that penetrates the outer perimeter or lobe of the ear" (§ 64-80-1.5.b; Section 2.15 defines the piercing gun as a tool "used exclusively for piercing the ear"). So an earlobe or the ear's outer rim pierced with a gun is outside the rule; a needle through either, or any piercing of the cartilage inside the rim, is not. Read at code.wvlegislature.gov and the Secretary of State's filed rule, 2026-11-03.

Off limits for a minor even with consent: nipple and genital piercing is prohibited on minors regardless of parental consent (§ 64-80-13.1).

The rule points at W. Va. Code § 16-37-5: a misdemeanor with confiscation and a $100 fine on a first offense, $500-$1,000 and 10 days to a year on a second, $1,000-$5,000 and 30 days to a year on a third

W. Va. C.S.R. § 64-80-13.1 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 West Virginia requires, and the form refuses nipple and genital piercings.

Permanent makeup

West Virginia's statute counts any indelible mark made by pricking in coloring matter as a tattoo, so a cosmetic tattoo follows the tattoo rule: the same record, and for a client under 18 the prior written consent of one parent or guardian.

W. Va. Code § 16-38-1 ("Tattoo") The text

On waivers.tattoo, the cosmetic tattoo waiver form here:

• Takes a client under 18 for a cosmetic tattoo on the same terms as a tattoo, where the shop takes minors for tattoos.

What the consent form must say

• Written consent from one parent or guardian for a minor
• The patron's attestation that they are not intoxicated or on drugs
• Written acknowledgment of the risks, including interference with MRI imaging

"The person receiving the tattoo shall attest to the fact that he or she is not intoxicated or under the influence of drugs or alcohol." - W. Va. Code Sec. 16-38-3(b)(3)

Health history and aftercare

No health-history questionnaire. Printed aftercare instructions go to every patron and a copy stays posted in the shop. You also have to discuss the risks, including that a tattoo can interfere with MRI imaging, and keep the patron's written acknowledgment in their file.

"Printed instructions on the care of the skin after tattooing shall be given to each patron as a precaution to prevent infection" - W. Va. Code Sec. 16-38-3(c)(1)

Texting your clients in West Virginia

8am to 9pm, the client’s local time. West Virginia has no telephone-solicitation or texting rule that goes past federal law, so federal law is the whole of it here. A marketing text to a cell phone needs prior express written consent: a signed agreement that names who may text, says the texts may be automated, and says the person does not have to agree in order to buy anything. A client can take that back any way they like, and you have 10 business days to stop.

No person or entity shall initiate any telephone solicitation to … any residential telephone subscriber before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party’s location) The text

47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(c)(1), (e). The hours reach a text because the rules set forth in paragraph (c) and (d) of this section are applicable to any person or entity making telephone solicitations or telemarketing calls or text messages to wireless telephone numbers.

What we read in West Virginia: Its telemarketing window, 8am to 9pm at the called person's location, reaches a voice call and not a text. Read the full section list of W. Va. Code ch. 46A, art. 6F, then read §§ 46A-6F-112 (telemarketing solicitation), -113 (telemarketer), -213 (storefront exemption), -601 (abusive acts) and -701 (civil remedies) in full at code.wvlegislature.gov. Searched for "text message", "8 a.m.", "twenty-four", "three". ALSO CHECKED the TWO STARTING-POINT CITES and both ARE WRONG: W. Va. Code § 46A-6K is the Fairness in Lending article (lender duty, accrual of interest, validity of loan documents) and § 46A-2-129a is a debt-collection provision about falsely calling a collection call "urgent." Finally, checked 2024 SB 500, the source of the widely repeated "three texts per 24 hours" claim, at the WV bill-status database.

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 from 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. West Virginia 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

West Virginia is unusual: the tattoo rules are written straight into the Code (W. Va. Code 16-38) instead of a health-department legislative rule. Enforcement is local, you register with your own county or regional board of health, they inspect annually, and they issue the permit. There is no state artist license for tattooers.

Tattoo studio registration and operating permits; state oversight from the WV DHHR Office of Environmental Health Services, Public Health Sanitation Division

• Putnam County Health Department, Body Art Studios · Putnam County
• Cabell-Huntington Health Department, Tattoo/Body Piercings · Cabell County and Huntington
• Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, Body Modification · Wood, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Calhoun and Wirt counties
• Ohio County Health Department · Ohio County and Wheeling

Your local or regional board of health inspects each tattoo studio once a year. The inspector checks compliance with W. Va. Code 16-38, patron records, sterilization, facilities and waste, and a new studio gets its first inspection within about 10 days of asking, with a 30-day temporary permit if they cannot get there in time.

Licensing

Your shop. Yes, get a WV business registration certificate, register with your local or regional board of health, pass their inspection, then post the $200 operating permit where the public can see it.

Your artists. No individual tattooer license in state code, the studio holds the registration. Body piercers separately have to register with the state health department.

Guest artists and conventions. West Virginia licenses no individual tattoo artist; the studio registers with its local or regional board of health, and the state's only "temporary operating permit" covers a studio waiting on its first inspection, not an event. Event permits come from the county: the Grafton-Taylor health department, for one, licenses temporary body art studios at fairs, festivals and tattoo conventions, applied for at least 7 days before. Records stay 5 years with "the holder of the studio registration for the studio in which the tattoo was performed".

W. Va. Code §§ 16-38-3, 16-38-6 The text

The licensing page

Using a generic waiver app in West Virginia

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 West Virginia that is 5 things to set up and keep in step yourself:

• The risks of a tattoo the state's rule lists, in writing on a tattoo's consent
• A box the client ticks to say they received the state's written information on the possible complications of a tattoo
• A copy of the signed waiver emailed to the client the moment they sign, to the email they typed
• The risks of a piercing the state's rule lists, in writing on a piercing's consent
• The aftercare suggestions for the client's piercing, on the consent and the signed waiver, headed by the placement they picked

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

West Virginia in our state-by-state posts

• 19 states give a guest tattoo artist a short-term license, 11 never license the artist, and the signed waivers stay with the shop in almost every state
• Do you need a license to tattoo? 36 states license the shop, 29 license the artist, 10 license neither
• How often does the health inspector come to a tattoo shop? 16 states set a clock. 13 say nothing.
• Who inspects your tattoo shop? The regulator in every state, and the number to call first
• 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? 21 states say yes. Here are the questions.
• Do you have to give tattoo aftercare instructions in writing? 39 states say yes.
• What has to be on a tattoo consent form? 32 states say. Here is every line they name.
• 27 states make you check ID before a tattoo. The other 24 give you a reason to.
• How long do you have to keep tattoo consent forms? Every state, one table