SkinDeep Tattoo & Body Piercing

This is an interesting shop. There are not «Poster» displays along the walls to choose designs from like many of the parlors in and around «the big city,» although there are several catalogs and binders with artwork in them if one doesn’t mind taking their time to browse through them all. The proprietor would seem to be a Marilyn Monroe fan as there are MM posters about the lobby area.
I went in looking for a coverup over a 20 yr old tat with my ex wife’s name written across my arm. DJ did a fine job of pointing me in the direction of some art that would stand out and make the old faded rose look secondary to the new tat. Now, DJ is somewhat young and only has a couple years of experience under his belt, but he did a terrific job on the coverup, the fill in, touching up the old tat and hi-​lighting the whole thing.
So why only 3 stars? some reasons:
–Walking in, one doesn’t get the comfort level of seeing a clean shop. The couch is covered with a sheet, the block wall doesn’t provide any aesthetic comfort and the once «cream colored» air conditioners are blackened and in need of deep cleaning.
–There’s a «No Smoking» sign very visible in the shop, however, guests appear to not care and light up anyway. As an ex smoker, I actually get physically sick to my stomach around cigarette smoke.
–I was concerned about sterility here. DJ was the only person working and the phone kept ringing, people continued to come in looking for body hardware and the like, so while his hands were gloved, he kept touching other objects around the area and then going back to work without changing his gloves after answering the phone, handling merchandise and so on. Let me put it this way, the phone was constant with incoming calls and there was nobody else there to take them.
Does that mean I’m going to get sick? It’s unlikely, but possible. I’m just making sure I take good care of the area that got tattooed. Does it mean I won’t be back? Truth be told, I like DJ’s work. I just didn’t care for the conditions in the place, so I don’t know if I’ll be back. It’s possible, but I might be swayed to check other shops out between Wake Forest, Durham or Raleigh before going back to this shop.