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This is just how we do things.

Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person. Be a damn good person.

We built this studio to do it right. The services, yeah, but also everything around it. How we treat people, what we put our name behind, how we show up when it's not convenient. Here's what that looks like for us.

tattoos for everyone.

PWYC Flash Tattoos

1,500+
people served through PWYC since we started the program in 2024

Walk in. Pick a flash design. Pay what you've got. We don't ask questions and we don't need a reason. Whatever you can bring, we're glad you came. ◡̈

Every PWYC tattoo gets the same care, the same setup, and the same artist as everything else we do.

We stay pretty busy, so call ahead to check wait times before you come in.

a day that changed how we saw this studio

In November 2024, we opened our doors for one day and four hundred people came through. We tattooed 80 of them over 13 hours straight, and every dollar went to the American Civil Liberties Union.

That day became PWYC. We've kept supporting the ACLU ever since, because they fight for everyone, across every issue, and that's something we'll always stand behind.

Pass it on if you can

If you're in a position to pay a little more, you can. It goes toward keeping everything running, including the things that make this studio different from most.

Areola tattoos.
Free, always.

Every month we hold appointments for areola tattoos at no cost. For anyone coming through top surgery, mastectomy, breast reconstruction, or gender-affirming care. If this is the last piece of something long and hard, we want to be the ones who help you finish it.

We keep these limited so they get the time they deserve. Reach out and we'll figure it out together.

Community care table

We keep a table stocked with things people need. condoms, Plan B, Narcan, pregnancy tests, pads and tampons, lube and dental dams, travel toiletries, socks and hand warmers. Take what you need, no questions.

Bring something to donate and you'll get 10% off your visit.

We've been with Gifting Joy since Alexa Baltazar started it in 2022. She built it to get care packages into the hands of patients undergoing bone marrow transplants and other hard treatments. The kind of small, specific comfort that matters more than most people realize until they need it.

Spreading Comfort: Gifting Joy

This industry deserves better. We're working on it.

There's no defined path into tattooing or piercing in North Carolina. Pay $300 and you can start. No training, no standards, nothing that protects the person in the chair or the artist holding the needle.

We've been pushing to change that for a while now, talking to legislators, showing up in the press, doing the slow unglamorous work of trying to make something better. We've built this studio with no roadmap and plenty of critics, and that's exactly why we care about this. We want it to be easier for the next person who cares, however they got here.