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Tattoos are a pop-culture phenomenon. People just like you - of all ages and from all walks of life - are showing off their ink. You might think that this is a relatively new trend in the modern world, but the history of tattoos actually dates back thousands of years.

Where did the word 'tattoo' come from? We can't be completely sure, but it's a good bet that it came from the Polynesian word tatau, which means "to tap" or the Tahitian word tatu, which means "to mark."

So how old are tattoos anyway? In 1991, two German tourists discovered a body frozen in the ice in the mountains between Austria and Italy. Ötzi, the Iceman, as he came to be called, dated back to 3300 BC. The ice had preserved him for about 5000 years. You may think that you couldn't possibly have anything in common with a hunter-gatherer from the Copper Age, but you'd be wrong: Ötzi had 57 tattoos on his body.

Ancient proof of tattooing is found in Egypt as early as 2000 BC. From 300 BC to 300 AD, men in China tattooed their faces to ward off evil spirits. Tattoos became somewhat popular in Europe around the 1800s as a form of upper-middle class exotica, but they were always discreet and usually secret. That's nothing new.

So what does this all mean? You are interested in getting a tattoo now, not thousands of years ago. In 1891, Samuel O'Reilly invented the electric tattooing machine, based on an engraving device invented a few years earlier by Thomas Edison, and the modern era of tattooing began. Today's machines use electromagnetic coils, rotaries and pneumatics for power; and needles that penetrate the skin, inserting ink about 1/8 an inch below the skin. Lucky for you technology has progressed over the course of history - and now there's Infinitink, the first and most easily removable tattoo ink on the market.