Rotorua teens are resorting to backyard tattooists to avoid age restrictions maintained by studios.
Local operators say celebrities with tattoos have made the body art more popular with the general public, including an increasing number of teenagers.
The number of backyard tattooists has also risen, providing cheaper prices and no age restriction - and putting those who use their services at risk of infections or worse, because of unhygienic practices.
There is no legal age restriction in New Zealand for tattoos apart from a small number of bylaws which affect only certain regions, not including Rotorua.
Though most tattoo and moko studios in New Zealand have strict ethical boundaries, so-called "backyard scratchers" do not work to the same standards, according to studio owners in Rotorua.
Health risks associated with unhygienic tattoo practices, like not properly sterilising needles and using cheap ink, include skin infections and blood-borne infections, like HIV, hepatitis, tetanus and tuberculosis.
Skin Graft owner David Young said access to tattooing equipment was easily gained in New Zealand.
"There are no laws in New Zealand around age. Anyone can get equipment off the internet, there are hundreds of kits on Trade Me - all you need on the net is a credit card and you're away."
He said they did not sell any tattooing equipment to people under 18 but young people would usually cheat the ethical standards set by studios by investing in backyard scratchers.
Toiariki owner Richard Francis said Maori who did not get family consent could always go to a backyard scratcher and that was common for teenagers.
"The profile [of tattoos] has skyrocketed in the last five years," he said.
Globus Tattoos owner Elton Buchanan, who trained in the United States, said the number of people using cheap backyard tattooists in New Zealand was shocking.
"I think people go that way because of the cost but they get what they are paying for.
"Two people died in Auckland because of hepatitis infections after going to a backyard tattooist.
"You wouldn't go to a dentist if it was in someone's kitchen, so I find it crazy that people would put their health at such risk."
He said it was common for backyard tattooists to wash their gear in a kitchen sink or the like and the health risks attached were horrific.
"Even cheap Chinese ink can be infectious with toxic properties, yet people buy it because it's cheap and readily accessible."
He said an increasing number of sports stars with tattoos, especially All Blacks, meant tattooing had become mainstream in New Zealand culture.
In a post on The Daily Post Facebook page, former Rotorua student Juanita Himobna said that when she was at school lots of students were experimenting with their own makeshift tattoos.
"We used to do home-made tattoos in the back of the science lab with pen ink and a needle. It was a craze back when I was in high school."
Another former Rotorua student Lisa Adlam posted that she got her first tattoo at the age of 13. "There was a few of us at Western Heights High School who [got a tattoo] and nobody mentioned anything at all."
John Paul College principal, New Zealand Secondary Schools' Association president Patrick Walsh, said a lot of high schools had strict protocols around tattoos.
"We don't allow our students to get tattoos unless it is for religious or cultural reasons and even then, they need their parents to come and see us about it."
He said a lot of the Maori moko seen on young people was done disrespectfully and not under proper cultural protocol.
"Moko aren't just a random design and there is a lot of protocol around receiving one, including getting consent from elders."
He said he would like to see a legal age restriction of 16 introduced in New Zealand.
"[Tattoos] are very expensive to remove if students decide a few years later that they want to get rid of them," he said.