Hands Feet and Toes

Q: I have a friend who wants to get a tattoo on her toe. I am trying to talk her
out of this as I think it is a bad idea. My understanding is that since the
skin in that area is very thin and there is friction from shoes, the tattoo
will fade or turn into a blob. Am I correct in this? Thank you.

A: There's this problem with the toes, the soles of the feet, and the palms of the hands. The human face shares these qualities to a certain extent, as well.
     While many artists may be ill-informed, any competent artist can tattoo the backs of hands, the tops of feet and the phalanges (finger bones) without creating a blue blob.
    I want to add that the backs of hands and the fingers should be reserved for devotees only, as these tattoos have a habit of keeping people in a lower-income bracket (job interviewers think you are a felon or a slut) But discrimination is not my area of expertise.
    The skin on the palms, soles, toes (most), is a different sort of skin, thicker, more translucent, sometimes rougher and often calloused. It is harder for the tattooist to find his margin of error, thus causing a blue blob or "blowout" or the pigment will disappear very rapidly, maybe leaving a few spots. Color, being especially grainy, is next to impossible to get into these parts of the body.
     The skin is very thick in that area, and we are not used to tattooing this that often. I will admit that I have have seen perfect tattoos on the palms, but cannot do them (maybe one day :() but this is very rare, I mean once or twice out of thousands, maybe a million tattoos I've seen. I have seen a perfect toe tattoo, and these have been one line swirls, initials, or dots on the skin, tattoos that had very little detail and no colors. I have never seen a tattoo take on the sole of the foot. Not a single bit of pigment left.
    I tell my clients that I will tattoo the top of the toe, I will not honor my policy of free touch-ups if need be. I know I will have have to touch up the tattoo and also know that it is not my fault if they don't take. I refuse to tattoo the soles of the feet or the palms of the hand, except for the people I work with, because they understand the limitations of these tattoos.

I have to add a note:

    Though the toes and knuckles may be tattooed somewhat, remember that the soles and palms have different skin. This means the toe ring or wedding band you want will be really screwed up on one side. Please do not blame your artist if this happens, you are happy about your decisions, and he/she may give in to your enthusiasm due to the fact that we are people's people!
Albert