“I didn’t get her to hide her,” said Cousineau, displaying the large tattoo she said is one of the conversation pieces that helps her connect to clients.

Tattoos, their black and colored ink appearing on skin around Northeast Michigan, are met with frowns by some, especially cautious employers who deem the body art “unprofessional,” tattoo wearers report.

But, some say, business owners and residents of Northeast Michigan increasingly welcome and accept a new definition of “professional” that acknowledges the value of a worker, no matter how they choose to look.

Alpena, where Cousineau grew up, became more accepting of different appearances in the years she lived elsewhere, she said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Tattoo artist Troy Muritok works on a client’s arm at Feral Cat Tattoo Studio in Alpena last week.

When she lived in Texas, Cousineau remembered, she couldn’t wear shorts to her restaurant jobs on 90-degree days because employers were afraid her tattoos would show.

When she moved back to the area five years ago, Cousineau was surprised by a shift in attitude toward tattoos. Many locally-owned businesses have opened their doors — and their hiring practices — to people whose tattoos show, she’s noticed.

Still, many Alpena workers have to wear bandages or long sleeves to cover artwork on arms or legs, and clients and friends have been turned down for jobs because they have pictures on their skin.

Sentiments against tattoos as socially unacceptable baffle Cousineau. Sure, she said, not everyone will like the elaborate designs on her skin. But, “you wouldn’t walk into someone’s house and look at the art on their walls and say it was trash,” she mused.

Unwillingness to hire a qualified and willing worker because of their appearance is “one of the most asinine things I’ve ever heard,” robbing the community of good workers with valuable skills and insights, the therapist said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Jennifer Cousineau displays a tattoo of Medusa on her back at Feral Cat Tattoo Studio in Alpena last week.

Tattoos can remove barriers, too. People walking into a doctor’s office or other professional setting, full of apprehensions of being judged for their appearance, can instantly feel accepted when the professional looks like them, she said.

When her kids started asking about tattoos and piercings, her knee-jerk reaction was to tell them they’d never get a job if they didn’t look like everyone else.

“What are you talking about?” Cousineau asked herself, then. “That’s not even a thing anymore.”

Her grandma loves her tattoos, often asking about the ornate designs that make Cousineau feel like a walking museum.

“He puts art on me,” Cousineau said of her tattoo artist. “How is that not one of the coolest things in the world?”

News Photo by Julie Riddle Kyra Lancewicz examines the first phase of a large flower tattoo as tattoo artist Troy Muritok covers it with a transparent bandage at Feral Cat Tattoo Studio last week.

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As Alpena tattoo artist Troy Muritok inked a rose onto her leg, 24-year-old Kyra Lancewicz said that, with Northeast Michigan becoming more accepting of self-expression, she’s not worried about future jobs passing her by because of her tattoo.

In many businesses, Muritok has observed, the workers interacting with the public are expected to fit a prescribed image of neatness and uniformity.

Meanwhile, he said, “Probably the chef’s in the kitchen, covered in tattoos.”

Some people in older generations seem afraid of tattoos, he said, but many an octogenarian has admired his many tattoos, calling him a “walking billboard.”

News Photo by Julie Riddle A compass with the words, “Not all that wander are lost” decorates the shoulder of Kristy Kiehn in Alpena this week.

His oldest client so far was 82 — a record he hopes to beat, Muritok said.

Clients tell him they have to hide their tattoo because they’ve been told they need to appear “professional” — a word with a definition that needs enlarging to allow people to be themselves, he thinks.

“Who makes the rule what traditions we hold and don’t hold?” he wondered. “Who’s the boss in this?”

****

When Brittany Blethin, of Alpena, worked at a chain fast food restaurant, she was embarrassed by the tape she had to wear over her tattoos. The tape looked much stranger to customers than what was under it, she thought.

Friendly, pleasant, and with a “capacity to be professional,” she said, the colorful-haired and tattooed Blethin nevertheless hesitates to pursue a job in a professional setting, where she fears people would look at her like she doesn’t belong.

At the suggestion she could have chosen job security over tattoos, Blethin said she’s determined to express herself in the way she chooses, even if it means potential employers are missing what she has to offer.

As she cheerfully displayed her many tattoos — song lyrics, a clock that reminds her of her son, a wrinkly pug face in memory of a friend — Blethin said she has 30-plus stories imprinted on her body.

“I always said I want to look like a coloring book,” Blethin said. “I’m well on my way.”

****

“I love you to the moon and back,” reads an elegant tattoo on Kristy Kiehn’s side, a tribute to her children.

At her job in the Alpena County Courthouse, she sometimes hears co-workers talking about the unprofessionalism of tattoos, declaring they’d never get one themselves.

“And I think, gosh, I have three,” said Kiehn, who placed her ink where it could be hidden by clothing out of concern it wouldn’t be accepted at work.

She feels judged when she hears such comments, but she loves her tattoos, said Kiehn, a quiet person who feels the art she wears helps her express herself in ways words cannot.

“It’s part of who I am,” Kiehn said. “There are a lot of issues in the world we should be worried about rather than if someone has a tattoo on their body.”

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