A couple have revealed the moment they travelled nine hours to be tattooed by the oldest tattooist in the world.
Shery Ebrahim, 25, and her boyfriend Darren, 27, were travelling in Buscalan, Philippines, when they were told about Whang-Od, the 107-year-old woman who has been hand-tapping tattoos for over nine decades.
She is the last tribal tattooist of her generation in the area and thought to be the world’s oldest female tattoo artist.
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Shery and Darren knew it was an opportunity they couldn’t miss and travelled nine hours by minivan to get to her.
The content creators, known as @acroxthepond on Instagram, also shared a clip to their 13,300 followers where it has gathered over 3.3 million views so far.
“She tattoos the traditional way and now only does a three dots tattoo,” Shery told What’s The Jam.
“Because it represents the last three people in the Philippines that still tattoo this traditional way today.
“It’s now only her and her young two nieces.”
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The art cost the two £5 each, paying for the fresh thorn needle at £2 and tattoo at £3.
She said: “It was very painful.
“I felt like I was going to faint in the beginning, but my boyfriend took it pretty well.
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“But either way, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!”
In the clip, the couple can be seen sitting with their needles as they wait their turn.
Shery then shows the mix which Whang-Od makes, a paste of water and charcoal.
She films Darren getting his done, as the old lady applies ink to the needle before hammering the stick onto his skin.
Then, Shery can be seen getting hers done as she holds tightly onto the chair and bites her lip.
The video was captioned: “Oldest tattoo artist in the world,” and has received over 137,000 likes, as well as thousands of comments from followers.
One person said: “Amazing.”
Ay added: “Wow.”
Jaylen commented: “Very unique.”
Christine added: “Sounds extremely unsanitary.”
Someone else added: “Cool af.”
Seamus wrote: “My dream is to get tatted by her.”
Anthony commented: “She’s still around? Impressive.”
However, some were worried about the hygiene.
Jamie said: “I hope you don’t get Infection.”
Amazingly, Whang-Od has also become the oldest person to feature as a Vogue cover star.
And according to her family, they believe she could live another 10 years.
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