These designs probably originate from the world of fetishes and S&M which can be about the pleasure-and-pain connotated by sharp or potentially injurious objects close to the skin. More generally speaking, people relate this design to strength and physical toughness, characteristics that are shared with the real life barbed wire. They can be combined with flames on the upper arms of males in order to symbolize their power.

Others hold that this design is associated with the Wild West and is slightly less over the top than having a tattoo of a horse or a cow skull. Such affinities can be displayed but without getting too cheesy and clichéd.

Barbed wire tattoos are usually black or grey in color. This is partly due to the fact that the real-life material is quite colorless so artists have had to invent their own color schemes. Patterns range from the highly complex all the way down to simplistic curls of metal wire with sharp barbs on their ends. The variety here reflects the fact that the real-life material has changed in its design and configuration over the years since its invention. Some opt for a design where the spikes look as if they are burrowing into the skin, complete with little red drops of blood.

Very often people opt for their tattoo to go round their arm, wrist or leg as a kind of band rather than in a particular spot on their back, for example. Perhaps the most famous bearer of such a body art motif is Pamela Anderson, although more typically this design is a favorite of men.

The significance of these designs is still hotly debated; no one really knows their true origins. One theory, however, asserts that barbed wire used to represent the fact that someone had spent some time in prison. It hardly needs to be said that this is not the case today, with many well-behaved and responsible people opting for this type of tattoo. Once again, the choice is down to the individual as to whether the image fits their tastes and personality.