Placentia, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tattoo & Body Modification (2026)

Under Placentia Municipal Code § 23.86.020, it is unlawful to carry on the business of a tattoo parlor anywhere in the City of Placentia without prior approval of a use permit under Sections 23.33.040 and 23.36.040 and Chapter 23.87. That permit is the city's land-use approval, and the operating standards in the rest of Chapter 23.86 sit on top of it.

The chapter defines the health officer as the person designated by the Orange County Health Care Agency, Public Health Division, to enforce it. Section 23.86.200 has the county health officer periodically inspect tattooing establishments in the city. The county adopts health service fees by annual board resolution, and the proprietor or operator pays them directly to the county health officer.

Premises rules in § 23.86.030 require running hot and cold water, adequate toilet facilities, adequate lighting and ventilation, and operating tables of metal with a white enamel or porcelain finish, or stainless steel. A floor is not clean unless it has been swept and mopped within the preceding twenty-four (24) hour period, and no establishment can be used as a sleeping room or dormitory.

Sterilization is spelled out in § 23.86.050. Equipment is cleaned, individually wrapped and autoclaved at no less than fifteen (15) pounds pressure per square inch for at least fifteen (15) minutes, and dye containers are autoclaved at least once a week. Under § 23.86.060, stencils are soaked in seventy (70) percent alcohol for not less than thirty (30) minutes and then air dried for not less than thirty (30) minutes.

Operator rules cover skin and hands. Section 23.86.140 requires skin to be scrubbed gently three times with seventy (70) percent isopropyl alcohol, using a separate sterile gauze pad each time. Section 23.86.120 requires hands washed for at least ten (10) seconds and gloves discarded between each customer. Operators wear a clean, light-colored, short-sleeved smock (§ 23.86.110), cannot smoke while tattooing (§ 23.86.100), and cannot work on skin showing a rash, pimples, boils or infection (§ 23.86.070). Under § 23.86.080 the owner supplies written information on blood-borne diseases and keeps records of each operator's receipt.