I have 4G. Originally I had intended to go to 0, but I quickly became fond of 4G and stopped here.
I used to work as a body piercer. Tapering is definitely becoming more mainstream, the tips from a simple taper really supplemented to income from actual piercings. Some days I'd make more in taper sessions than piercing.
Regarding blow outs, I've never given one or had one myself. I think one of the biggest reasons its so common is many piercers are willing to jump guage to quickly or too many in one session. (granted, small town.)
For example, I had one kid that wanted to go from a 22 to a 0 in ONE SITTING. I told him I'd take him to a 18, nothing larger. I warned him that he WOULD get a blow out and what that meant. I refuse to do more than 2 guages in one sitting on the high end and one per sitting every few weeks on the low end. He argued with me, cussed me out and went next door. (The kid, 16, was also cussing out and bossing around his mother.) The piercer next door did it. Kid got a blow out. He came back to me begging for help, it was BAD! But, the only thing that he could do was go to a Doctor at that point. I warned the little snot.
As for tattoos and aging. I look forward to being a crazy, short old lady making up stories about my tattoos. "The year was 1948. We were in the trenches in France, running low on martinis and our push ups were wearing thin..."