Does anyone here regret their tattoos?

Cellulitedelights thread reminded of me of something i want to ask.  Does anyone regret getting their tattoo?  Ive always wanted a tattoo, but i honestly dont have anything that meaningful that i could think of.  I also dont mind getting a non-meaningful tattoo (something like a flower, maybe, thats just pretty).  Im just wondering how many people actually end up regretting their tattoo if it didnt have some hardcore, deep, emotional meaning to it.  I know its all relative and everyone feels different about their own tattoos, but i just thought i'd ask around.

All my tattoos were well planned but I got them because I like tattoos.

I would think that many people who stupidly went and picked out a piece of pointless flash from the wall of a tattoo shop eventually regret getting something so silly and meaningless permanently inked onto their body.  Just a guess though.

I think we need a tattoo thread where we can share pictures of our work.

EDIT: I added mine to my gallery.  Ah damn, now I'm planning the next one.  Gotta get my back finished someday.

two of my tattoos need work. obviosly the one on my chest, that's most visible to everyone through my pictures, and the one on my back. with my artist being in jail right now, i wasn't in any rush to find someone new until i started contemplaing this newest tattoo.

now my sister, i thin her tattoos are just for the sake fo having ttattos.  she's got every ugly faery and flower you can imagine scattered on her body, along with some unusual colored stars around her eye. a few i see as them beingg tattoos for her kids, like the faeries with the faces of her boys, but a lot of her tattoos need some serious retouching and couldve used better placment.

My tattoo has no meaning. It's a big old school diamond on my foot and it hurt like hell. But I love it. Tattoo's don't have to mean squat. If you like something, get it.

I'm planning on getting alot more, and none of my ideas mean anything. I just like classic old school tattoo'

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

All my tattoos were well planned but I got them because I like tattoos.

I would think that many people who stupidly went and picked out a piece of pointless flash from the wall of a tattoo shop eventually regret getting something so silly and meaningless permanently inked onto their body. Just a guess though.

I think we need a tattoo thread where we can share pictures of our work.

EDIT: I added mine to my gallery. Ah damn, now I'm planning the next one. Gotta get my back finished someday.

what is that one on the back of your neck? My favourite number is 8 and aways liked the infinity symbol, which is kinda like a sideways 8.

My little brother just got his first tattoo today, a bass clef behind his ear. I'm kind of peeved he got one before me lol. I've been compiling ideas for tattoos for years but have never gotten one. I'm very indecisive, and want to be 150% sure I want it...plus I have a bit of a hang up on changing my skin forever.

Sagittarius symbol that kinda looks like the infinity symbol and kinda looks like the caduceus or rod of Asclepius.

I dig mythology.  Squee!

i love my tattoo. you can see it in my gallery. its dove...Actually i got the idea from the dove beauty campain...ive struggled with not loving myself forever and when i finally learned to love my self i thought it was the perfect idea.

Original Post by jessicasbc:

Original Post by vicereine:

Original Post by jewelsmcblah:

People don't get a tattoo because they dislike them.

I believe she means just liking tattoos in general and getting one for that reason (without a meaning to it).

 thats exactly what i meant vicereine. 

 I have several tattoos, all of which are very meaningful to me (I could fill pages saying why I got each one), but my last set, the main reason was because I like tattoos.  I decided I had gotten to the point where I wanted to officially be "that tattooed girl" so I got traditional, sailor jerry designed, old school swallows in the traditional placement on my chest to celebrate the art of tattoo.  Now I can pretend I'm hardcore, but secretly they didn't hurt much at all. (PS, you can see them in my gallery).

And no, I have sat 6 times, and I don't regret any of them.  One I became sort of bored with, so I added to it, and now I love it again.  Luckily, I still have a lot of skin to work with.  I'm also lucky that I had great artists, so they still all look fresh and beautiful (even the ones on my belly after losing 40+ pounds).

I personally do not like color tattoos for myself, but I love the look of old school tattoos on other people.  Love the swallows Pumpkin!

That's it, I'm making a tattoo thread.

Original Post by clairelaine:

There is nothing sadder than a tattoo that was done on young firm skin that has now, many decades later, aged and sagged into wrinkles.  With all the tattoos around, the nursing homes of the future are going to be filled with truely hideous sights.

Heh heh, my mom is a nurse and one of the funniest stories she ever had to tell me was about a tiny wrinkled old lady who was probably 80 at the time, on whom she had to do a dressing change for lower-abdomen and pelvic unpleasantness. Well, this woman was a little on the sour side and without much humor, so when my mom pulled down the woman's skirt to do the dressing change, she said she actually had to excuse herself to the restroom for a moment - the reason being that the old woman had a giant kitten wearing a pink bow tattooed on each butt cheek, which by age 80 was not looking as great as it did at 20. My mom wisely decided it wouldn't be appropriate to laugh until she cried in front of the old lady.

Also, I do still appreciate my tattoos - one is on my shoulder, which is meaningful for me and I figured wouldn't be visible for business events. It's a beautifully done Japanese cherry blossom, so it's classy enough that I won't be ashamed to wear an evening gown with it exposed. The other I got it at 15 (yes, illegally - although I thought it was legal at the time, didn't know my friend's mom lied to the tattoo artist), but I am grateful I had the sense to get a small, meaningful one on my hip where only I and those of my choosing can view it.

The one thing I do regret is just that I got my cherry blossom colored in pink, peach and white - I wish I'd gotten it done in all white, which seems more appropriate for when I pass my early 20s. However, I figure by the time I'm 30 (8 years) it'll fade and I can refill it with white, or technology will be good enough to laser it off no problem. Either way, I still love it now.

One HUGE piece of advice, though: RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH your tattoo artist beforehand, as well as considering carefully the placement, meaning and longevity of what you want. Don't go to just any artist - even if an artist is more expensive, the precision, cleanliness and quality are completely worth the few extra dollars you might spend.

NO.   Love it.  I do have 2 others -a seahorse on my right ankle and my ranch brand on left ankle.  Unfortunately, I don't have the ranch any more so I'm thinking about having that one redone into something else...

Nope - no regrets - see my other post for story

Is anyone responding on this thread over the age of 40?.....   I'm only asking because in my teens and twenties I know I had all kinds of bizarre ideas about fashion and decoration in general which I now look back on with a kind of mild horror or wry amusement.  Posters on the wall, odd jewellery, funny haircuts/colours, dodgy clothes.  All thankfully consigned to history and a few old photos.

My 'image' today is much different to how it was 20 years ago and I can imagine that if I'd had some trendy design tattooed on my skin in the eighties I'd now be pretty bored with it or possibly find it embarrassing. 

My parents are over 40, have tattoos and don't regret them. 

And if you also noticed, most people here who have tattoos have said they got them because they meant something special. 

I'm 37, close enough?  I've had my 1st tattoo 17 years, no regrets, it meant something to me (see above post).    Now the 2nd one, it's an anklet, I don't "regret" it exactly, I just don't care for it that much.    I had it done for decoration purposes instead of being meaningful, but it didn't turn out exactly as I wanted.  

I'm querying the permanence.  I'm sure that the images have special meanings for a lot of people but times change, people change....   The person who no longer has the ranch but is still branded with its mark, for example.  Things changed for them but their skin can't do the same.   tmleh is stuck with a disappointing anklet that they don't particularly like any more....    I've had things in my home for years - souvenirs, photographs of people who've now died, cherished mementos, pictures I've bought but since got tired of.  They're lovely to look at and recall good times but it's also good to put them away and get on with living...

Hey GI Jane-

I just wanted to respond to your "permenance" comment.  My oldest tattoo is only about 7.5 years old, so maybe I'll change my tune in several decades, but for me, the permenance is part of the draw.  In a way, a tattoo is a way to say that there is something so meaningful to you that you don't want to be able to get rid of it.  Whoever you are right now is so attached to that image or sentiment that you want to keep reminding yourself forever and not let your future self just toss it out because it no longer suits their fancy. 

Maybe this just reflects how naive I am, but here's an abridged story of one of my tattoos:  I'm a total idealist, and I decided I wanted to come to come to law school to make the world better.  However, I've heard so many stories about people who were "changed" by law school or who left with such crushing debt that they had not choice but to "sell out" after graduation.  I wanted a permenant reminder of why I was sinking 150 grand into law school, and no matter who I was at the end of the experience, I didn't want to forget who I was going in.  Don't know if it helped, but I am graduating in May and I'm even more committed to public interest law than I was going in.

Anyway, maybe it doesn't hold true as much for people who get tattoos for purely decorative (or drunken) purposes, but I would think even they would become so attached to the tattoo after it had become a part of them that, even if it was no longer as aesthetically pleasing as it once was, it would still give them pleasure and they would not want to be able to simply toss it away like a cheap souvenir.  A tattoo is also a way to stake a claim on your own body...it's one of the few things about the way that you look that you can truly choose (and general cheaper than a new nose).  The act itself has meaning, even if the tattoo doesn't.

Okay, this is obviously a subject I can go on about forever.  So I'd better stop now!

I don't think everyone needs a deep, emotional connection to their tattoos. Sometimes a person will say, "I thought of this great design, and I think it would look great on my body," and get such a tattoo even if it doesn't neccessarily have some deeper meaning. It's all about personal preference, and in that case some people prefer to turn their bodies into artwork and use it as general self-expression. I see nothing wrong with it.

To gi-jane - I can see where the issue of relevance could come up as a person ages. I can't speak for everyone, but to me tattoos are about documenting the past as I grow up and paying respect to those things which influenced me. I love my tattoos now because they continue to have relevance because they impact who I was and now am. My piercings, on the other hand, may be viewed as a "fashion" choice in this day and age, yet I still believe there was a different reason for me to get my piercings instead of "fitting in by standing out."

Just one final thought because I'm not here to change anyone's minds...   It's about fashion.   Tattoos when I was growing up in the 1970's and 1980's weren't fashionable and the only people you tended to see with tattoos were burly blokes like sailors and dock workers, punk-rockers and low-lifes with 'HATE' on their knuckles.   The last 25 years they've become fashionable.  In another 20 years' time I just can't help but think that the tide will turn again and a lot of people are going to look somewhat old-fashioned and rather dated by their body-art.... even if it has some deep meaning for them. 

I've got two tattoos and they don't really mean that much to me... Honestly I forget I have them sometimes.  I picked them both off the wall in the tattoo shop, and I actually had no intention of getting my second one until I got into the shop with my friend.  

My first one is a little smiling sun the size of a quarter and it's on my hip.  I got it because the minute I saw it, it struck me.  I said "that's so me!" and that was that.

My second one is on the inside of my wrist and it's some tribal thing that I liked at the time, but it was kind a whim, and I'm thinking of adding to it to make it more personal, and prettier.  I'll probably do it soon, though, since my family has a history of keloiding as we get older, and I'd rather not have a huge keloid on my wrist just 'cuz I was bored with my tattoo!

In any case, I don't regret either of them... And I figure if they make me look dated in 20 years... Well probably (observing old people now) there will be more things "dating" me besides just a little ink.  Wrinkles, hair cut, etc. will probably be a dead give away of my age!