An odd one this. I’m composing a reply to the following email from my little sister, who last year had a kitchen accident and burned her forearm quite badly:
The reason she’s emailing me is that I have two tattoos, and have confessed one to my parents. I have my own opinion, that I’ll express later, should you wish, but I don’t have the US point of view. I shall bide my time replying until I’ve heard a few US opinions.
Possibly necessary background: she’s in her early thirties, English, black, lives in a black middle class area in the Deep South, but works in a fairly badly paid job (she’s an administrator and group carer for a charity that looks after mentally ill people).
So, US dopers, should she cover her scar with a tattoo?
I’d say sure, but with the caveat that she’s got to check it out with a tattoo artist. Scars take ink differently than regular skin, and black skin takes color differently than white skin. Some artists won’t do scars at all. Some will do flat but not raised scars. She’s going to have to ask around quite a bit, I expect, to find someone skilled with both black skin and scarring. She might want to find out if it’s possible before she gets all angsty about the decision.
But for a woman her age to get a tatt is not at all counterculture or weird anymore.
Disclaimer: I am not a person who has any tattoos or wants any. On the other hand, I wouldn’t tell someone who had them that they’ll regret thems someday-- so I like to think I’m not rabidly anti-tattoo.
Why I say no in this case:
I’d be very concerned about how well the scar would really take the tattoo. A good tattoo might be more appealing than the present scar but a bad tattoo is going to be worse. And I’d be really concerned that trying to cover up a bad burn scar is going to end up with that bad tattoo.
Hell yeah, I think she should go for it! I mean, it’s not like she’s a kid. I’m all for taking a painful experience and turning it into something that makes you smile. I’ve always thought some of the coolest tattoos are the ones that are used to incorporate or cover scars into something beautiful that the wearer is proud to show off. Why shouldn’t she do something that will make her feel more comfortable with herself?
I’m an Englishman living and working in England. My sister lives and works in the US. Attitudes to visible tattoos at work/in general life may be different in US culture, specifically in the South, to those of the UK. Since I don’t have an insight into US attitudes, I started this thread.
How about the option of saving up for cosmetic surgery? I used to work with a man who had several large burn scars on his temple from childhood accident with an iron. A few years ago he finally decided to have them attended to and from what I saw it was very successful. I’m sure it was very costly in his case–being large facial scars and all, but maybe she could get the money together over time.
While I am heartily in favor of tattoing as a decoration of your skin, enhancement of beauty, or for spiritual reasons, I’m less inclined to feel good about the idea of getting a tattoo because it’ll be “less displeasing” than what’s currently there, or as a cheap solution. Tattoo work is very often an area where you definitely get what you pay for, and a forearm piece appropriate for cover-up work is going to be pricey, particularly if she does as she ought to, and finds an extremely experienced tattoo artist who’s got an extensive portfolio involving cover-up work. As previously mentioned, scar tissue holds ink differently than normal skin and heavily pigmented skin even differently still. I would say if she really liked the idea of tattoo work, and spent a long time considering what image she wanted, then there’s no good reason not to do it.
On the other hand, if what she really wants is for the scar to be gone, then what she really ought to do is save her pennies and have it fixed.
Well I can’t speak to the South specifically, but tattoos here have become so common and trendy that I feel pretty safe in saying that the issue isn’t really about US vs UK attitude on visible ink. The issue is what others have tackled already – is getting ink to cover up or detract from a scar a good idea.
Contrary to as recent as five or ten years ago, having visible tattoos does not suggest any kind of gang association or rough/lifestyle anymore. Especially if it’s just a design and not Gothic Manuscript font words.
I have no strong opinions, but I have a whole list of questions.
Does she intend to get a design that she believes will either camouflage or distract from the scar? (I have a bit of difficulty believing that will work.)
Or does she intend to have the pink scar tissue tatooed to a shade closer to that of the surrounding skin? (She needs to check with a good tatooist (and, probably, a dermatologist), to see whether this option will actually work. (I suspect not.)
Is she in a permanent relationship and how does her spouse/SO feel about it?
Is she single but not intending to remain so forever? (Then she needs to find out how prospective mates in her social circle would react to either/both the scar and tatoo.)
What kind of feedback does she currently get from coworkers/family/neighbors/idjits-on-the-street regarding her scar? (In other words, is it something that is interfering with her life or something that better friends or a good counselor could help her get past? NOT that she is letting some “little thing” bother her needlessly, but that tatoos are sufficiently permanent that if “I ordinarily would not want one, but hate my burn mark more,” it might be cheaper (initially and especially if she changes her mind) to change her attitude than her skin.)
(If she had not included the “ordinarily would not want one” comment, I would be more comfortable supporting a tatoo, but if the tatoo fails to do what she wants, she will have both the scar and the unwanted tatoo.)
It will look uglier than the scar. It will also look stupid. People will think that she has or once had extremely loose morals (or at least hung with a rough crowd) and quite possibly believe that her intelligence isn’t very high.
One should always remember that the Dope isn’t the real world. Most here hold Leftwing politically correct values, are generally young, and sexually promiscuous or in favor of sexual promiscuity without moral consequences. They tend to be hip or want to be hip and with current fads. Most Whites over 35 in the Deep South don’t hold those values IMO. They don’t hold them in West Texas either IMO.
Of course, I generally dislike tattoos. And the people that I know with them usually fall somewhere in the 1st paragraphs’ descriptions. That doesn’t mean that your sister is a dumb slut, just that she’ll probably look like one.
I don’t know if you can connect any opinion on internet to the real world, especially bulletin boards. Pick and choose what you like, I do know that most here will say go for it regardless of any possible consequences. At least I give a shit enough to describe the real possibility of negative consequences.