I didn’t dislike them when only bikers and hoochie mamas had them but now many young people are getting them, not just one either. I also really hate piercings. Call me old fashioned I don’t care. At least I will not have to explain to my grandchildren why I sport Tweety Bird on my ankle.
Needs2know
[/slight hijack]
Folks, if you are getting tattoos, or piercings either for that matter, please for the love of your livers, make darn sure the place you have the work done uses proper sterilizing procedures. Hepatitis C can live outside the body for up to 72 hours, we belive I may very well have gotten it from a homemade tattoo a friend did for me years ago. And there are people who have gotten it from piercings too. I’m not saying don’t have it done, I’m saying be careful. Please forgive me for horning in on your thread MarkXXX [/slight hijack]
I like my tattoos, the one on my hand is a match for the one LIONsob has on his hand. The one at the top of my left breast is LIONsob’s real name.
TopazAntares, I’m glad you’re taking the time to think about what you want rather than running out and doing it spur-of-the-moment just because you will be 18 and legal. I am advising my kids to wait even longer, because what pleases you at 18 may not please you at 30.
A great suggestion I have heard is to draw a picture of what you think you want and tape it to the bathroom mirror. Look at it every day for a year. If you still like it, have it done temporarily (drawn on or in henna) so you can wear it for a couple weeks. It’s an important decision. If you are at all unsure, wait. You won’t regret taking the extra time.
I do think that tats have more power and beauty when they mean something. A lot of the people who did it because it is currently fashionable will probably regret it.
I think they are absolutely ridiculous. My roommate has an engine tatooed on his back. (an engine!!!) And he calls me compulsive!
I’m glad that some people don’t like tatoos, because it makes it easier to avoid those people. I don’t enjoy hanging out with people who are judgemental or don’t know how to mind their own business, so when someone has an immediate negative reaction to my tatoo, it lets us both know right off that we won’t like each other.
A good tat right on the small of the back is truly quite sexy. Perhaps it has something to do with the style of the dog . . . but wow. I dig it the most.
“The only difference between tattooed people and non tattooed people is that tattooed people don’t care if you’re not tattooed.”
ANYHOW…I got my tattoo done about a year before they started to become fashionable…1990. I had it done because I wanted one. It’s drama masks on either side of a rose bud…not particularly cute-sy.
I always tell people do NOT get a pop icon inked onto your skin. I don’t care how funny you think Calvin & Hobbes is; you do not want Calvin peeing on a Cowboys helmet when you’re 60. I promise.
Ayesha: A thousand times YES on making sure the house uses good sterilization procedures. Most reputable tattoo parlors use fresh needles for every tattoo, or have an autoclave right where you can see it and are METICULOUS about sterilizing every piece of equipment. If you go to a place that can’t show you what sterilization procedures they use, RUN, don’t walk, to another parlor.
I can see where some people might not find added appeal in a tattoo, but I’ve never understood them being a turn-OFF. Then again, I’m weird.
I have Two and I’ve never regreted either for a minute. I have a nice set of Harly wings that I got shortly after my first bike many years ago. The second I got almost as a joke because it is so cliche, a heart with “MOM” in the center, I later had a ribbon added with my two daughters names.
My ex used to ask me to add her name, maybe now she sees why I didn’t. They are forever, so think it over and then wait a year or so.
Back to the post, they look good on some people and not on others. If it’s quality work and it means something to you, great. But if it’s just a pretty picture that caught your fancy last week, forget it.
My parents both have tattoos.
My mom has a yellow rose that’s symbolic of her grandmother
She has a set of Harley wings with my dad’s name in them. That has a double meaning, she loves my dad, and she loves to ride
And she has a small black rose over her heart, for private reasons she hasn’t really shared.
They are done tastefully.
So are my dads.
I’m in SF. I see more piercings and tattoo’s in a normal day then many see at a tatoo convention. I’ve got a couple. I like em. I’ve seen many that I liked. I’ve seen many that were utter crap. The one’s I like, you could usually tell, were done for personal reasons. The ones that are crap, you can usually tell, were done for stupid reasons. Brandings and scarifications are usually much better quality. While any dumbass can go and get themself a crappy tattoo, it takes real commitment to go and get branded or cut up.
I love my tattoos. I have one on the left lower side of my back and one on my right shoulder blade. I’m going to get another one someday. I think it’s just a personal preference. I know that when I’m 80 years old they won’t look as good as they do now but neither will I.
The tattoos that really bug me are the pseudo-deep ones. I had a friend who got a tattoo on the back of his, it was the word “wisdom” in chinese. So I said, “Why the hell didn’t you just get a tattoo that says it in english, ya f***in’ mook. What, you think you’re gonna enjoy explaining it two hundred times a day?” Like, somehow translating a word into Chinese makes it magical or something.
Baglady said
“Pardon me, but you guys might be showing your bigotry.”
come on…are we at the point where expressing an opinion is a sign of bigotry?
Call me straight, but I think anyone who gets a tattoo (or a piercing or a branding for that matter, needs to have his/her head examined. You say you enjoy hurting yourself ??? Give me a break. Go hit your big toe with a hammer, why dontcha!!
Or you got such a cute tattoo somewhere where no one can see it under normal clothes. I live on a tropical island and every year we are flooded by tourists from stateside and europe. Most tend to walk around with minimal clothes on so we get treated to vistas of tattooes in all shapes and forms. I have yet to see one that could be considered a work of art. So far as I know Van Gough and Rembrant nor any other art master worked in this medium.
Dont get me started on piercing, anyone who does this type of thing is sick-o . IMHO
Oh yes I also dislike chocolate or black lipstick/nailpolish
and anything that could be described as “punk” This is one case where the name really fits.
IMHO of course
GPL+
Now hold on a second here.
How does me having a tattoo (pictures available on my website for those who want to see if it’s “artistic”) on my shoulder blade, where almost no one will ever see it, make me some kind of freak/weirdo/punk/biker chick/fill in name here?
I thought about getting mine for a year. Took 6 months to find a design. Thought about the specific design for 6 months. Then went in to get it done with a few friends for moral support. Yes, it hurt like a bitch. Two and a half hours under a needle will do that to you. But I love it. It’s a special thing for me, and has a special meaning about my life. I fail to see how this makes me somehow a lesser person. (Oh, and to top it off, my ears are double pierced too. Just to REALLY freak people out.)
FTR, I am NOT slamming people who just don’t like them period. You have your opinion, I have mine. I’m just curious how me having one makes me a lesser person somehow.
And as my obligatory flirt: Yo Chief…mine’s on my shoulder blade. Wanna see it in person? 
I have one on each shoulder. Like Falcon, I’ve always wanted one. You would think living in a Navy town it would be so easy. Wrong, you have to go out of town to get one. It’s actually against the law in the south side of Hampton Roads…
In the small Canadian town I once lived in, tattoos were really “in”. Now I don’t mind a small, original one. I can see commemorating something important, or getting one done just because the design appeals…or for another hundred reasons. However, all the women I knew had the same damn tattoo. A rose, on the chest. (And no, they didn’t all belong to some sort of sorority or anything.) Yawn. Get something original, will ya.
I think I understand why this “debate” is so heated. I’ll explain from my own (tattooed) perspective. Can any of the “anti’s” give me a better one? Please respond.
If I choose to wear Spiderman Underoos, it’s none of your business. Likewise, if I choose to get a nose job or any other sort of elective surgery, it’s NOYB.
Whether a person has a tattoo or not is of little importance. 500 years from now, that person will be dust, and so, very likely, will be the tattoo s/he sported. So tell me, why is the wearing of tattoos so vigorously attacked? (My perception, not necessarily yours.) I suspect that if you were to as eagerly attack boob jobs, liposuction, or some other form of “cosmetic surgery”, you might find more support (though still not universal) for your position.
Why? Most people don’t get a tattoo to “feel better about themselves”. A tattoo is only a decoration. Yes, it’s permanent, but it does not necessarily indicate a particular allegiance or political view. It does not necessarily mean that the wearer has low morals or intelligence. It does not necessarily mean that the wearer comes from a lower income bracket than is socially acceptable. It just means that the person decided to have their body decorated in a permanent fashion, in a manner pleasing to themselves. That it does not conform to your particular aesthetic is of little importance.
If you cannot see past my skin to appreciate the person inside, then what other prejudices do you harbor? I chose my tattoo because it pleased me. I gave no thought to whether you wanted me to have one or whether you thought it was a good idea. Frankly, your vituperative stance against them says more about your perception of the world than it does about anything else of importance.
Do you have an unassailable argument why others should not have a tattoo? If not, then just say you don’t like them, that they don’t appeal to you, and that you don’t want one. To say any more is to imply that you are irrationally prejudiced against those with them. That says more about you than it does about tattoos.
But of course, that’s just my perception.
~~Baloo
Very nice Baloo…
Sorry Baloo, I did not mean to imply that having a tattoo makes one a lesser person. I was only answering the OP which asked “does anyone else dislike tattoos?” The answer is a most definite YES I dislike tattoos. However there are a lot of other things I dislike as well. I dislike dumb people, ignorant people, LOUD people especially annoy me, however I do not think that I am better than a person just because he/she is loud or stupid or even because they have bad body odor. Liking/disliking is a personal preference, an I am entitled to mine just as you are yours. If I try to ram my preferences down your throat it becomes another matter, but if i state that I think someone who hurts him/herself in order to decorate him/herself, and takes a chance of catching a life-threatening disease in the boot needs to re-think their sanity. I have no objections to people who jump off bridges (with or without bungee cords)- you have a desire to leave this life, be my guest, just dont ask me to join or assist you.
This is getting a little away from Tattoos but the same principal applies. You want to tattoo / pierce / mutilate / walk hot coals / jump from a plane - bridge - cliff - building / starve yourself / overeat / or paint yourself blue, It makes no difference to me. I will just sit back and question your sanity which is my perogative.
As for the punkers, IMHO they are suffering from lack of parental affection, and a overwelming need to identify with their own flock (peer group) BAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaa ! When I see them, I think, For God’s sake, GET A LIFE ! But I only think it, once again they are entitled to go to hell in a handbasket if it so behooves them.
GPL +
addendum: I do not consider plastic surgery in the same catagory. Unless it is abused, it is normaly done to improve a person’s appearance, by a medical doctor and under sterile if not hospital conditions. How many surgeons have you heard of who do tattoos ?