Talk me out of a tattoo, please.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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When I see tattoos on people, they usually say one or more of the following to me:

  1. “I am a bad mofo.” Mostly men, but the occasional woman too.
  2. “I want people to think I’m a bad mofo, but really I’m not.”
  3. “I am an idiot with less taste than a cube of unflavored gelatin.” A large number fall into this category, like that Mr. Cool Ice dumbass.
  4. “My greatest ambition in life is to be a ho.” Mostly women, but some men also.

Rarely, I’ll see a tattoo that’s really cool looking, or somehow purposefully conveys something meaningful to the wearer (the misuse of Chinese characters being a prime example of the opposite of this), but those are very much the exception. This evil eye of yours might fall into this category; it would depend on the skill of the tattoo artist.

Now, maybe you don’t give a crap what people think, and that’s fine. But you should be aware of what those opinions might be.

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It may be bastardly and hypocritical to some extent but many times when I see women with tattoos on their body it turns me on sexually (though maybe its just because of a very sexy location) but I can’t picture myself dating a woman with tattoos all over.

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I’ve scanned most of the replies, but wanted to either add or emphasize some points. Of course, I think it will be an exercise in futility, as you appear to have your mind made up (in which case I’m not entirely sure what the point of the thread was…). I would add that I myself have three tattoos, including one that took 15 hours over three sessions.

  1. You are going to have to enlarge your design. Even if the artist will do it, you’re going to wind up with a mess in a few years. You mentioned your brother’s tat as an example of a small tat that still looks good- but inks have changed in the past few years, and different skin types hold different colors… well, differently.

  2. You’re pale-skinned, aren’t you? It may impact how well your skin takes the ink, especially black ink. Just like purples/blues look sort of strange on olive/tanned skin, some colors come out really weird on pale-skinned folks.

  3. Wrist and ankle/foot tattoos fade more quickly, which means they need more touching-up. Even if you get an artist who will do a super-small detailed tattoo the first time, the re-touch may not be done as well (and may need to be done by a different person). They also require more effort to cover up in dress situations.

  4. You won’t be able to give blood for a period of time, if that’s something important to you.

  5. Tattoos are best kept out of sunlight- more difficult in the placements you’re leaning toward.

  6. The following is my own opinion/peeve: I really, truly believe in culturally appropriate tattooing. All the non-Chinese folks running around with Chinese characters drive me BATTY. The folks wandering around with Eye of Horus who don’t come any closer to that culture than “damn, that’s a cool design!” make me twitch. Don’t even get me started on all the Native American flash I’ve seen over the past few years. My biggest tattoo is a dragon, but I was very, very specific that the look of the dragon be appropriate for my cultural background (what is UP with all the Chinese dragons??) So, for me, unless the evil eye is something that you’re culturally/spiritually tied to, I wouldn’t advocate for it. And if I went ahead anyway, I’d be damn sure I had a great explanation for it should someone from that culture question me.

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I still say go for it, but I will tell you this: having a tattoo retouched, which I had to do last night, is a pain and it actually hurts worse than getting the thing teh fisrt time. So try to make sure it heals right the first time. :wink:

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I just want to hop in and say why you should get a tattoo (if it’s what you really want). Frankly, I don’t understand this whole ,“Give it deep and serious consideration, young one; for it will adorn your flesh until the worms eateth your bone marrow” argument. Certainly that point is factually true, but how many of us live our lives wondering what we’ll want in 50 years?

I’m still half asleep so forgive me for surely unclear points I’m trying to make here.

Anyway, I have two tattoos and they were definitely spur of the moment decisions. They didn’t come out exactly how I wanted, but I love them and do you know why? Because they’re mine. They aren’t just mine, now they are ME. They are part of me and they aren’t just part of me, they are a part of me that makes me smile when I look down and see them on my ankles. Sure, I wish the butterfly wasn’t so dark and I wish I had just gotten the Arabic writing (rather than what I have: Arabic writing and a flower), but I do not regret my decision one bit. Sure, I’m 21 so maybe in 5, 10, or 50 years (assuming I even make it that far) I’ll think getting a butterfly tattooed on my ankle wasn’t the hottest idea I’ve ever had, but so what? If I get even one year of happiness out of that goddamned butterfly then I’m going to say it’s well worth it. I know myself and I know I’m never going to look back and regret something that brought happiness to my life and made me smile.

But the biggest thing to me is that I simply don’t care what I’m going to think when I’m 71 years old. If I even live that long, I’ll have far more concerns than the damned butterfly on my ankle. The fact is, I could die long before that- no one knows- but I am here now. And now this makes me happy. Sometime when I’m old and living with 84 cats in a trailer, I’ll look down at the blob on my ankle and fondly remember how happy it made me.

I know people are going to disagree with me, but we all have our own philosophies for life. Mine is to do what makes me happy because if I do that and I am truly happy, things tend to work themselves out.

  • Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. – Buddha*

  • The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. – Anonymous*

And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.-- Abraham Lincoln

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyways. – Anonymous
Anywho, get the tattoo if it’s what you want. People are going to, forgive me for the language, talk shit regardless. Make yourself happy, that’s all you can do. As far as the placement, I’ve always wanted a wrist tattoo but it just seems so incredibly painful. If you are in a position where you don’t have to worry about it for work, I’d go for it though. Like I said, mine are both on my ankles and they are fairly easy to cover when need be.

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Huzzah- double post.

This is true. This is so true. I could hardly feel getting them done the first time, but getting them touched up? I cried.

Though the artist told me that the experience is different for everybody. He said it’s about 50/50 between people saying a touch up hurts way worse and those that say it feels significantly less painful.

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My typos in that post were about as painful as the touch-up. That’s what I get for posting and running.

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I’ve never really understood this objection. I don’t like the stretch marks on my boobs, I don’t like the way my belly button has changed after gaining weight, losing weight, having a kid, and having two laparascopic surgeries. There are a lot of features on my body that are going to change as I age. A tattoo is just one more, and its something I can enjoy, find meaningful, for many many years; so what if it is going to age too?

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You know those Chinese symbols you see people with?

Hom many do you think say “Stupid Quailo”?

Tris

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I knew a girl who had a Chinese tattoo on her lower back. She was a Taurus, and thought that the tat said “Taurus” in Chinese. Sometime after she already had it, a Chinese person explained to her that Chinese astrology is different from Western, and that there was no direct translation for “Taurus.” Apparently her tat actually said “Golden Cow”.

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Could be worse, you could get this:

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Oh yeah. Because a tattoo inside the wrist isn’t trashy at all. :rolleyes:

It’s an ugly unoriginal tattoo that you’re, apparantly, trying to put in the most ridiculous part of your body as possible. Your reasoning for this seems to be “I dont want it to be a tramp stamp, so I wont put it in a common place”. Well, shit. You’re getting one of the most popular tattoos out there right now. It’s a tramp stamp no matter where you put it. The only thing that could make it more unoriginal is to put some tribal around it. And the only thing that could make it look more trashy would be to put it on your pubis with some text that says “LOOK AT MY SNATCH!” (That would be great with an eye tattoo, BTW)

There you go. You’re quite welcome.

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If you want to redefine what that phrase means.

This thread is making me glad I’m a guy. People might make assumptions about me based on my tattoo, but at least they won’t think I’m slutty trailer trash.

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Nah, probably some guy who’s been to jail.

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:wink:
Meh. It’s not nearly flashy enough to fit into the scary prison/biker area.

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Not completely sure how my own original art work, loosely based on or insipired by the evil eye is unoriginal, but ok.

Heh. Sure thing.

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Closed at the request of the OP.