I have a small black and yellow triangular one-eyed smiley face on my shoulder, and I don’t regret it.
I have two big regrets regarding my tattoos.
I regret I don’t have more of them
I regret I didn’t get them sooner.
Try doing it doggie-style more often.
::ducks & runs::
I have two tattoos. One is a Winnie the Pooh on my left leg. It is about 4 inches tall and not very wide. I enjoyed getting it because I have a silly cartoon that kids like and a reminder of the time I got it. At Disney little kids were walking up to me going “Oooohh. AAaaaahh. Can I touch it?” Or just touching it. It was cute. I don’t particuarly like Pooh (the character. quit giggling.) but I do like the tattoo.
The other tat is on my back. It starts at the base of my neck and goes about 6 inches down and 6 inches across. It is a tribal that looks like a woman sitting in a meditating position in a fire. Okay, it looks better than it sounds. I love this one and it does have special meaning to me. I got it when I was having a very rough time in my life so it is somewhat symbolic. This one HURT. I cannot express the pain that I endured. I believe this had to do with the artist. My husband had one by the same girl and he bled ALOT and was in alot of pain even though he has a much larger one before that did not hurt him at all.
And now, the advice:
Get an artist that has a light touch if you are a wuss about pain. Don’t run out of moisturizer and decide to put antibacterial Jergen’s on it. You will know the meaning of Hell if you do. The artist will put an outline on you and let you look before they start. Take a good, hard look. Be prepared to spend some cash. A good but expensive tat is worth the extra money. Let me know if you have any other questions. I love to give advice about stuff even when I am not an expert!
I have a tattoo of a sun with a crescent moon inside it. It’s on my belly, so it’s almost always hidden, which I like. I got it about seven years ago, on a Sunday. I wanted to chop off all my hair, but no hair salons were open, so I got the tat instead. No regrets. (I cut my hair a few weeks later.)
I got my first tattoo 4 1/2 years ago and I still love it as much today as I did the day I got it. I know have a total of three tattoos (my backpiece is on the SD Tat page) and I love all of them. You can keep you tattoos looking good, by keeping them moisturized and out of the sun, or put on strong sunblock if you are in the sun; plus you can always go to a tattoo artist and get it touched up. Like everyone else, I suggest putting a lot of thought into what you get, but don’t shy away from something you really want because someone else tells you not to get it. I do suggest putting your tattoos in place that you don’t gain and lose a lot of weight, ie back, ankles… that will keep the tattoo from getting severly distorted.
I can not express how happy I am with my tattoos. I plan on getting more. If you have thought about it and you still want to do it, go for it.
I got a parrot on the back of my left shoulder about 12 years ago. I had thought about it for a couple of years before I took the plunge, and I have not had any regrets. The pain was minimal–more like a burning feeling. My skin is very sensitive and I had an allergic reaction to the Neosporin ointment the artist put on when he was done. That required a course of prednisone.
My parrot is starting to fade, so I’m going to have it touched up.
I met too many ex-military in flight school who regretted theirs to ever get one.
I know in particular, some colors like yellow fade.
The rest tend to blur over time.
Nothing worse than a tattoo nobody can figure out.
Valerieblaise, And you didn’t show it to us at ChiDope??!?!?
Next time…
That is fucking AWESOME Trupentine!! I Love trilobites… in fact… I have FOR YEARS been trying to think of the the one PERMINANT thing I would want to have on my body and I have not been able to come up with anything even though I have wanted a tatto for years… NOW I think I know…
I think I want an Ammonite… my favorie fossil! That would be freaking great! THANK YOU TURP!!!
Nah…she showed it off at the previous ChiDope. I need to find a tank top so I can show mine off sometime. Well, show it off without taking the shirt off… 
I’m going to be getting my first one soon.
It’ll be on my ankle.
So lemme ask you guys, how much does it hurt?
Not at all, really. Ever had the back of your neck gone over with clippers? That’s pretty much it, maybe a little stronger, but not really painful so to speak. A few years ago, a doctor friend of mine got a fairly elaborate tattoo, and he took humongous amounts of painkillers to do it. When I got mine done, I remember thinking, “Yeah, I could do this for another 6 hours or so.” Now I call my friend Dr. Wuss, though in all fairness, he really didn’t know how little it would hurt.
A few points:
- Generally speaking, it’s less painful in areas that have a lot of meat on them. Conversely, getting a tattoo right next to the bone (or directly over major nerves or blood vesels hurts more.
2.The flip side of the above is that you can gain or lose muscle tone or (more likely) fat deposits, which will tend to stretch and distort the ink. IMHO, it’s much better to take your time looking for a good spot to get your ink, rather than finding art you like and then just putting it wherever.
3.Obviously, if you are the type that gets phobic about needles, pain, or whatever, your mind is going to multiply the amount of discomfort, not to mention the anticipation. If that is the case, you should think carefully about whether it’s worth it to you. You should also realize that it’s a really bad idea to chicken out halfway through - you’ll probably end up with something that looks like 3/5 of a blob.
All that being said, only you can decide. I like my tattoo, but I also wouldn’t reccommend getting one just because other people like them.
Mine is just above my ankle, on the outside of my leg.
I’m a complete pain wuss. I cry when I get my teeth cleaned at the dentist’s. But getting the tattoo wasn’t bad at all. If you scratch yourself hard enough with your fingernail to leave a red mark, the kind of mark that fades after about a minute, that’s about how much I thought it hurt. I describe it as being on the border between “irritating” and “hurting.” Some parts were better than others, the guy who did my tattoo said it always hurts less on areas that have more fatty tissue. I could feel the difference when he was working on the top of the tattoo, on the fleshier part of my leg near the calf (not very painful) and the bottom part of the tattoo, near where the ankle bones are (a little ouchie).
No regrets here, and it was 8 years ago. Sometimes I forget I have it, and see it out of the corner of my eye and I think for a moment “what the heck is that on my leg??”
I opted for only black ink in my tattoo. I heard that colors fade and sometimes bleed over the years. Plus, I think that just black ink has a “classic” look.
Before I went to get mine, I didn’t know it would bleed. It just bleeds a little, it almost looks like you’re sweating very fine drops of blood. I wasn’t expecting this at all so I was a little surprised when I saw it. No big deal though.
I have no tattoos and I don’t want any due to potential regrets. My wife has one very small tattoo which she got about 10 years ago and has no regrets. My brother had about 1/2 his back tattoo’d a few years ago…he loved it at first but now he regrets it and is considering spending tons of money to have them removed. But with that much coverage, the skin damage would be considerable.
Okay, let’s just ignore the guy’s post about how it feels although he has 6 tattoos on various areas of his body and may have an inkling of what it’s like.
If you missed my earlier post, I likened it to skinning your knee or getting scratched by a cat. A lot of it depends on location though, the less muscle and fat over the area getting done, the more the pain. If you get it directly on your ankle bone, it may hurt badly, if you get it above your ankle, low on the side of your leg it shouldn’t be that bad.
And while I’m thinking about it -
Check out the tatto parlor before you get the tat done! Very important. Take note of how clean the area where they do the tattooing is. Ask how they clean needles before re-using them, do they soak them in alcohol or do a complete sterilization? Does the artist wear gloves while tattooing? Are drinks and food and smoking allowed in the area where work is done? All my tattoos were done in places that sterilized their needles, and the actual tattoo work was done in an area set off from the rest of the parloe to keep in clean. There is a great risk involved where so many people go and bleed. Make sure you are comfortable with the safety standards of the place before you get it done.
Nope, not one single regret.
Been two years plus and people still have to comment on it. It’s a large rose garland around my upper arm- yes, even on the inside area.
I want more but only from a certain artist and he’s hard to track down.
I suggest thinking for a long time about a classic design that matches your personality. I picked roses for many reasons, one of which being that it is a classic symbol of femininity and female sexuality. And as with many things in this world, you get what you pay for. Save the extra bucks and go with someone who’s experienced and well-known. It makes all the difference in the world.