Will the popularity of tattoos fade?

Everywhere I look, I see people with tattoos. I can’t remember who said it first, but I’ve always associated tattoos with merchant marines and guys who’ve done time. Will the fad of suburbanites with tattoos end?

Probably faster than the tattoos themselves. But I still like mine. Just the one. I may even touch it up as the years take their toll.

As soon as people stop having skin. Or they no longer have the desire to be different from other people. In other words, no time soon.

Like most fads whereby people express their individuality by doing the same thing as all their peers it will drift out of fashion in a while.

Let’s see…I started wanting one when I was 15…got my first when I was 30…been working on my legpiece for 10 years or so…

Naah, I don’t think so. :slight_smile:

I think discreet tattoos will continue to be popular. The fad for multiple facial piercings, I believe, will probably fade. It’s a lot easier to hide a tattoo when you need to look professional than it is to hide studs in your skin.

Considering the first recorded history of people having tattoos dates back to, oh, around the construction of Egypt (and some reasonably argue even longer ago than that), I have strong doubts it will die out anytime soon. :wink:

What do you mean, suburbanites? I’m sure Egypt had suburban kids of their own running out and getting some badass hieroglyphics on their arms to impress their friends and piss off their mothers. :smiley:

But it can’t be denied that sporting a tattoo has become a mainstream trend.

When I was at Lowes last week, I honestly couldn’t believe how many people had tattoos. I think I was the only male in the store who did not have a tattoo…

I agree.

I’m just being facetious, and it’s past my bedtime. I don’t dare crack any more jokes tonight, because they make sense only to me right now… :wink:

I don’t think tattoos have really reached their peak of popularity yet, and since they are still mostly permanent, I can see them becoming even more mainstream than they already are before they peak. By the time that happens, so many people will be so used to them that they will be neither in style or out of style, kind of like earrings on men. I think they will just become another fashion choice that leans toward the casual, but is completely mainstream. I don’t imagine there will be any giant backlash against tattoos, and that they will stay common. I do think that in 20 years people will get fewer tattoos when they see how some tattoos look more flattering when you’re young, but by then they might be so easy to remove that people won’t care. Either way I don’t think they will go away now that they have been mostly accepted.

It might… but mine will live forever!! …

It will be like every other trend… interest will wane, it will no longer be considered fashionable, and surgeons will make a fortune masking or removing tattoos.

Invest now in companies that make removal equipment. In a few years, everybody will move on to some other fad, and we’ll start seeing a groundswell of people regreting their previous decisions.

I think it’ll go into the same cyclic rotation that all fashion trends go into. I have never had any desire to have a tatoo and never thought a tatoo enhanced anyone’s looks.

I recall people twenty years ago predicting that “this fad for tattoos will be over in a few years and then all the college kids getting them will be sorry”. Since then, they have become more popular, not less. Personally, I think their popularity will wane some, but I doubt there will be a mad rush to doctors for removal.

There already is a mad rush for their removal. Most studies show that about 50% of people with tatoos end up wanting them removed. Even in Australia there are clinics that do nothing else - making a few doctors with a laser very wealthy.

I knew there was some demand, but 50% surprises me. Do you have a link to any of those studies? I’d like to read more.

Just had 6 hours of work done on my left calf. My very first tattoo was done before they became popular, and their popularity has not affected me one bit.

The ones that drive me bats are the phony tribal designs.

I didn’t know there was a tribe of white suburban kids who drink venti lattes from Starbucks and drive Honda Elements, but there they are.

It doesn’t appear that there are reliable stats out there on what percentage of people later consider having them removed. The 50% figure seems to come from a single study at University of North Carolina. I haven’t been able to find another source so far. A Texas Tech study puts the figure at 20%. Something must be different about their methodology, but so far I’ve only been able to find references to the studies rather than copies of them.

Sorry for the multiple posts, but I’m adding info as I gather it.

I did find one study that I was able to find as more than just a citation, from the Minnesota Medical Association. That study included both staff and patients who had tattoos. It found that 3% of staff and 5% of patients wanted to have a tattoo removed. In contrast, 44% of staff and 32% of patients wanted to get more.