I think the last three cops we hired all have tattooed sleeves. I guess we relaxed our policy on visible tattoos.

I got my first one this year at age 45. My daughter got her first one at the same time at age 16. The music of Anberlin got us through her attempted suicide so for our birthdays we decided on Anberlin tattoos. She got the Lost Songs key on her arm and I got the current logo on my leg. Nothing too crazy or colorful but it means something to us.

I’m eventually going to get a small tiger on my arm. My siblings all have their chinese zodiac symbols on their arms so I might as well join them.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chowser,

"Body hardware" where it looks like a tackle box blew up in your face is not attractive. It's not.

Tattoos where it looks like you're a victim of a terrorist bombing in an ink factory is not attractive. It's not.

This craze will end. They all do. Eventually, stupidity reveals itself.

H&K-Guy

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Anyone who has created a work of art realizes the issue with walking around with your art permanently on your body. Have you ever written a story, painted a picture, created a digital image? What happens over time to your relationship with your creation? After the creation of your art, you change as a person over time- you evolve, you mature, you gain experience, your tastes change. What happens is that you come to want to tweak your creation, sometimes quite a bit- change words in a sentence, change paragraphs, add or omit entire passages in your story, change the ending, change the beginning. You want to change colors in your artwork, reearrange the elements, etc.

And sometimes, you come to loathe something that you've created and want it to disappear. You tire of it completely, see the error of your ways. You are subject to your own evolution.

Now, apply all of that to having a work of art tattooed onto your body, carrying it with you at all times.

I guess people can ignore these feelings to a degree, but you cannot tell me that there are not many, many people out there who've been tattooed and who don't want all of it to disappear.

A story a painting, a photograph- you can separate yourself from these things. Body art? Barring painful and expensive removal procedures which yield various degrees of success, you are stuck with it for the rest of your life. I can't even begin to decribe how foolish this seems to me.

The “troll” did have a valid point. Tattoos are a form of decoration. That’s where his point ends.
It sure as shit isn’t like perfume. My tattoos don’t wash off in the shower, ready for a fresh application that fits the mood tomorrow.

There is a lot of truth to Para's statement. I have tattoos. A lot of them. My arms are sleeved, my legs have a few, my chest and back.
If you met me and I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, you would never guess that I was tattooed. Every year, I would meet people in the fall or winter. Come summer I would wear a t-shirt and would always hear the same phrase “I didn’t know you were tattooed” or “Wow, I didn’t think you were the type of person to have tattoos”.
I’m not a convict, biker, or military.
I started out when I was 18 and got a couple. A few years later I had a sleeve done. This was back when it was rare to see people with sleeves, and even more rare to see a sleeve that was good artwork.
Through the years I have had some coverups done. The tattoos I got as a kid were fucking stupid. Now I am trying to create a little bit of a better canvas of art. This is difficult as finding a true artist that can also tattoo very well is a rare find. It’s easy to find someone who knows how to use a tattoo machine well. Good artists are able to be found. But together is rare. Most tattoo artists I have encountered are mediocre at best. The guy I had been going to in Washington for the last ten years, checks all those boxes.
If I could go back to my 18th birthday when I got my first one, I would have held off. I probably would have ended up getting tattooed all the same, but the art would have been a lot different.
As I type this, I do think to myself, maybe I would just leave the canvas blank if I could go back.

It’s too late for that now. I don’t regret what I have done, however you are very correct Para, there have been times in my life I have wanted it all to disappear. For the most part I have come to terms with it, and I like who I am now. I’m proud of who I have become, tattoos or not.

quote:

Originally posted by 2Adefender:
I visited Seattle a few weeks ago. Apparently, the craze is still alive and well out there.

Lots of women with collages of cheap, ugly tattoos out here. At least they serve as a warning.

I have none. Probably never will.

I think they can look sexy on a woman in a certain age range, but one day that woman will be a wrinkly granny with a faded tattoo sleeve.

Most of the women I’ve dated/married have had at least one. Random butterfly or ladybug, etc. I never liked any of those. Always looked dumb. My ex wife’s tramp stamp was dumb too.

I remember when I was 18 working at a hospital. We had a patient that was in and out on the regular. Lady in her 60s that had lived a rough life. She had a tattoo below her waistline on the front with an arrow pointing down that said “Eat Me”. This in the firm Bible Belt.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:

quote:

Originally posted by 2Adefender:
I visited Seattle a few weeks ago. Apparently, the craze is still alive and well out there.

Lots of women with collages of cheap, ugly tattoos out here. At least they serve as a warning.

Or better yet, they have a bunch of different tattoo's that don't even match or have any one theme. My friend used to ask them what the Chinese/Japanese symbol ones spelled etc., half or more didn't even know what the letters were and just thought they looked cool together. He'd come up with something trashy for the amount of letters almost instantly...…. "ohhhh, that spells slut in Chinese" So sick but so funny at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

When I was young, tattoos were reserved for servicemen, bikers and convicts, and all of them male.

quote:

gpbst3
A guy missed out on a 100k a year job because he wanted arm sleeve tattoos. Policy was no visible tattoos. He is working a shit job in shit area for a third of the pay.

Well as a Jarhead, a Biker & a 24yr Prison Guard I suppose I’m guilty.
I have more than a few, all Military / Marine Corps tattoos.
But when I got my first one my company Gunny pulled me aside and said “Don’t fuck yourself down the road. Always be sure that you can cover them with a shortsleeved shirt. You don’t know what you’ll be doing later in life!”

I stuck to that. You’d have to look hard to see anything while wearing a shortsleeved dress shirt.
Even now while the Ohio’s Dept. Of Corrections grooming policy doesn’t care if I sleeve out, I’ve always kept it at & above the elbows.
I got them for my own reasons. Not to fly them in everyone’s face.

I have a friend who bought his first motorcycle & it had to be a Harley. A month later he got his first tattoo. Flames starting at his wrist, encircling his forearm and ending at his elbow with a “HD Bar & Shield” ghosted in the flames.
That next year their first kid came along & bike was gone.
He’s been walking around for the last 8yrs answering the constantly asked question “so you got a Harley ?” ! LoL!

Think Before You Ink !


I have a couple additions drawn up but they’ve been sitting in a file for the last 6 years.
I doubt I’ll ever get them but who knows.

Never understood why people thought tats were a good thing but the nipple studs on women are truly a mystery to me.
I understand the tounge studs but the nipple?

quote:

Originally posted by gjgalligan:
Never understood why people thought tats were a good thing but the nipple studs on women are truly a mystery to me.
I understand the tounge studs but the nipple?

It supposedly turns them on......the movement against them or something. So they say.

I'm always surprised by woman getting them, especially getting lots of them. How dumb it is, getting permanent things for a temporary fashion fad.

I've said that to woman and naturally they get mad. They comment that men get them too, and I say "yes, but men do lots of stupid things that woman should be smarter than."

For me, the whole tattoo thing is: Less is more.
And if you are going to get one, do the due diligence to make sure your "artist" is in fact an artist. I was just in Walgreens in line behind a woman with a tat on her neck. It was poorly done, ran together and blurry.
The huge gauge ear thing? Gross.

I have no tattoos or piercings. I don't understand the drive to have either done to one's body. I don't have revulsion at simple, tasteful tattoos on men, but am much more judgmental on women. And I cannot understand why anyone would undergo body piercings (exception--ear lobes for earrings--SMALL ones). Why would anyone purposely create additional handles by which someone else could inflict pain by yanking them off? I call it stupid.

flashguy

Would the Rock n Roll musicians having gallons of ink influence anyone?

My generalization about tattoo's is monkey see, monkey do.

I would guess that 80% or more fall into that category. I know those here don't though.

I do not see it slowing down as our country is not on an upswing intellectually.

quote:

Originally posted by sunburn:
Would the Rock n Roll musicians having gallons of ink influence anyone?

Lol! It'll be 2020 in a few short weeks and we're still blaming things on "Rock n Roll?" LMAO

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
I do not see it slowing down as our country is not on an upswing intellectually.

Well, you'd be wrong there. I'm already starting to see a big backlash against tattoos amongst Gen Z. You know, those born in the late 1990's and early 2000's ya'll call "millenials?" Yeah. They're their own generation and being a "dirty inkie" is a popular term on a few other forums and it's something a lot of them don't want to mess with. So whatever you think about tattoos, culture is cyclical.

I've never seen a tattoo on a woman that made her prettier.

My experience is that I got 1 tattoo when I was 20 years old. Fast forward to my 30's and I spent $4,000 on twenty laser removal sessions to remove it. I think most tattoos that average people get are fashion and we all know how fashion trends last. Military and Sailors I can understand but it seems most people I see all get the same recycled designs. Not very unique or original if you ask me.

I don't have any tats, but I've been thinking about getting one lately, although I doubt it will happen. My wife has two small ones, which are easily covered. A couple of small ones are fine, but people take it too far. I have a B-I-L that is covered in tats, I'm talking neck, hands/fingers, and everything. He looks ridiculous, and the tats, I don't think, are great quality.

Another disturbing trend is athletes, and guys in general wearing the guy "capri" pants, which are skin tight,with slip on shoes and no socks! Don't even get me started on the douchy hipster beards and skinny jeans!

quote:

Originally posted by Andyb:
I've never seen a tattoo on a woman that made her prettier.

I have. She had a full double mastectomy after cancer and full replacement over time and had nipples tattooed on. Made her feel great, and they looked good.

For myself: I have one tattoo, between my shoulder blades. It's my family's heraldic motto from when my Norman ancestors were beknighted by William the Conqueror in 1066. I figured the location shouldn't sag too horribly over time, and I wouldn't (and have never yet in over a decade) regret the content of it. My only regrets are that I wish I had gone bigger with the lettering, but I can find an artist while I'm in the Puget Sound to work with on expanding and refreshing it a bit.

But it's a one-and done. I mostly forget it's there because it isn't visible to me for 99% of my waking hours. It's not prison, biker, gangster, military, flash, drunk, or ghetto art. It's MINE. I picked the font. I picked the letter size and a number of other details. It doesn't look great anymore after many years in the sun, and I don't give a damn. I'll get it freshened up every decade or so and maybe sometime, have it expanded on a bit like I said.

The words on my back mean something to me. If you want to judge me about it, I don't really care. I wasn't even going to talk about it, but this thread is starting to read like a snobby pile-on.

I work with tons of 25-35 year olds and I don’t see it slowing down at all. The biggest problem is most people start getting them when they are young and have no taste or money so they end up with tons of shitty tattoos that detract more than enhance.

Out of all the people I work with that have tons of tattoos there is one girl that has a beautifully done tattoo that was clearly done by an excellent artist and probably cost quite a bit of money, and that’s it.