Tattoos...

[erin-x]

My friend just showed me a picture of the tattoo she is going to get. It's a little tribal flower design she found on google images and it's actually quite dire. I didn't want to say because she liked it that much but I just couldn't believe she is going to have something permanently inked on her that she found on google!

I think tattoos should be personal and have a meaning behind them. Even if they don't have a specific meaning I think they should at least be unique.

That's just how I feel and I was just wondering what other people think?

[NOX]

I tend to agree with you, but some people lack the artistic ability to draw what they want to show the tattoo artist or in some cases to even verbalise it, so an awful lot of people google for images. I've googled for the esential style myself then adjusted it to what I want, but in an ideal world you'd be right:)

[daisya]

I really dislike tattoo's and especially on women - can't imagine why anyone would want to "deface" their bodies like that. Saw on TV the other day when a young woman was getting married she had to find a wedding dress that covered her tattoo!! What's the point in having them done then....

[erin-x]

I love tattoo's and actually offered to draw her one but she's in love with this one she found :|

I think some women really suit tattoos. Especially if they have the whole kind of punky/rockabilly style, like Kat Von D or Brody Dalle. I'd love to get tattooed but I know I would regret it. Both because i'm so indecisive and of the whole aging thing.

[welshlibranr]

I have a tiny tattoo on the top of my left shoulder, it's not visible really, I got it because all of my ex school friends and I agreed that we would have this tattoo on our 50th birthday, we agreed to meet, have the tattoos, and then go for lunch and a few drinks, I was never too keen, but hey!.......when you're 25, 50 is a long way away!......anyway it came!...and I didn't feel I could go back on my promise, but I wouldn't ever do it again!........it hurts!..

[daisya]

I think you're sensible IMO erin...to think as you do...old women with tattoo's, can't bear to think of it but I guess with some women they don't envisage from being young to old, makes me wonder if they will regret it when they get to 60 - 70 and older lol.

[MustangLady]

I'm a woman with 7 tattoos... 4 of them to my own design, the other 3 I took from books but adjusted them slightly to my own style and they all have a meaning to me. They are discreet and only visible if I wear clothing to show them, had to due to my job. I agree that wearing your own design is lovely, but like NOX said not everyone has the ability to be artistic and if they prefer to take another persons design, I have no problem with that, everyone to their own I say. However in saying that the person having the tattoo must be 100% sure of the design they have chosen!

[NOX]

Quite so Mustanglady, as long as the tattooee ( is that even a word?) oh no it's recipient is happy I think that's all that matters. With regards regretting them as you get older, I think probably most tattooed people would think the reverse actually and view them fondly as a reminder of their youth and vigour and all the good times they had when younger, certainly that's how I view mine (I'm 51 and male ).

[erin-x]

I'm with you on that they should have a meaning, MustangLady. I think my friend is just doing it so she has a tattoo. I just think it's pointless in that case.

[welshlibranr]

must admit that although I wouldn't have another one, my tattoo reminds me of happy times in my youth, and when I go to the hairdresser often the young girl who washes my hair sees it, and although I think she's a little taken aback that I actually have a tattoo, she says 'Oh lovely little tattoo'......it is pretty, blue and silver shooting stars..........

[boxtops]

I'm afraid I'm with those who abhor them - I really can't understand why any female would want to deface their body with navy blue ink for the rest of their lives. I just don't understand it, not at all.

[RATTER15]

I have tattoos, only one of them actually mean anything at all, the others are just pictures I liked at the time, im happy with them, they don't have to have some deep meaningful purpose, if they do that's fine if they don't it really doesn't make a difference, its just a picture.

[vodkancoke]

Before I got my tattoo, I was asked to draw what I wanted. I wanted a daisy and because my artistic talents are zero,(and Google wasn't around in 1996) it ended up resembling one of those wee flowers in a Mr Men cartoon, the guy laughed at me and drew something himself which was much better!! If I was to get another one, I think I would turn to Google too! lol

[smart1]

I don't have tattoos myself, nor would I. I think they have become a bit cliched, just my opinion. My brother has had tattoos, and for the last 40yrs has regretted having them done. About 15yrs ago there was a period where young women were getting designs tattooed around their navels - I'm willing to bet more of them regret it than not.

[erin-x]

What kind of pictures Ratter? (If i'm not being too nosey there ;))

I'm going to contradict myself here and say that I think iconic images are cool. Like something from an album cover or a picture of someone. It's just the generic doodles that bother me! haha!

And I also think it's different for men. I love men with tattoos but I also think, as previously stated, that some women can really pull them off. Fearne Cotton for example... I love her style and her tattoos are just an extension of that. Kind of a lifestyle choice? =s That sounds weird but it's the only way I can think to put it.

[hc4361]

Most tattoo artists are very bad at their job and have no artistic skill whatsoever. A lot of tattoos are worse than graffiti on a toilet wall. The colours fade, the lines blur and you eventually have a horrid blob.

I have genuinely mistaken a tattoo on a woman's leg and foot for varicous veins. Horrid.

I know I get fed up of the artwork I have on my walls and rotate it from time to time, or sell it and buy something I find more appealing. Even much loved family photos on display get changed every year or so.

I wouldn't trust anybody to use my body as a canvas, somewhere to display their 'art' - let alone pay them for it.

As for just looking for a tattoo for the sake of having one - stupid. Might as well have Daffy Duck.

[hc4361]

Having a tattoo is no longer 'out there' or 'making a statement'.
It's following the herd.

[erin-x]

You've got the same attitude as me, HC :) I know I would get a tattoo and then hate it the next week!

[daisya]

I concur hc...my opinions too.

[hc4361]

I used to be a punk rocker, erin. Thankfully piercings grow over, mohicans grow out, and hair dye washes out.
I still have the photos, though. I look at them fondly and wonder - who on earth is that berk?

[RATTER15]

>>>Having a tattoo is no longer 'out there' or 'making a statement'.
It's following the herd.<<<

Nonsense, people have many reasons for having tattoos, very few fit your narrow minded description im afraid.