Those with tattoos- what do you like and dislike about them?

I have no desire to get tattoos, but I think some people look great with them. I also have fantasies of making love to a punkish, grungy/metal type woman with sleeves and piercings and such….it’s pretty hot.

I dislike how society labels people with tattoos, making it harder for them to get certain jobs, for example.

I’m still delighted with my 3. I didn’t mind the pain of getting them, I have nasty scars that aren’t pretty, and only remind me of extreme pain. My first was simply youthful folly really, could a boob frog be anything else? but it serves as a reminder of who I was at the time and there are funny stories to go with it. The other 2 have deep personal meaning for me, all are usually covered, as I got them solely for my own personal gratification. I can honestly say that there is nothing I dislike about any of them.

I have a small purple morning glory tattoo on my right ankle, with a half ankle bracelet of vines.
It is very well done, very feminine, and it looks really nice with sandles and gypsy skirts in the summer. Having it done was not really painful, irritating but not unbearable.

I prefer the more delicate, discreet tattoos as a ‘mature’ woman. I had this one done around my 40th B-day. I am not too keen on the huge tattoos a lot of the younger peeps are into.

Some look really good, but, I wonder how they might feel about having half their body tattooed at 60. lol

All in all I am pretty open minded about whatever turns people on, as long as it is not harmful.

If they’re done well and they’re interesting or mean something to the person, then cool.

As much as I like personal expression and body modification, I sometimes feel that the popularity of tattooing and the trivializing of it to some extent have made it harder for those of us trying to revitalize cultural tattooing traditions to be taken seriously. But then again, the people who don’t take us seriously are probably dicks who wouldn’t anyway and just need a better excuse.

I have 8 and love them all. I plan to get many more. I like the whole process. I am one of those people that gets soo relaxed while being tattooed. Gotta love that adrenaline. Mostly, I like having beautiful art on my body. I never really liked my body until I was inked.

Edit:: I find it snobby that people need to have meaning in their tattoos or great art for it to be acceptable. Good work isn’t cheap. And no one has the right to judge meaning for someone.

Gaga has the worst tattoo of a unicorn on her thigh; I know she has the money for better. She wanted it ugly, I think. Not everything has to be beautiful. Fuck, I love her.

I have two tattoos, both of which have special meaning to me. I do enjoy the process of being inked. The pain involved was somewhat calming, the first was almost cathartic for me. It’s a personal expression – I don’t try to hide the tattoos nor do I go to any lengths to show them off. They’re simply part of who I am. I may get more down the line.

I don’t like that I can’t afford to get more. Lots more.

Yes, I do enjoy the process. I enjoy the finished art, as well. I really love watching my husband get tattooed, also. I’m actually trying to talk him into getting matching tattoos, but he clings to the superstition that it is bad luck. I’ll change his mind. :)

@ANef_is_Enuf My wife and I have matching tattoos. Going on 10 years.

@tinyfaery I know a couple that have been married for 35 years, and they have matching tattoos. I think he’s coming around.. slowly. lol.

I love tattoos, but I’ll admit I made some real bad choices at a real young age. I will be getting two of mine removed and one of them covered up with a piece I’ve been brainstorming and creating for quite a while now. I enjoy the process of creating the tattoo and obviously viewing the finished artwork, but I can’t say I enjoy getting tattooed, but I think most would agree the pain is worth it.
I’ve been taking time to make sure this is the tattoo I want so I don’t make the same mistake again. I’m in a much better place now and feel a lot more grounded than I was when I got my other tattoos so I feel good about my decision regarding what I want next.

@Vunessuh Boo. They are your history. You might think you can cover it up and forget about it, but… Anyway, just my opinion.

@tinyfaery My reason for covering up my tattoo doesn’t have much to do with forgetting about it. And even if it was….who cares?

@tinyfaery Wow, something we can agree on!! It bothers me when people ask my what my tattoos mean and what I was thinking when I got them. I always point to my giant panther on my back and say, “I got this one because I was 18 and I COULD without permission. It has no meaning.” But it’s been 14 years and I still love that tatooo.

I usually get very relaxed and enjoy the adrenaline rush during back tattoos, but my recent tattoos were a total bitch, painwise. I had my daughters’ names inked in huge letters, going down my sides. I don’t typically find tattoos to be painful, but holy fuck, ribcage tattoos HURT! My second daughter’s labor and delivery was less painful than the rib tat.

I have eight, including my two brand new ones and I don’t regret any of them at all. My anther may be a pathetic, shriveled kitten when I’m 80, but oh well, LOL. My hubby calls me a “human road map” because I like getting tattoos as souvenirs when we travel. =0)

And mine are pretty much just for me, my hubby and my kids to look at. Our society tends to look down on women with visible tattoos, so mine are all on my back, stomach, butt and now my sides. They’re covered unless I choose to show them.

I let my oldest daughter watch me having her name tattooed 2 weeks ago. I thought it seemed like a strange, but fun bonding type thing. She got a huge kick out of it and likes to pet it. She calls it HER tattoo. I didn’t let my 5 yr old watch hers be done last night.

I love mine. I have short sleeves that end in a really beautiful swan tribal on both arms. I love the process and I don’t mind the “pain” I find it to be relaxing.

I have three, and I love them all. I have plans for three more – I just have to have the money and find an artist I can trust (mine retired). I don’t regret any of them and I’m happy with how they’ve stood the test of time, both visually and emotionally.

And I have to say I love the pain of getting inked. I think back to sitting/lying there and that stinging scratchy pain… I’m not into S&M, but I love it.

I love all my tattoos and I love the process as well. I usually get them while I’m stressed out and it really helps me unwind. It’s like a massage to me, although more painful.

I have matching tattoos with an ex-boyfriend, we didn’t last. I have matching tattoos with my husband, we did. The whole ‘tattoos will make you break up’ thing is dumb and untrue.

There’s nothing I dislike about my tattoo. I got one that every time I think about it, I have to think about other things, almost in a meditative way.

I have the word Namaste in Sanskrit for a tattoo.

I don’t regret getting my tattoos at all. I currently have two but am looking forward to getting more! The pain doesn’t really bother me. I don’t like the outlining part that much (my most recent one is on my shoulder and my whole arm went numb during the outlining process-yuck!) but the rest of it is just fine and kind of relaxing like others have said. I usually cover up my tattoos but they’re both in places that would be exposed during warmer weather. I have the Chinese character for light on my left ankle and California poppies on my right shoulder. I got the one on my ankle as a sort of celebratory graduation gift and because my mom grew up with a Chinese background, making it sort of a thing in her honor. I got the poppies because they were my favorite flower growing up and therefore made me think of a specific point in my life/who I was at that time.

I like showing my tattoos to people, but I find it irritating when people seem surprised that I have them. It’s usually because they think I’m not the “type” who would get one, but what does that even mean?! :(

Oh, @etignotasanimum , I so get that! I got my first in the 70s when young women of my social upbringing would never do such an awful trashy thing! The impression was then that only sailors as in Navy men bikers and whores got inked. Well, I sail but not in the Navy, I never got the bike something I still kind of regret and I never had to support myself on my back lucky me! so I managed to defy all the stereotypes. I do however, have a bastard child. Does that count?

If I could, I would give all of them back. Especially the one that says “I Am Become Death”

Really @josie ? “I Am Become Death”? Even in my folliest youth I wouldn’t have considered that! And my youth was pretty damned follied…

@JilltheTooth Give a rifle to a young man with an attitude and all sorts of things can happen

@JilltheTooth It’s so strange, but I feel like even people who are my age still have that sort of thought process. Or they think that I must have suddenly fallen in with a bad crowd because I have tattoos and am considered a “good girl” who would never do anything slightly outside of normal. Stereotypes are so irritating. You should get a bike if you still want one! I’ve always thought it would be cool to have one!

@etignotasanimum : All my tats hidden like I said before but the fact that I have them still freaks out some and titillates others. Very odd. And I’d love the bike, but I’m pretty arthritic and even riding for a short time hurts too much. Ah, well, 3 tats and a bastard child is still a pretty good stereotype bustin’ record!

@JilltheTooth Well, I for one, am shocked and appalled that someone like you has tattoos! Shocked and appalled, I say! I can not believe that you… wait, I have eight. Nevermind.

@WillWorkForChocolate : KatawaGrey thinks I should get one of pants. Whyever would she think that, I ask you???

I think you should get one of a tooth wearing pants.

Or of pants with teeth?

Uh oh, here comes trouble!

Oh shit! Everyone hide- it’s that blue chick!

And she’s really really tall and scary!

Pants would fit quite well on a two-root tooth!

She whips lesser jellies with her tail!

Oh, I like the “two root tooth” idea!

I don’t wear make up, I don’t drag a piece of steel across my soft furry skin, I don’t “do” my hair, and I don’t understand why people seem to have a need to change their appearance.

I don’t like tattoos either. When I wish to adorn myself, it is strictly temporary.

@YARNLADY Thanks for ignoring the details and being the only party pooper on the thread…

@YARNLADY : How does that address the question at all?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir obviously it isn’t true, it’s superstitious.

I have two very large tattoos. Currently, I’ve had about 11 hours of work done, and more to be done tomorrow and possibly again at a later date. Both of them are easily hidden, despite their size. One is on the outside of my right thigh and the other is the lower left quadrant of my stomach. I think that being able to hide both of them helps a lot with my lack of regret. I don’t see them until I get undressed and then it’s like I’m seeing them all over again! It’s like, “Wow! Look at that pretty picture on my body! Yay!”

Neither of them has “personal” meaning except that which I attribute to them now. The koi on my stomach is because I think it’s a pretty fish and my tattoo artist drew the most amazing picture for me. The mermaid on my thigh is actually this picture, slightly altered so that it will look good on my leg. I love this artist and I have loved mermaids my whole life. Together, these tattoos have meaning because the experiences I had while getting them were great. I made new friends, helped a local artist yes, I hold tattoo artists on the same level as “real” artists and brought a lot of customers to a small business.

AS for the pain, well, I hate it. I put up with it because I know I’ll have something beautiful on my body. I was told, before starting my mermaid my second tattoo that the first is the easiest and the second is the hardest. I sooooo believe that. For the first one, I went in thinking I would bleed buckets and leave screaming in pain. It was not nearly as bad as I thought. However, for the second one, I knew just how much it would hurt, so I was dreading that first session. Luckily, we’re into the shading portion now so it’s not as bad. However, while the shading doesn’t hurt as much, I think it feels weirder than the line work.

@YARNLADY: Oh, I wouldn’t call it a need. I think of it more as a desire, since a need is defined as something that maintains life like, you know, food and water and stuff like that. Tats or GTFO.

I think @YARNLADY needs a tattoo of a ball of yarn on her boobie.

I have a good friend who does tattoos in NY, and several years ago he had a vision of a vine with flowers curving down my right thigh. I’ve always liked the idea, and one of these days I would like to make it happen. I also have plans to get matching tattoos with my sisters.. soon, actually.
Ultimately I would like to have a traditional rushnyk design that goes the length of my spine.. but it will be ages before I can afford a large tattoo like that.

Wow, @ANef_is_Enuf , talk about precision work! That will be very cool.
@KatawaGrey‘s ink guy and mine is really an artist, art school and all. When he did mine, we talked about various artists, it was a great conversation and I was impressed with his knowledge and insight. Very reassuring to know that he takes his art seriously, even if the medium isn’t canvas…

Sorry all I am not a tattoo hater but would never get one I am terrified of needles and just the though would make me pass out.

@creative1 I wish that I could understand that, because it is so different from getting a shot or a piercing. It doesn’t look or feel like a needle, really. My sister is terrified of needles, she literally faints when she gets blood drawn… but she has lots of tattoos. What is it about the tattoo process that scares you? If you don’t mind my asking.

I heard that Paris Hilton has “Christmas” tattooed on her upper left thigh, and “New Year’s” on her upper right thigh.

When she was asked about this, she said, “I’ll tell you if you ‘visit’ me between the holidays”. ;-)

@Brian1946 ; Groaning

I was surprised by the pain of getting my tattoo, not on the butt cheek but not on the back either, just that little haunch spot between. It took me two sessions to get mine completed, first the black ink and then the color fill. Each time I bled like a pig everywhere, my skin swelled up and seeped yucky orange serum for weeks.

The tattoo itself I love, the subject and colors but the tech who applied it was high when he was supposed to be straight and so my tat’ is a little less than fine line perfect. A decade has bone by since the ink and it’s still cute to me but I regret getting the name of my ex along with it. Whenever I’m asked then I say it’s the artist’s name in Hebrew.

Sorry, I don’t think I was trashing tattoos, but just stating my personal opinion. The question was directed at tattoo wearers only, but as with any question on Fluther, the OP doesn’t really decide who answers and who doesn’t.

Okay, well the question title clearly said- THOSE WITH TATTOOS- What do you like and dislike about them? You don’t have a tattoo, so you can’t really answer the question as I had desired.

Slide off the horse and just admit that your comment had nothing whatsoever to do with the question.

@WillWorkForChocolate An opinion about a tattoo is what the question is about, is it not? What part of directed at tattoo wearers only is not the admission you so desperately crave?

@WillWorkForChocolate Well, by that logic, shouldn’t you be upset with @Blackberry for answering the question, too? Or is he an exception because he had something positive to say about tattoos and @YARNLADY didn’t?

@Vunessuh: It is generally frowned upon to come on a thread and say how much you dislike the subject and @YARNLADY is somewhat notorious for this.

I don’t think it matters. As @YARNLADY stated, you can’t choose who answers your questions or how they answer them. @Blackberry hardly answered any of the questions @WillWorkForChocolate asked because he doesn’t have tattoos, yet because he likes them, that makes his answer more acceptable than @YARNLADY disliking them? There’s no logic behind that and that hypocrisy is just as annoying as @YARNLADY’s notorious actions. Next time, just ask only people who agree with you to answer. That’s a little more honest and direct.

@Vunessuh: Think of it this way. @YARNLADY has as much right to answer this question as the rest of us do to dispute her opinion and you do to call us all hypocritical for calling her out. :) Sorry, just trying to be honest and direct.

Y’all are nuts. Much as I like the OP, when you put a question out there, it doesn’t matter what qualifications you add… you will get opinions.

If I asked “Which band is better, Greenday or Nickelback?” on this forum I’d not be surprised to get an answer “They both suck!” even if I added the qualifier “No Haters, please.”

If I only wanted answers from Greenday enthusiasts, I could post on the band’s fansite (there is one, right?) This is on a wide open forum. Like or not, people will speak.

Not one of us has the right to say an opinion is wrong here, whether or not it is out of place. Certainly, nobody has the right to say a tattoo is good or bad. If it means something to you… be proud. If you could never imagine making something a permanent part of your body and you want to say that…. go ahead, FFS.

Nickelback is the fucking worst. Maybe Creed.

@cockswain Your opinion is entirely wrong. It’s Jack Johnson.

@cockswain Indeed.

I hope a carfull of teenagers drive by and whip a bag of dogshit at Jack Johnson

I hope they take a shit directly in his guitar.

I hope 50 people take a shit in the ocean right next to Jack Johnson and his fucking surf board.

I hope you and I are two of those 50 people.

that would be a special moment indeed

TATS people, let’s get back to TATS!

Guys, I only said something to @YARNLADY because she is notorious for being the only party pooper on a thread, and she’s also notorious for purposely needling me and trying to make me look like an asshat. I didn’t say anything about @Blackberry‘s comment, because he’s not in the habit of jumping into my threads and jabbing a stick in my eye.

PLUS- I was quite clearly asking for the opinions of people who HAVE tattoos. I could have easily asked “Why do you like or dislike tattoos” as a generic question, but I wanted opinions from the specific audience of jellies who already HAVE them.

It wasn’t that I was looking for people to “agree” with me on something, because I didn’t give an opinion in the question or the details. I don’t give a shit if people don’t like tattoos, that’s NOT what I was asking.

There’s a huge difference between asking, “Who’s better: Green Day or Nickelback?” and asking, “Those who have been in a band, what do you like and dislike about it?”

Much as I adore several of you who have commented about this, I don’t think you really GOT what the question was about. It wasn’t about opinions, it’s all about how you feel about the tattoos you already have. It’s stupid to just jump in and say, “Well I don’t like them”. Good for you, I didn’t ask if you liked tattoos or not, I asked if you HAVE them, how do you feel about them.

ANYWAY. Moving the fuck along people.

I have two simple homemade tattoos done in blue ink. They were done over 20 years ago. I regretted one for a long time because it was done as a friendship pact of a large group of people I no longer see anymore. A bunch of skaters and punks I hung out with when I was 17 and doing all sorts of drugs. I’ve gotten past hating it, but I wouldn’t mind having it touched up by a professional one of these days.

I absolutely love my dolphin on my ankle. My daughter loves showing her friends her mommy’s dolphin tattoo. She wants to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up. Don’t you just love 7 year old girls? teehee

I thoroughly enjoyed the pain involved when I got the tattoos. The process only took an hour, so I don’t know if I would enjoy that pain for any longer length of time. Who knows, I might.

My husband and I have considered getting tattoos on our ring fingers. His wedding band was cut off when he injured himself at work several years ago and we never got it fixed. We thought of buying new rings next year for our 20th anniversary, but we may do tattoos instead.

I have two tattoos, both more than 15 years old. I love having them and showeing them off, and I didn’t find the process of having them done was particularly painful or unpleasant. The only reason I don’t have more is because they’re too expensive. My regret is they both need touching up as they’ve faded with age, and I can’t afford to do that either.

I might get a smegma tattoo.

@Brian1946 Awesome. Or dreadful. I can’t decide.

@Blueroses How about awesomely dreadful? BTW, are Vunessuh and Stinley the only ones who still have the courage to keep the avatars that show their love?

@aprilsimnel I have namaste in sanskrit on me as well :)

I don’t enjoy the process of getting a tattoo per say, but deciding on a design, getting excited about it, and then finally making an appointment feels great. I love the anticipation of it all.

I prefer getting tattoos to piercings, even though they are more painful. With tattoos the pain is longer, it’s hard to get nervous for something that will last an hour or more. With piercings it’s like a shock; over in a few seconds but they always make you sort of “jump” in your head. The thought of a needle driving through my skin is more nerve-wracking than some smaller needles drawing around my body (even though it hurts more).

I do like when people notice mine and they make me feel more attractive in a way. I definitely do not regret any. They become a part of you after awhile, I could never imagine looking back with disdain at a tattoo. My rule of thumb is to wait and make sure that I am 100% impatiently ecstatic to get it done. If there is even a hint of questioning it, I wait.