One thing mum had always said to me was how a tattoo ruins a girls body. I never got that, I was of the opinion that tattoos made a girl look amazing, colourful and very individual. It’s taken until quite recently for me to work out what she meant and how true it was. I’ve been noticing girls lately who have one small tattoo on their arm, ankle, wrist, chest or lower-back and just thought to myself “Wow, that’s going to look shit when you get married in your beautiful wedding dress”. Not because she has a tattoo at all, but because she chose some irrelevant design off the wall and got it without much thought about how it really does ruin the rest of her tattoo-free body. I don’t mean to just target girls of course, I’ve seen similar mishaps on guys, but it really does look worse on girls to have the one badly done tattoo of a dolphin on their chest that is always just poking out from anything short of a skivvy top. Yuck.

As a very tattooed girl, I implore any girl who is considering a tattoo to think a few things through:

1. Does it really mean that much to you? OK so it’s the Japanese word for happiness, and you are a very happy person. But are you Japanese? And can you be defined simply by that one word? Have you even gotten confirmation that is correct and not really the Chinese word for “slapper”? This applies to tattoos of words in any language too – unless that word holds a special significance I suggest rethinking getting it permanently applied to your skin. The same can be said for most star-sign tattoos. I’ve seen them done well, but more often than not they’re incorporated into a bigger design or changed to be more relevant to the wearer. If your star sign means so much to you, don’t go and pick its symbol and leave it at thatr. Make it personal, make it scream YOU, instead of getting the same tattoo as every other Gemini out there.

2. Do you need your child/boyfriends name/face tattooed to you for life? Yes your child is very important, and will be forever. But why do you need their face on your arm forever and ever? Their name can do in a pinch, but still, it’s hardly meaningful or interesting. The name of a partner should never ever cross your mind as a potential tattoo – you are jinxing your relationship, that’s all there is to it! If you really want to get a tattoo to commemorate a loved one, be it your child, a sibling, a parent or even your partner, why not get something a bit different. Tribute tattoos, containing things that represent that person, are both interesting, personal and most importantly, original. Definitely the better option than having “JOSH” tattooed to your wrist for everyone to see.

3. You like stars? Really? I’m yet to meet anyone who can justify their love of stars enough to get them tattooed all over their body. Dude, get an original idea and stop following hideous trends. Think of it this way, 15 years ago the same thing happened with barbed-wire arm bands. Do you really want something like that tattooed to you, a constant reminder that instead of getting something original you went or the most over-done tattoo design of the 90s?

4. You’ve picked a nice little tattoo you love, but hang on, what does it mean? Does it really have to have a meaning so amazing and overwhelming that will bring people to their knees when you tell him? Of course all tattoos have some sort of meaning, intended or not, but there’s no need to attach sentiment to a design that you picked because it looks nice. Why can’t you get a picture of something you like, maybe a favourite animal or an interesting symbol and leave it at that? If you love it, then it’s meaningful enough. You should never have to justify your tattoo to someone else. If you like it, then that shoudl be good enough to everyone else.

Every person is different, so naturally we all want very different things when we get tattooed. I’m one of those people who gets tattoos with things that make me happy in bright colours I love to flaunt, which to some people is superficial and the wrong sort of thing to get tattooed. Meanwhile my boyfriend won’t get a tattoo that he hasn’t designed himself, researched thoroughly, discovered its every meaning and thought about very hard – totally the opposite to me. The result are two very different tattoos, but both with lots of meaning to each of us, bringing us the same amount of pleasure, just in different ways.

Think about what you want and why and whether or not it’s something that will keep its appeal in a few years time. Make sure it’s something you really want, not something picked off the wall because you randomly decided to get a tattoo one day. If you’re new to tattoos, always consider the placement of your first tattoo! Getting it on your arm could mean you have to deal with it being highly visible, a permanent reminder of how you never think too far ahead. And if you end up getting more tattoos down the track, that one little one you got as a taster could end up ruining your future sleeve!

It’s no secret that I am into tattoos. I love them on myself and on other people. I love everything about them: coming up with the idea, working on a design, booking an appointment, the nervous anticipation before starting, the discomfort/pain of the needles and the healing process. You could probably say it’s a passion of mine. It’s kind of hard to count how many I have really. I have a sleeve and some matching tattoos that could be counted as either one single or one double tattoo. But roughly speaking I currently have 14 tattoos from the back of my neck down to the tops of my feet. I love them all, even the not-so-great ones, and each one has a story of its own.

The story of my love of tattoos isn’t one of rebellion, in fact far from it. My mum always tried to convince me girls couldn’t get tattoos, that it made them look rough and unattractive. I guess I always had an interest in tattoos because she told me this from a fairly young age, and it almost worked. When I was 18 I considered getting a tattoo, but it had to be somewhere easily hidden, something pretty and I had to get the courage to ask my mum first. I eyed off a sleeping dragon that I wanted on my lower back for ages, but I put it off so long I lost the piece of flash, and eventually chickened out of it entirely, thankfully. When I was 20 the thought of getting a tattoo was the strongest it’d ever been and became a bit of an obsession, so shortly after turning 21 I got the logo of my favourite band (Die Ärzte) tattooed on my back. The hardest part wasn’t the pain or the permanency – it was asking my mum permission. I honestly thought she was going to disown me. She wasn’t overly impressed but said it was my choice and told me she’d never, ever disown me over something like a tattoo. And that was that, my first tattoo over and done with with many more follow over the next five years.

People often ask me if I’m going to keep getting tattooed til I’m completely covered. The answer is no. I love tattoos but don’t feel the need to cover myself in them. Maybe when I’m older I might find myself completely tattooed like the World’s most tattooed senior woman (well, maybe not) but as such I’m in no hurry to completely cover my body in tattoos. I’m also careful about getting tattooed for the pure sake of it, which is a trap I know is easy to fall into. Although I’m not one of those people hung up on saturating my tattoos with lots of meaning and significance, I like to make sure I’m getting the right design for the right reasons (since I’ve gotten some fairly random tattoos in the past, which have ended up taking up valuable real estate).

Coming soon: My guide to getting tattoos.