How Tattoos Changed My Life

I recently read an amazing blog from a heavily tattooed girl explaining how getting tattooed may change your life. It’s great because this isn’t something anyone tells you before you trot off to get your first tattoo. You’re either told “you’ll regret it for the rest of your life” or “you’ll love it and regret it if you don’t”. There never seems to be any middle ground, explaining the pro’s and cons, so it was lovely to see someone explain it the good (and bad) ways it will change your life.

It was an especially interesting read for me, because I was made redundant recently and am in the process of applying for jobs. I’ve only had a couple of face-to-face interviews so far and have had to cover my tattoos with long sleeves and thick black stockings so that they won’t know the truth. Because I am currently applying for jobs in corporate environments, I pretty much don’t have a choice because I know I won’t have a chance if I turned up with any tattoos showing, even if I was absolutely perfect for the role.

I can honestly say I have never regretted my tattoos. I love them and am glad I got them in the first place. But I know they can act as a sort of “barrier” between people and the real me. Tattoos do not define me, but to the uninformed stranger that’s all they see and so, in a sense, they do define me. I have turned so many people around on their negative stance on tattoos by being a lovely person and not being the stereotypical deadshit covered in badly-done tattoos. But I have to work hard on some people, show them they’re just a small part of me that makes me a bit more colourful than the average person.

If you’re considering getting a tattoo, please understand it will change your life and you will forever be trying to prove to narrow-minded people that you’re a decent person. By getting a tattoo you’ve set yourself up for dumb questions, having random people touching them and thinly veiled insults (like “oh but you’re so pretty, why did you get so many tattoos for?”). It is up to you to then deflect any negativity by being patient with those who don’t “get” tattoos, explaining what they mean to you and proving you’re a normal person like they are, you just have some lovely, permanent decorations on your skin. And the sad reality is, you will probably have to cover them up for a lot of jobs which is a massive pain in the butt (especially if you live somewhere like Brisbane where you sweat half to death by just being outside for five minutes in the height of summer).

It’s not all bad though, a lot of people do love tattoos even if they don’t have any and you will encounter lots of positivity about them and if you’re really lucky, you will find a great job where they don’t mind your them and let you show the off while working. I am hoping I will one day find the perfect job where my pink hair, colourful tattoos and awesome personality are not only accepted but encouraged!

Leave my tattoos alone!

Source

I don’t know why I keep ruining my day by reading news.com.au but once again I have stumbled upon an article, which by itself isn’t too bad, but then you read the comments and the blood starts to boil.

In this case, it’s one about gen Y and how they love tattoos.

Yeah, you can already picture the sorts of comments these white, middle-class idiots who have this over inflated sense of self importance and like to tell anyone who’ll listen why everything sucks make. As a matter of fact, some of these comments even shocked me, and I’ve read some pretty dreadful comments on that website. I admit the article was a bit lame (shock horror) and did make it seem like the types of Gen Y’s (fuck I hate this who Gen Y vs the world thing that’s happening at the moment) to get tattoos are all a bit daft and think they’re getting tattoos to express individuality when they’re really just following a trend. I get that and have always been annoyed at the idiots who get tattooed to be trendy, as they’re the ones who make those, like me, who really love tattoos look like idiots.

So apparently we’re now conformist whores (I’m not kidding, someone actually wrote that) and immature idiots who all get kanji and swirly butterfly, tribal tramp stamps who will undoubtedly want to have them all removed once we’re 35 because we changed our minds and don’t like them anymore. REALLY? I don’t even know how to respond to these sorts of ignorant opinions. Not without flipping my lid and calling them all a bunch of swear words, anyway. My mind boggles that people are so closed-minded about tattoos still. I mean, I’m not stupid, I know a lot of people still consider tattoos “rough” and employers consider them some sort of badge of unreliability so that you can’t get hired outside of JB HiFi if you dare show them off. But still, I thought that since its 2010 now, people might have stopped thinking like it’s 1985 and accepted the fact tattoos aren’t all that bad after all. HOW FOOLISH I AM!

So I am going to clear some of this up for any of those who still consider tattoos the mark of lazy, unreliable, crime-prone, conformist whores!

• Not everyone who gets tattooed gets something off the wall or “just because”. Most of us put a lot of thought into tattoos, get them designed and spend a lot of time deciding what we want permanently inked to our bodies. Anyone who goes and gets a bit of tribal or a cherry blossom are usually the kinds of people who don’t know anything about tattoos and probably will regret it later. If they don’t, then they’ll probably move on to well-thought out and meaningful tattoos once they’ve gotten over the thrill of getting their first tatt.
• Yes, there are a lot of crappy tattoos out there. Some are poorly executed or involve clichéd and “trendy” designs that will date pretty quickly. But if ever you see someone with what you consider a crap tattoo, that is your opinion. While that Ned Kelly sleeve I saw the other day made me cringe, that guy who had it probably loves it and has attributed a lot of meaning to it so you just can’t assume it was done on a whim or they’ll regret it when they’re older, because they probably won’t. Tattoos are subjective.
• Most people do not get stuff tattooed on themselves that they will get bored of or stop liking in a couple of years. I wonder how fickle these people are who ask “what if you don’t like that in two years?”, do they go through their lives only half-heartedly liking things and then get sick of them and hate them for the rest of their lives? People always ask me this when they see I have Harry Potter tattoos for example, as though I could ever stop loving those books. Look, if in 10 years time I decided I don’t like Harry Potter any more, I will still love my tattoos because they represent a time in my life when Harry Potter was a huge deal to me and will always remind me of those times. The only time when I’ll accept this argument is when a name of a boy/girl friend is tattooed and even then I don’t think it’s a huge deal, as long as you got it for the right reasons and still have fond memories of that person then who cares?
• Bad tattoos are kind of part of the fun of tattoos. If you’re really into tattoos and have a few of them, there will always be that tattoos that isn’t exactly great. You might not hate it and want it removed, but it’s definitely your least favourite and one you tend not to show to people when they ask to see your tattoos. Mine is on my forearm, of all silly places, and while it was done by my favourite artist in London, I’d been too shy to really tell him how I wanted it to look so it’s a bit crap in that sense and basically needs to be completely redone for it to look perfect. But I don’t hate it and would never get it removed. I wouldn’t even get it covered up either, because it now has a story behind it and I kind of love it in more of a sentimental sense than an aesthetic sense.
• Most people understand perfectly well that tattoos are forever and most people do not get theirs removed, no matter how much they’ve changed over the years. The kinds of people who get tattoos removed are the kinds of idiots who get some shitty piece of flash from the wall of their dodgy neighborhood tattooist for their 18th birthday or while completely smashed, and usually on a dumb-arse spot like their upper arm, shoulder or chest. These are the kids of people who never really wanted a tattoo but got one anyone, whether they were drunk or dared to, it doesn’t matter. They’re the kind of people who don’t deserve tattoos and why tattoo removal was invented. Poor Rebekah probably should have thought about how her wedding photos with Shane were going to look before she got that tiny red rose/ying & yang symbol tattooed on her shoulder blade/bicep!

While I acknowledge that there are idiots out there who get tattoos for the wrong reasons, most people choose well and get something they’ll cherish forever and don’t ever regret what they got. We of Gen Y have leaned from the mistakes of previous generations and don’t go about getting tacky little things done for the thrill of it. Most of us think long and hard about what we want and don’t all rush out and get one on our 18 birthdays or make stupid, life-altering decisions involving too much liquor and a mate who has a tattoo gun. The people who left those nasty comments about how people with tattoos are rotten people need to wake up and get a dose of reality. Tattoos don’t turn you into a bad person, but judging people harshly for having tattoos makes you a bad person.

As the famous saying goes, The only difference between a tattooed person and a person who isn’t tattooed is that a tattooed person doesn’t care if you’re tattooed or not.

Tattoos: the good, the bad, the ugly

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!

Tattoos: My Story

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.