Tattoos

Mini, did you get married quite young or do you really just look younger?

Aww, YK, don't think like that! I have two flower based ones and my butterflies. I've loved butterflies since we did a project on them at nursery school so that one is a passion, but the flowers are just pretty. A lot of people said I would regret them on my wedding day. I certainly didn't, in fact one of my favourite photos is us looking out to sea where my veil is blowing over my opposite shoulder so you can see them.

I think I'll have other body hang ups by the time I get old, and as I say, I've tried to go for places that don't change too much. No hip/stomach ones for me.

I was 28 when I got married so not young really. im 32 in April (but i feel 17 still ?)

i would love a stomach tattoo but I've made my peace with the fact I'm never going to have a nice taught tummy ala britney in 2002 and as such it would look hideous.

I don't have any yet, though I intend to have our rats footprints done at some point (we take ink prints when they pass and I want them immortalised).

Can I flash my H's awesome rat-too instead? :-D

From that pic I'd have said 25 absolute tops. Haha, my stomach hasn't been flat since I was about 16, I would look disgusting if I ever got a tattoo there! Looking at my mum (we put weight on in the same places) I reckon the side of my thigh is the best bet if I want another one

Wow CRL, that's actually a pretty impressive tattoo!

I have flowers down my arm and butterflies on my side, a rose on my thigh, Pendulum lyrics on my arm, an anchor on my foot, little symbols on my ankle, roman numerals and stars on my collar bones and I have white ink on my thumbs. Also have a knife and fork on my index fingers, still makes me laugh!

Ah, me too. I gain all my weight there. I can't wear jeans cos if the waist is big enough to fit me, there is acres of gaping material on my hips and thighs. First world probz.

Love the flowers calella :-)

Haha, ID, I have a belly, no hips and decent sized thighs, trousers are a nightmare, but I have to wear them to work! I can basically only wear new look jeans, and even they have changed so they don't fit like they used to. First world probz for sure!

Your tattoos are beautiful!

Have you got any pictures of the White ink ones? I really want one done but not many shops here will do them as they reckon they fade too much.

LOVE your tattoos! Really, really pretty.

I only have one tattoo that I don't really like anymore because it just looks crappy now as I've put on weight since getting it done so it doesn't look as 'crisp' as it used to. It's a butterfly kind of where one of my kidneys is. I'd get it removed or covered up except my sister decided to get a matching one so I now feel like I can't remove it :-(

Are you a fashion blogger? This pic totally says 'blog' to me. That's a good thing, by the way.

Yup! It's a fun little hobby!

Mini, I've found a couple of pictures, one fresh, one healed!

I've got to confess, I don't like white ink tattoos.

Aww, pugsley, why don't you look at having it re touched instead? It's something the girl who did mine likes to do, for example:

A talented artist can do great things with old tattoos. There is an episode of LA Ink where Kat von D touches up Lemmy's ancient ace of spades tattoo (I didn't know he had one when I got mine by the way!) using white highlights and it looks so much better afterwards. You can still tell it's an old tattoo, but it brings it back to life.

It looks loads better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9tvdInlaQU

Haven't got photos of either of mine. I have a tramp stamp at the bottom of my back which as some may recall I tried to get removed and the laser tattooist made such a mess I now have a keloid scar ingrained with the tattoo so it will need a fairly big tattoo to cover it up. When we get back from honeymoon it's next on my pay for list. Before buying the house although OH doesn't know this.... I still like what it represents to me - freedom after leaving an abusive relationship. It is a celtic sun ( the image of the light appealed to me) so if I had researched tattoists properly and had it done better I wouldn't be doing anything to it. As it was it was wonky and just a bad tattoo.

The other is a butterfly on my hip which again represents emerging from a repressive relationship. I want whatever I have on my back to sweep round to link up to my butterfly. I spend ages on pinterest poring over tattoos for what I could have. I love this from pinterest as I really like the 3d tattoos but would have it sweeping sideways:

Having said this I am in some ways a 'will you regret it when you are older' crowd. Not from a sense of it looking ugly but that even in this day and age there are labels that people give to those with tattoos and so when SD decided at 16 she wanted a large chest tattoo H persuaded her to wait and now she has gone off the idea. In some professions it is difficult to get training contracts with lots of tattoos - certainly in the legal profession it would be almost impossible to get a trainee contract with any big firms. Teens seem to be having lots earlier these days without seeming to think much about them - perhaps the advent of laser removal makes people believe they will be able to take them off quickly. Laser removal is ridiculously painful and not the panacea everyone thinks it is. So yes, my advice to my SD was - learn who you are first and then decide rather than having one because it is trendy at the moment and you think it looks cool.

Definitely. I actually think the age limit for them should be 21 rather than 18. I also see kids buying equipment on ebay and giving each other tattoos - one of my cousins got a couple of really dodgy ones from one of her cousins, who had no training or anything. My tattooist has a long wait list and you need to make an appointment and pay a deposit - I think that shows he's good and discourages impulse decisions and stuff. He also won't tattoo your hands or neck unless he knows you well. He told me he had a real spate of girls wanting a copy of Cheryl Cole's hand tattoo and he refused!

ID, the girl who's done all mine is exactly the same. If she thinks it's stupid she won't do it, won't do hands and neck unless they know you well, takes a deposit and charges a lot! Haha.

Ooh, cinnamon, that'd be gorgeous. What a shame that you didn't get the best artist, and then got a worse remover! I hope you manage to get it sorted and you love it after that. I think the symbolism sounds great, good for you.

Completely agree with the teenagers. I waited for mine, and although it was my butterflies I'd always wanted, I wanted to get them right, so I got the flowers at the bottom of my back first and then the placement of the butterflies made sense. I must get a photo of my whole back, I'd love a hummingbird somewhere but not sure how it would fit and whether it would work on my back.

Did you feel old giving SD that advice? It is exactly what I would have said, but I would then have been freaked because I sounded like my mother! chest tattoos in particular are a really big commitment, very hard to hide and make a big statement. I would love a tattoo on my lower arm, something like the one below, but I won't get it because I couldn't risk it affecting my employment opportunities. Shouldn't discriminate, but people clearly still do.

I don't have any tattoos, partly because the thought of the process gives me the creeps and also because I'm not convinced I like them on women. I think they look better on men, don't know why and do realize it doesn't make much sense.

I watched bodyshockers last night and do find it really interesting the people that regret them. There was also a guy who didn't have any tattoos and for his first one got one that covered his back, bum and top of his legs. I assumed people would start small.

Frankly, it scares me when I see tattoo kits for sale on facebook or ebay etc...

Trusting your teenage mate who possibly doesn't have the greatest ideas regarding cleanliness and sterility seems like an incredibly bad idea to me, and that's before you begin rating his/her artistic ability!

The results that may occur from unsterile, dirty needles are petrifying.

I honestly think these home kits should be illegal.

I regularly feel old around the step-kids. After meeting OH and suddenly finding myself a parent of teens I was shocked that I wasn't 'cool'. I always thought I was fairly young and with it for my age but apparently not. H hates that he sounds like his Dad all the time - 'what time are you coming home' 'tidy up your room' etc . I think it's really funny. I try and stay out of it as I recognise I'm not their mum so don't get to tell them what to do but had to say something about the tattoo as I had just been through the painful removal stuff so obviously had insight.

On a separate note - does anyone know of a good tattooist in London/Hertfordshire?

My first one was the one on my lower back. It isn't just your usual tramp stamp, it covers getting on for a third of my back I'd say.

Completely agree Bekkijane, those kits are a terrible idea!

I realised I was old (again) yesterday, when I walked past a group of kids singing a song I didn't know, then realising that since radio one changed their djs I've listened to it for about an hour total, can't stand the new younger ones, and I'm not really in their demographic anymore. Then realised kids that age probably don't listen to the radio anyway!

You definitely had to say something about the tattoo, that'd be a big mistake to make.

No recommendations over that way I'm afraid

I am WAY out of radio 1's age demographic but I still listen anyway. Getting rid of Moyles was part of their campaign to shed older listeners like me, but I am still clinging on. I can't bear the thought of not knowing what's in the charts and which artists are new and popular - I have no idea why I care.

Sadly it worked for me! I'm 28, and really feel like I don't fit. I can't stand the djs on radio 1 now, but radio 2 is still too old for me!

I'm a radio 2 girl all the way - but then the DJ's that are on there now, such as Chris Evans, were popular on radio one and their ilk when I was young enough to listen to them!! So I've kind of grown old along with the DJs ?

However, H is rapidly moving to radio 4 - I'm definitely not old enough for that one!

Ha ha! Glad people agree. Can't bear Radio 1 now and finding myself listening to Radio 2 more and more. Husband is an avid listener of Radio 4. We are both 31.

I'm still hanging on to radio one at the grand old age of 31.

my sd reckons she is never getting tattoos or piercings as they look 'stupid' seeing as all 4 parents are tattooed (I'm the least) and her dad and I both have stretched ears I reckon this is the key to preventing your kids from making poor body mod decisions in there teenage years

Haha, love that mini, its not cool if the oldies have them is it!

Ooh, i have a few tattoos!
I have my chest piece, the photos aren't great - the first is old and the second is new (it was taken at a hen party where i was told to dress as a girly goth fairy/ignore the pj top haha)- the banner says 'hell or glory' which is actually fall out boy lyrics but its become some what of a life motto

My strong little lady on my back, the texts says 'i'm like all the elephants in this world, i cannot forget you'. i get a lot of negative comments about this tattoo - no one seems to really like it!

this is on the inside of me left arm, its a quote from a Kurt Vonnegut book, Slaughterhouse-five

I have my favourite tattoo on the back of my head/my toes - 13 - growing up i was always told i was unlucky head to toe cause i was super clumsy

I hae my arm - these are old photos as i now have a teapot around the back and it all coloured in:

This is a photo of my broken ankle, but you can see the tattoos around my feet. along my foot says 'you are the brightest star' (lyrics) and my right ankle says 'in nothing' and my left 'we trust' which is the title of an album by my favourite band.

I have this on my right thigh - an ode to charlie the unicorn - i'm called charli and for as long as i can remember i've heard CTU comments on a daily basis:

and lastly i have this little guy on my inner ankle:

I have a couple more but can't seem to find pictures of...they are mostly relevant quotes regarding people or experiences, i have

'dancing in the wreckage'
'you and your tune'
a banner with 'by the city lights, i'm having the time of my life'

Damnit H&G, I can't see your pics. I think it's my crappy old browser here at work though.

I have been meaning to read Slaughterhouse 5 for yonks after the writers of Lost said they were influenced by it. I read one of the other ones they mentioned, The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien, and loved it.

Blimey H&G, just a couple! Love your owl, and the fact that you have Charlie the unicorn! You also have such a cute face! (in a non creepy, non condescending way!)

Too far!!