Will I regret a tattoo?

[Wavingwhiledrowning]

I realise this is a personal choice thing, but I'm after a general view/people's experiences.

I've always wanted a tatoo. Until now, I've never been confident enough in myself to actually go for it, but now in my late 30s, with a decent job, family (3 DCs) etc I'm starting to realise that my choices really are my own (wish I'd realised that years ago!!).

So now I'm seriously pondering a tatoo. Nothing big, just an understated design on my wrist/side of hand. I've drawn on the approx thing with biro and in the general way of things it wouldn't be too noticeable.

But what's stopping me (despite what I said above!!) is that I'm unsure about how it will be perceived by others. I don't want to look as though I'm having a mid life crisis, and I don't want to grow old and wrinkly with a tatoo that looks daft.

So... Should I go for it, or just get over myself and put it down to a passing fancy?

I have a few tattoo’s, I personally don’t regret them, most are in areas that are easily covered, apart from one that’s behind my ear. I will get more in the future.

Until you’ve had your tattoo for a few years you have no idea if you will regret it or not.

If you’ve always wanted one, get one. Just take your time choosing a really good artist and travel to them if necessary. You don’t just have to go to the local studio. Instagram is a great place to find artists.

I find tattoo regret very personal. I have 4, 2 huge ones and 2 small ones.
I don't regret any of them, however if I'm honest the one on my thigh starts at my knee and goes up over my hip. I love the design but if I could go back I'd have had it smaller as I can't show the whole thing, it'd be inappropriate, I wouldn't call that regret though.

Have you heard of inkbox? inkbox.com/ they do temp tattoos that I think lasts a few weeks, I know that isn't long enough to grow to love/hate a design, but at least you've got it and are stuck with it for the summer, it might help?

I've got two - one on my shoulder and a rather large one on my leg.

I felt exactly like you. Always wanted one but I wasn't brave enough until my late 30s.
However, at this age I also began to realise that I don't really give a toss what others think of me and I got them.

I think a part of me still worried about what my mum would say (She really likes them)

I did choose places that I can cover up or show off if I want to.
Definitely spend time choosing exactly what you want and get a recommended artist.
Good luck, go for it!!

If you want a tattoo but are worried about how people will react to it would it be sensible to have it somewhere that would be easy and convenient to cover or uncover as you want, eg upper arm rather than wrist?

I had my tattoo at 28 having wanted one for 10+ years. But I had put on my thigh / bum high enough to show off (keeping decent) but hidden from general view.

I would just think about where you put it. Do you want to be able to hide it sometimes. Do you think that you might regret it later? Would your tattoo personal to you? Mine is and is the same I wanted for those 10 years, with a small tweak suggested by the tattoo artist.

I still love my tattoo but I am glad it is not on display all the time. I would consider adding a tribute to DC though.

But otherwise yes go for it.

I can cover all my tattoos, I have 6. You can always wear long sleeves if needed to hide a wrist tattoo. I mean if you do regret it then you can laser it off. You might find them addicting like I did to start with. Tattoos are becoming very acceptable now and honestly when your old and wrinkly you won't give a toss about it.

I regret all of mine, but they're badly done (I was very young) I think if I'd considered them a bit more and found someone who was good at tattooing to do them I wouldn't feel so badly about them.

I was 28 when I got my first (and only) tattoo, I thought about it for years and eventually took the plunge.

It was a tattoo on my hip with a small symbol honouring my late dad.

I am 35 now and don't regret it at all. My mum was a bit but she got over it.

Thanks all for the replies. The temporary option sounds like a great idea to at least gauge reactions (other people and myself)!

About putting it in a different/less obvious place... (I'm aware this sounds a bit crackers) I've suffered with body confidence issues for years. I can't imagine putting something like that on any other part of me that I don't really want to look at. My forearm and wrists are really the only part of my body that I've never scrutinised and ended up unhappy about. It's difficult to articulate, but makes sense to me. So that's kind of why I'm wavering, because I know I've chosen a place that I can't easily cover.

I think I'm basically talking myself into it, but I might well do a temporary one first (I did really enjoy catching the odd glimpse of my self drawn biro effort when I tried that!)

I have 2 small tattoos. One between my shoulders that is covered up most of the time and I've just got one done on my wrist this week. Now I'm in my 30s I don't really care what anyone else thinks so probably going to get more!

You sound like you've put a lot of thought into it and nice that you've designed your own. Just make sure you get a tattoo artist with a decent reputation as I kind of regret that I didn't look into my first one enough when I was younger and the guy didn't do a great job. I don't regret the tattoo though, I designed it myself so it's unique.

I have a few tattoo's, I personally don't regret them
Please tell me there are no commas in them .

@HollySniffs English is not my first language.

I have quite a few, some of them are quite large, I have a half sleeve on one arm, a large piece on my back and my whole foot done, I also have a fairly large piece on my other forearm. I love them all although for different reasons. One isn't as well done as the others as it was my first and I didn't research properly. The others are done by good artists, most of them by the same artist that I travel too.
I find them absolutely beautiful, I just sit and look at them sometimes. Which is very strange for me as I have never been confident in my body but because of the work I've had done I love to show them off. The one on my back is of one of my cats, I had a woman in Florida take down the name of my artist as she was planning a trip to Scotland and wanted the same tattoo, she was disappointed when I told her it was custom work just for me. I could never regret my tattoos, even when I'm old and they don't look so great because they've made my life so much better.

I think now that you are older, you have more chance of making a balanced decision. All the people I know with tattoo regret (and there are a few, including my DH) got theirs done when quite young and have gone off them in later life for various reasons.

I have lots (including some absolutely shocking ones that I got when I didn’t know any better) and I don’t regret any of them. I think that there is a massive difference between tattooed people and people with tattoos, so what wouldn’t necessarily matter to a tattooed person would make a big difference to a person with tattoos.

1. Research your artist and don’t choose one just because it’s close or cheap.
2. Think about placement really carefully. Can you cover it if you need or want to? Do you work in an area where visible tattoos will cause you problems?
3. Spend time thinking about your design. There are an awful lot of people wandering around with tweety pies or kanji symbols or tribal designs which is great if it makes them happy, but do you want the same tattoo that a million other people have?

People only regret tattoos if they were shoddily done, some sort of drunken holiday mistake, an exes name or they got something because it was trendy at the time (like tribal in the 90s).

I’ve got a full arm sleeve and don’t regret any of them. I designed all of them and went to the same tattooist after lots of research. I teach as well so tattoos definitely don’t affect your career nowadays .

The least risky option is not to get one. You’re unlikely to regret not having one; you might or might not regret having one. I would consider though how old are your children and how would you feel about them getting tattoos? Unless they’re adults already, I would guess that you getting a tattoo might make it much harder for you to impose rules on them if they wanted piercings, tattoos, etc. So if that’s a concern , then you could wait until after they are adults and get yours then

I wouldn't get it done on your hand, they blur so easily and look so crap after a few years. And hard to hide.

Apart from that, why not do it if you want?

"People only regret tattoos if they were shoddily done, some sort of drunken holiday mistake, an exes name or they got something because it was trendy at the time (like tribal in the 90s). "

I know loads of people who regret tattoos for all kinds of reasons.

Holly did you mean apostrophes?

OP, re the body confidence - I got my first tattoos 2 years ago. I had wanted one for a long time and kept saying I would wait until I had lost weight because I didn’t want to put something on a body I hated or have someone touching my body for so long. I didn’t lose the weight. I ended up thinking fuck it, why am I waiting for something that might never happen, so I had two tattoos on my inner arm, one on the bicep and one on my inner forearm that make up a design together. As soon as it was done and ever since I have loved looking at it. It felt like it made my arm mine, like I had ownership over a part of my body for the first time after so long trying to disassociate myself from it. That’s why I love my tattoo. For the first time I liked looking at part of myself. Since then I have actually lost a lot of weight, unsure if they’re related and I’ll be adding a third tattoo to the arm next year.

I regret both of mine, even though they aren't shoddily done. But I am flaky.

Nice one, QuimReaper!
I was thinking "Oh, the irony'.

To answer the OP, I'd definitely play with idea of temporary design to help you judge if its right for you or not.

Good luck. 😁

Don't worry, @SimonJT. As @QuimReaper has already pointed out, it looks like English is not @HollySniffs' first language either 😉