Why get lots of tattoos?

[NeedASolution]

Why do people who have lots of tattoos get so many? I ask because I have a relative who gets them so often that it seems like an addiction. I don't know if she is happy and wonder if it's a bit of a coping mechanism for something. Or not, maybe she just likes it.

FWIW I have no tattoos myself and no strong feelings about them, just interested.

And this is why we do our research and do not go to crappy, cheap, i experienced tattoo artists.

I don't understand why. I know I would get bored of the design. I like them though. I've seen some beautiful ones. I just couldn't look at them every day. Maybe that's why? You get fed up but can't remove them so you add in stuff for a change.

Body art is just that - some people just want to express themselves that way. I don't think it has anything (in the vast majority of cases) to do with any underlying issue as some have suggested.

They're nice to look at, the experience of getting them isn't why I get mine. I love choosing them and seeing a drawing turn into a tattoo but mainly I like it when they're healed and finished. I feel more confident with them, think they suit me and make me look more interesting etc. All for me and DH, nevermind anyone else's opinion on them

The person with concerns about how tattoos will look as a corpse…😂

I’ve yet to meet a corpse who gave a fuck, and I’ve met many, professionally.

Agreed but can't you get them touched up ab bit? Shame too see the really nice ones get faded

There is much better quality ink these days.
Something drastically wrong if turn green.

Really? How many people with multiple tattoos have you met?

The argument that all the people with tattoos that someone knows have MH issues makes me laugh at the ridiculiusness of it. That might be true , bet a lot of the people you know that don't have tattoos have MH issues as well , but they aren't asked as much.

Not a dig at you PP you seem to be asking genuinely curious. It just always makes me smile when people don't understand understand confirmation bias with this.

I think like pp have said it's for lots of reasons and no different to make up, nails, hair etc in its motivationwhikst tattoos are permanent, they can atill be altered in some cases. I like both , for some people its an addiction (frankly I also know people whose makeup or perfume collections old definitely fall under addiction levels). For some it's art. For some it's meaningful.

Working in social care I've met a few older people with tattoos and it is kinda cool to be honest. It's a story of their life. I generally find those that witter they look awful when you are old are also those who think that old people are lesser and ugly in general.

Not so much now but it always used to make me smile when people found out I was tattooed as people think I'm straitlaced. (I'm not but I have to appear a certain way professionally). DP too, he has many tattoos and on a daily basis is suited and booted as a professional and people are still surprised. Funny how people have this view of what people should be, forgetting most humans are 3 dimensional personalities and can be more than one thing at a time.

Interesting discussion.

This. Also how many people without tattoos do people know who have mental health issues ?

Some of them are works of art . Some of them are just awful , crudely done . I do think that there will be more tattoos being removed than done in the future as they look good when you are young and have firm skin but not so good as you age .

I've just had my 8th.

Why?

Because I love them.

I overheard a conversation when I was in a waiting room between two young women (mid 20s) a few months back who had got chatting because they both had full sleeve tattoos on one arm and one was asking where the other got hers done. They both said that they loved tattoos but were really bored of what they’d got! One said they were going to get it coloured in black and then tattoo-ed over with another design.

I get bored with handbags-I don’t think I could pick a tattoo that I’d be pretty sure I’d still want to be permanently looking at in decades to come.

I’ve got quite a lot of tattoos. I don’t get the thing about being bored of them, after so long you don’t even notice them anymore, they’re like looking at plain skin or a birth mark you’ve always had as you get desensitised to them. I forget they’re there.

I have a big back piece booked for September, with a Tattooer who has a long waiting list. I’m very excited as I’ve waited a long time. Interestingly, tattooing is a very lucrative profession these days. Based on this tattooers “full day rate” of £1000, and the amount of days of the week he works, he must be making about £1.2m a year, but he probably has a lot of overheads to cover as well as his studio is in Shoreditch and all that comes with it. I’m happy to pay his rates as his work is brilliant, and he able to tattoo incredibly quickly (very bold lines, florals/symmetry/mandala style things, no shading, no dense coverage), he can do a full back in a day, provided the customer is able to sit for it.

I’m less fixated on specific designs/drawings, etc these days. The guy I mentioned above, I absolutely love everything he’s ever done, he has a very specific style and I trust 100% in his creativity and competence, so I just said to his receptionist to book my slot and he can do whatever he wants, the first time I’ll see any stencils is when I arrive the morning of the tattoo.

I did the same for my chest, gave the Tattooer a rough idea for inspiration, and then left the rest up to her and let her crack on with applying the stencils.

You need to get out more

I love getting tattoos and have quite the robust mental health.

They can be quite addictive once you start. However I don't get those who spend a lot of money on them and don't care for them properly past the healing part so they don't fade though. That doesn't make much sense to me.

Because you are stupid defacing a thing of beauty anyway.

Opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one.

Would I get mine again? No.
Would I pick that placement and design? No.
Do I regret them? Also no.

They do remind me of when I was young and carefree. They're easily hidden or I could show them off if I choose to and I quite like being that kind of frumpy, professional mum but a secret rock chick under my clothes.😂

I also could not give a flying fuck what people think they'll look like when I'm old. Getting old is a privilege and I'll just be old and a badass!

I enjoy the process and the result. That’s pretty much it. Although I only have 4 so hardly gone wild, but 3 of them are hand-poked so the hours fairly count up when you get hand-poked! It’s a slow process! But it’s very relaxing compared to machine versions.

Mine are an addiction but a harmless one that hurts nobody. So?

I'm a front line MH worker. Most of my colleagues have loads of them. Maybe we're all unhinged mental health workers?

OHHHH MYYYY GODDDDD

I know someone who had a tattoo every 6 weeks for years as a way of coping with a pain disorder and PTSD. The pain from the tattoo was like a release to him

I really like good tattoos on other people but I know how fickle I am and how much I’d regret it if I had one.

All those things you mention are temporary. I can't imagine choosing an image now that I'd still love just as much in 30-40 years (and that will look good on aged skin!). I dread to think what images I'd be stuck with now if I'd got tattoos as a teenager.