If you don't like tattoos

[TheAverageJoanne]

Can you say why?

I'm fed up of people who think those with tattoos are rough arsed bikers, thick or common.

The average tattoo I’ve seen just looks washed out and not artistic at all. Also they’re half revealed out of clothes that might clash with the tattoo style.

I’ve seen some colourful fancy ones in photo shoots which suit the model in that shoot but that’s the exception.

You get lots of different people who get tattoos so I don’t stereotype however I do have to admit a prejudice against neck and face tattoos.

Obviously I think people should do what they want and I keep such opinions to myself.

What I don't like is bad tattoos. Saw a great bit hairy arsed biker type with a mostly naked woman tattoo down one arm and her hands were so badly done I almost burst out laughing. Didn't though as that would be rude, and there was no way I wanted to upset him. He was of course wearing sleeveless gear because even a short sleeve T would have covered her face that and would have looked very wrong.

No forethought is the other thing. I remember too seeing some lads on a bus years back one had a big spider tattoo on the top of his shaved head. Thing is you could see that he already had a bit of a receding hairline so even if he grew his hair you'd still see the "face" of the spider looking at you. The blatantly obvious tattoos are weird to me, defacing. Like excessive piercings or those weird ear lobe extension rings.

More recently I was concerned about a colleague who had the ugliest face tattooed on his arm. Think of the image of "The Scream" but really REALLY monstrously ugly. Took a couple of years to realise that it was his image of himself but by making it external it was easier for him to deal with what he considered ugly and destructive in his own mind. Knowing that made me appreciate it as a MH coping method.

I'm 46 and recently got my first and only tattoo to commemorate my little girl after thinking about it for years.
Personally I don't care what anyone else thinks of it - it's my skin, it was my money that paid for it and it's me that sees it more than anyone else.

Depends where they are

Neck tattoos are vile

Ah who cares op. Some people do judge others based on appearance, they cant help it, leave them to it 😊

They look messy to me. A bit like having a white wall and a toddler scribbled on part of it.
So many designs are rubbish too - dolphins, sleeves, Chinese signs, flowers, some scribble on one's finger/wrist/ankle. Tell me you are a sheep without telling me.

I haven’t seen any. And I answered the question that was asked, so there is no denigration of people picking something I wouldn’t.

I guess a plain nipple would be something I could imagine doing if those circumstances ever arose, but I don’t think that would make Ben Affleck’s embarrassing phoenix any better?

Or did you mean something else.

They make me cringe because i don’t like needles and I can’t help but think about how they are done…especially if they’re somewhere boney like ankles or tops of feet!

I don't like them.

1. Mostly, it is undoubtedly inherited snobbery. That's mainly down to my mum's voice in my head and middle-class small c conservative views (I don't like the lip filler trend, blah blah). Now, I try and call myself out on being a judgmental snob, but it's hard to shift. My default is to not like it, and I have to tell myself not to be so judgmental.
2. They are a bit scary to me - especially facial tattoos. I associate them with prisons, possibly the hard right, and definitely 'big drunk men' style violence. It can be hard to not view difference with fear - I barely know anyone with tattoos, certainly nobody heavily tattooed. So, I find it scary. If a man is heavily tattooed, I just find them scary. I might cross the street.
3. I find it hard to not think 'you've ruined your body' - especially highly visible tattoos. Google the theatre director Jamie Lloyd. I knew him as a teenager. I can't believe what he's done to himself - it feels like it's mutilation, that he's addicted and god knows what rabbit hole of decision making he's gone down to think it was a good idea.

Caveat: I have an exception for henna / tattoos associated with non-Western culture on people of that culture, and I just accept that as part of their way of living. I might not 'like' it, but I don't 'judge' in the way I do others - I find it really easy to reconcile it in my head for them - I wish I could be the same with everyone.

I would never say this to someone I know but I wouldn't want my ds to go there because what looks cute today on a 19yo won't look cute on a 50yo.

Because body shape and skin changes. My niece had a porpoise tattoo leaping over her belly button when she was 18. It looked great but now she's had three children and is approaching 45, it looks like a misshapen smudge and she wears high waisted bikini bottoms to hide it.

Because lives and preferences change, and tattoos are horribly difficult to get rid of. Why would anyone permanently scar themselves? And at huge expense too! Just seems illogical to me. But you do you. it's your body.

They don't enhance your look at all.

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OP, you just wanted a little bunfight on this rainy Sunday, didn't you? This is a standard Marmite topic that never fails to deliver.

Have tatttoos or don't, who really cares? It's your body, do what you want with it but have the wit to own your decision and stop seeking approval or disapproval for your own perfectly valid choices. That's what's pathetic, not the inking, the constant need for validation from people who either don't care or really don't like them.

Occasionally I see one that looks very artistic but would look better in a picture mounted on a wall. Most look like a different style of self-harm. Those I know with them do have issues, too.

I don't like them.

I don't like seeing otherwise beautiful skin covered with swathes of blue tinged ink.

And I don't like the permanence of them.

I think small discreet ones are OK, and also when done to cover scars.

I have a tattoo. I also have a masters degree and work in a professional career. And I don't own a bike.

It's really not that unusual. These assumptions about tattoos are very outdated.

I don't like tattoos on me. I can't imagine liking an image so much I want it on my skin till the day I die.

Tattoos on other people I don't normally give a fuck about. It's on them not me, why would I give a shit?

My sister has several. 5 or 6 I think. Some are really pretty and some she would be the first to agree are just crap from an artistic point of view and she's having those covered by better artwork. Her daughter has several, as does my brother in law.

Tattoos are so mainstream now that they're not generally a statement or anything you really even notice unless someone's face is covered with them.

That said, there are certain tattoos I judge instantly because they tell me the person who chose to have them is not a good person. Nazi swastika would be an obvious example of this.

I don't have strong feelings about them either way. If you want one get one, however I hate when people start telling you the deep and meaningful meaning behind them. "This is the date we met, merged with the date my nana died, with the coordinates of our first house in the background" sort of thing

I think you misunderstood the OP. People who don’t like tattoos were asked to say why they don’t like them. Those people have posted their reasons. Because they were asked to. So why are you asking them why they care? They probably don’t care, but they were answering a question.

I just think they look ugly.

Why does it matter to you? Unless this is a reverse thread?

I am not you and you are not me. Our opinions should be irrelevant if you are secure in yourself and your choices.

They're just not for me personally.

I don't care if people want to get them, my dad and husband both have them, I'm just not interested myself.

Besides everyone and their nan has a tattoo these days, it's hardly the bold, rebellious "fuck you" statement it once was.

I've seen some that are very beautiful and artful I'd just rather hang it on my wall than permanently embed it into my skin!

I don’t know actually.

possibly because they look a bit “messy”? Mostly you don’t want to look at peoples bodies too hard, so it’s tricky to make out precisely what the drawing is / writing says. So it just translates into dark scrawl on (mainly) white skin.

I don’t like tattoos.
I think they’re ugly - ink stains on skin, which inevitably fade unevenly and look even worse as time passes.

They’re often things like skulls and snakes - not sure why people want to display such negative images to the world.
They can also be so pretentious - images of “significance”, like a random number , basically begging people to ask why they’re there, so they can bang on about something of no interest to anyone else!

I don't like them because it shows a need to personalise what is already personal, ie, your own skin, your own body. So there's some kind of trauma response there. I'm talking about people who are COVERED in tattoos and often piercings as well.

If you have one tattoo of an owl on your shoulder, I'm not talking about you.

Apart from anything else, tattoos can cause autoimmune issues and health problems. Because your body is constantly trying to remove the “foreign body” ie the ink, so your body is in a constant state of inflammation.