Tattoos aren’t cool anymore …

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I watched this video and found it really interesting. The first minute or two with the girl are a bit annoying, but once you get into it, there’s a lot being said.

Also, this video (which is a bit sadder), of people who definitely regret their tattoos

Personally, I am not anti-tattoo (though I used to be). Sometimes I think they can look good. However I think both videos really bring out the problems with them, particularly of course their permanence, as well as identifying fashions.

I just thought it would be interesting to share ….

That’s because every other post is someone claiming how awful, or common, or hideous our choices are.

I don’t get my tattoos for anyone except me but it always amuses me that people think it’s okay to be so rude and offensive about something that has precisely zero impact on them whatsoever.

Indeed. But there's also posters (quite a few), stating that they 'spoil the view' 'we have to look at them'.

And the best someone skallying at a fanny ring😆

Last year there was a long thread on this subject and a couple of posters stated they wouldn't let nurses or doctors near them if they had tattoos.

So nah, theres a bit of both really going on.

I always wanted a tattoo, never to be "cool", ....I mean how naff is that? If you have to try to be cool you are the furthest thing from cool.🤣

So I really dont give a fiddlers fark. Folk are totally entitled not to like the aesthetic and this is a discussion forum where they can voice it. Its when it gets so personal that folk judge class and personality on a fucking tattoo it gets very tiresome.

I have tattoos, but I didn’t get them because I thought they were ‘cool’ or I wanted to look cool. I got them because all of them are personal to me in some way.
Some are in places that no-one will ever see.

Yeh I posted and then thought that's not fair I haven't watched these things.

Totally agree😆

And i watched all of it

I go to a lot of rock and metal gigs, and play in two bands myself and know a lot of musicians, and I don't see any change in the popularity of tattoos.

I’m sad to hear this. My daughter is 16 and has surgery scars. She really fancies getting something cool or ironic tattooed around them.

I don’t have tattoos, I’m too much of a wuss, but I love seeing people’s tattoos.

I find it funny how people will decry tattoos, talking about how terrible they look etc. I feel the same way about earrings and makeup, which is why I choose not to wear those, but I’m sure most will think that’s outrageous. And yes, I know those are not permanent, but I’m talking about when others comment on the aesthetics of them.

People like to decorate their bodies in different ways, why do we judge tattoos and not lipstick?

Does anyone remember a poster on a tattoo thread a couple of years ago saying they "liked to look at nice clean skin"? Fairly sure thats word for word.

That Buffalo Bill style comment still lives rent free in my head 😂

It gives major serial killer vibes 🤣

Oh god yes

I imagine her making lampshades and bodysuits 🙈

Ive just searched and found it. Im so happy.

It puts the lotion on its skin.....😂

Tramp stamps!

Edgy

I must tell my husband, he'll be so chuffed being as hes a 69 year old retired headmaster 😄

I have one that I love and I spent years thinking about. I have a second that I rushed into and don’t love. Both easily covered by clothes. I don’t like having mine on display but that’s a personal thing. I want a third but given how I feel about my second I am overthinking it to the nth degree before committing.

Having said that, my brother posted a pic of a friend’s tattoo the other day - it was a kebab, as in the thing you see rotating in the chippy at 2am after a night out. And it made me realise I can stop overthinking it because most people absolutely don’t give a shit what they tattoo on themselves 😆

Exactly. They're part of a fashion trend - if they weren't, no one would have them (apart from sailors). My mum always hated them because she had relatives tattooed in the death camps.

But yes, re fashion - I was in a niche clothing place with teen DD in Carnaby Street some years back. Loads of tattoos on display on the staff and customers. I said to DD "Why do they have them?" and she said "To be different", and gave a little smile. She liked them but got the irony.

Amazing how she knew why they got them. Has she had this psychic gift studied?

Tasteful tattoo = oxymoron

I don't like tattoos and don't have anyone in my close family or friends who have any. I particularly can't see the appeal of whole arm sleeves or neck tattoos.

If the fashion for tattoos is waning, unfortunately getting rid of a tattoo is much harder than just throwing out an item of clothing that's gone out of fashion.

Mine are to commemorate the babies I lost.

No fashion involved at all. Just one small tattoo that combines an item from ancient history and a symbol. Can't be easily seen. And I am generally regarded, among those who know me as 'a posh bird'.

So not class, not fashion, not edgy. Just me and my memories.

So sorry for your losses. I think thats a lovely idea. Mine are very personal too xx

But just look at the rudeness here. Its ok not to like them, but not to judge folk personally.

Its pretty shitty actually

They’ve been around for thousands of years 🤷‍♀️ Who honestly cares if they’re not very 2026??

Thank you. A long time ago now and the grief fades, but having a permanent memorial to those who never got one gives comfort.

And everyone has their own reasons for tattoos. Telling someone they are wrong is like criticising their clothes, their hair, their shoes. THEY like it, that ought to be enough.

Lots of my pagan friends have the most beautiful, intricate, meaningful tattoos, done by artists. I admire from a distance, as I don't think it's for me anymore.

They don't seem to be going out of fashion round these parts. DD1 is 17 and knows several people who have turned 18 and gone straight to the tattoo parlour. They've always been popular, just like piercings.

Tattoos have definitely become more popular in recent years.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s I didn't know anyone who had tattoos apart from my uncle. He'd been in the navy and it was more of a tradition there. Women certainly never had tattoos.

Women certainly had tattoos in the 70s and 80s (and earlier), but probably not women you might have associated with: prostitutes, exotic dancers, circus performers, tattooists themselves and the like. Basically the demi-monde. From there it spread to the music world, particularly punk and rock and then into the mainstream. I think the first women with obvious tattoos that I noticed would have been Joan Jett and Lita Ford and certainly by the early 80s tattoos were commonplace in the punk world (often DIY).