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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask how many friends/family do you know with tattoos?

229 replies

recycledcat · 02/01/2022 23:15

Just that really...

I have no opinion either way (I don't have any for full disclosure but that's probably as I'm a wuss when it comes to pain and also indecisive!)

So this isn't a tattoo-bashing thread

Just wondering how many close friends/family you know who have them?

My youngest DS has several but other 4 DC have none. Their friends from what I know have none. My SIL has one and DN has lots.

OP posts:
Mommabear20 · 03/01/2022 16:39

I have 2, DH has 2 full sleeves (both arms), BFF has about 8, SIL has 2, and another SIL has 11 little ones

ErrolTheDragon · 03/01/2022 16:39

None.

Lanique · 03/01/2022 17:13

One - my 40 year old sil who had a 'tramp stamp' back in the late nineties and now regrets it.

FruitMelange · 03/01/2022 17:26

None. My dd insisted she was getting one on her 18th birthday. Her dear Uncle offered her £1k for her birthday if she'd put it off till she was 21. Of course she took the bribe and by the time she was 21 of course she didn't want one. She's very glad she had some thinking time as she has a couple of friends who regret theirs and will have to pay to have them removed.

CatJumperTwat · 03/01/2022 17:34

My brother has full sleeves and I think some on his legs and trunk. A few friends have small ones. To me, tattoos look awful.

Siameasy · 03/01/2022 18:23

Almost everyone - my conclusion is that now even my mil has one it’s probably far more daring and edgy not to have one

17caterpillars1mouse · 03/01/2022 19:01

4 family members (an uncle and 3 cousins, 2 are uncle daughters)

None of my friends have any strangely

Elphame · 03/01/2022 19:16

All my family and most of my friends would say I don't have a tattoo

They'd be wrong.

Angrymum22 · 03/01/2022 20:43

My niece has a few, BIL & FIL have a few ( both were in the military) that are very old.
I have three very recent minute dots tattooed on my chest for radiotherapy due to breast cancer. But would not voluntarily have one.

Duchess379 · 03/01/2022 21:19

I have several & a lot of friends do too.
I'm actually thinking of getting another one.. 😁

Bouledeneige · 04/01/2022 00:20

My DD21 has 4 as have all her friends.

CelestiaNoctis · 04/01/2022 00:52

The entire family lol. From me to all my in laws, which is a family of 8 plus several of the grandkids over 18.

Glitterblue · 04/01/2022 01:21

A few friends, nobody in the family

beautifullymad · 04/01/2022 08:13

None in any friends or family. Or at least none that I've ever seen.

FrancescaContini · 04/01/2022 08:15

None. I wouldn’t date a man with tattoos - they look awful.

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 04/01/2022 08:24

Hardly anyone.
My DP has one. My brother has a couple on his arm. I'm not aware of anyone else I know having any.
I don't like them personally.

Strawberry0909 · 04/01/2022 08:39

DP, both parents, SIL and granddad all have one, I'm too indecisive on what I'd like to ever get one!

Adventsquirrel · 04/01/2022 09:08

Me, DH and both our families don't have any. Most of my friends don't either. Of the ones that do, only a couple are properly artistic and beautiful, the others mostly look poorly conceived or executed. But if they're meaningful and bring joy to that person that's all that matters.

lljkk · 04/01/2022 09:25

DD (student in intellectual discipline) has a home made one. I think it's sloppy but she didn't ask my opinion. DS (soldier) has none! Most family have a small one or none. Can't think of any family with lots visible. Some acquaintances have many. Too painful for me & they often don't age well.

NatashaBedwouldbenice · 04/01/2022 09:49

All of my adult family have them, I think (not sure about mum). Me and DP have none and I can't imagine any of his family have them.

I don't find them attractive or unattractive, but if I'm honest, I'd not be keen if a prospective partner had one of an ex.

Tink626 · 04/01/2022 09:57

I don't have any. None of my friends do either. I can think of 2 family members that have them but they had them done years ago and aren't large.

BorderlineHappy · 05/01/2022 11:48

@lljkk what has your DD being a student of intellectual discipline got to do with her being tattooed
Also a homemade tattoo is ripe for being infected.So obviously not very intellectual there

yt33 · 05/01/2022 14:42

None for me and none on my friends/ family as far as a I know (although obviously may be hidden in normal clothing). Even wider family who have been in the military dont seem to have sucumbed (but they are officer types so I guess theres not the peer pressure)

I'm afraid I have a prejudice against them - growing up in the early 1990s it seemed to be the thing that everyone had them directly they finished school/university/ having done gap yar etc - everyone thinking how original and different they were but they all tended to be generic 'ethnic' designs which 20 years on dont look very good.

I dispair in the summer looking around all the bright young things in our town who have tattoos - the number of women with gorgeous bodies and long legs who have ill thought out tattoos is quite depressing and similarly all the buff young men with tattoos up their arms. Just appreciate the beauty you have - there is no need to adorn yourself with questionable skin art! Maybe there should be a ban on having them until you're 40 or something!

(And if I were to appear on Dragons Den or similar my idea would be a chain of tattoo removal shops as surely there is now sufficient demand among people who regret their earlier choices)

VintageCookbook · 05/01/2022 14:54

@yt33

None for me and none on my friends/ family as far as a I know (although obviously may be hidden in normal clothing). Even wider family who have been in the military dont seem to have sucumbed (but they are officer types so I guess theres not the peer pressure)

I'm afraid I have a prejudice against them - growing up in the early 1990s it seemed to be the thing that everyone had them directly they finished school/university/ having done gap yar etc - everyone thinking how original and different they were but they all tended to be generic 'ethnic' designs which 20 years on dont look very good.

I dispair in the summer looking around all the bright young things in our town who have tattoos - the number of women with gorgeous bodies and long legs who have ill thought out tattoos is quite depressing and similarly all the buff young men with tattoos up their arms. Just appreciate the beauty you have - there is no need to adorn yourself with questionable skin art! Maybe there should be a ban on having them until you're 40 or something!

(And if I were to appear on Dragons Den or similar my idea would be a chain of tattoo removal shops as surely there is now sufficient demand among people who regret their earlier choices)

Bore off.
Waxonwaxoff0 · 05/01/2022 15:14

@yt33

None for me and none on my friends/ family as far as a I know (although obviously may be hidden in normal clothing). Even wider family who have been in the military dont seem to have sucumbed (but they are officer types so I guess theres not the peer pressure)

I'm afraid I have a prejudice against them - growing up in the early 1990s it seemed to be the thing that everyone had them directly they finished school/university/ having done gap yar etc - everyone thinking how original and different they were but they all tended to be generic 'ethnic' designs which 20 years on dont look very good.

I dispair in the summer looking around all the bright young things in our town who have tattoos - the number of women with gorgeous bodies and long legs who have ill thought out tattoos is quite depressing and similarly all the buff young men with tattoos up their arms. Just appreciate the beauty you have - there is no need to adorn yourself with questionable skin art! Maybe there should be a ban on having them until you're 40 or something!

(And if I were to appear on Dragons Den or similar my idea would be a chain of tattoo removal shops as surely there is now sufficient demand among people who regret their earlier choices)

Or you could mind your own business and stop thinking you are entitled to have a say in what anyone else should do with their body. Your opinion on if there's any "need" for someone to have a tattoo is irrelevant. It's not your body.
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