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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:
FilthyforFirth · 05/01/2022 15:22

My brother has a few and one cousin and uncle have 1 but that is it. None of my friends do. It is an active turn off for me and I wouldnt date/be attracted to someone that has them personally.

littlepeas · 05/01/2022 15:36

I like them. Only have one personally and won’t have more - I think I’m the only one of all my friends and family. I like tattooed men (less keen on piercings), although my dh doesn’t have any. I like beards too - a clean shaven man with a weak chin is the biggest turn off for me. It would be boring if we all liked the same things.

XmasElf10 · 05/01/2022 15:51

My sis is the only one I know with any. She has quite a few. My parents, me, her DH, my ex-H, my partner, Aunts, Uncles Cousins all have none.

RockinHorseShit · 05/01/2022 16:00

DH & I have non, I would have, but never got around to it. He's never wanted one, but favours piercings

Most of our friends are tattooed, some heavily so. DD has a couple, but worries us how much she likes the heavily tattooed look & seems to want to rush into it. Fine when she's older if she's lucky enough to work in an accepting environment or is self employed as most of our heavily tattooed friends are. Not so sensible really when just starting out

FastFood · 05/01/2022 16:03

Family, at least 1, my sister. No idea about my cousins or other siblings.
Friends, at least 20.

boyboyboydogdog · 05/01/2022 19:53

Very few...y children don't have them and I hope they never do as I hate them. Got a few friends with them, more female than male, but just small unobtrusive ones.

georgarina · 05/01/2022 19:57

Barely anyone I know actually.

One cousin has two or three small ones.

Original poster
recycledcat · 05/01/2022 22:03

@NatashaBedwouldbenice

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.

Same!

OP posts:
lljkk · 06/01/2022 19:45

[quote BorderlineHappy]@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[/quote]
just thought it was amusing that Army-career DS (who clearly identifies as working class) has shunned both smoking & tats. Meanwhile, DD (who clearly aspires to be political/intelligentsia & despairs of DS) went ahead & got a tatty tat (& she started vaping when she met rich kids).

They neatly defy class stereotypes in their choices.

Fully agree that home-made was stupid choice. I hope she can get it re-done nicely one day.

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 06/01/2022 19:46

Me. That's all.

Echobelly · 06/01/2022 19:51

Absolutely no one in my family, a few friends have a couple, quite a lot of acquiantances have at least some and a few loads (full sleeves etc).

I was quite drawn to having a largish back-piece done in my early 20s, but it was for the wrong reason really as I kind of wanted it as a symbol of how 'underground' I was rather than for the love of the artform as such. Which is just as well as of course, as even tattoos that were seen as pretty extreme are now pretty everyday - I have no problem with that, but it would have meant having one wouldn't have been much of a statement!

I find them quite sexy on men (obviously only if they're good designs well done, not like a ratty West Ham FC tatt done on holiday on the Costa del Sol!), but DH doesn't have any - he says he might but he couldn't 'decide on a t-shirt I'd want to wear forever', as he puts it. Grin

Confiscatedpopit · 06/01/2022 19:55

Not one in my entire family. The father of my children has a few and his family do too. I can’t say any of their tattoos look good- very cartoonish and amateur.

I’ll get shot down for saying this, but they are a working class thing generally (with a few exceptions) around here.

Jabbawasarollingstone · 06/01/2022 19:56

Me: 0
Parents and sibling: 0
My grandad who was born in the 1920s had one. He passed away in 1990.
Other extended family: 0
Colleagues: numerous. One used to be in a thrash metal band and was covered in them.
Friends:0

How boring!

nokidshere · 06/01/2022 19:57

I only know one person with tattoos and that's my friends son in his 20s. He has these odd little drawings that look like someone has drawn them with a marker pen. Every time he shows me a new one I'm itching to colour them in 😂

No one in my family has any.

Letthebodieshitthefloor · 06/01/2022 19:59

I have 2 but I forget I have them most of the time

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 06/01/2022 20:00

That's the desired effect! Revulsion.

No it's not. Both my tattoos mean something to me. My third one will as well. I commissioned the design. They're not for anyone else. They're for me.

DeepaBeesKit · 06/01/2022 20:00

Hardly any and not close friends or family.

Couple of work colleagues got them in teens and regret their choices. One has paid a lot to have something removed and wont ever say what was depicted...

Letthebodieshitthefloor · 06/01/2022 20:00

And according to this thread it's quite a 'working class' thing to have them, oh the horror! There were many posts with snobby undertones on here, doesn't surprise me at all

nicesausages · 06/01/2022 20:04

None

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 06/01/2022 20:04

Oh actually I have an uncle I haven't seen in years who has the names of 23 ex girlfriends tattooed on his arm. That's not a great idea.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 06/01/2022 20:11

@Confiscatedpopit

Not one in my entire family. The father of my children has a few and his family do too. I can’t say any of their tattoos look good- very cartoonish and amateur.

I’ll get shot down for saying this, but they are a working class thing generally (with a few exceptions) around here.

What's wrong with that though? I agree they are in general but when people say that the tone is that there's something wrong with being working class.
LuckyMeISeeGhosts · 06/01/2022 20:13

@Confiscatedpopit

Not one in my entire family. The father of my children has a few and his family do too. I can’t say any of their tattoos look good- very cartoonish and amateur.

I’ll get shot down for saying this, but they are a working class thing generally (with a few exceptions) around here.

God, people that think like this are so backwards.
freshcarnation · 06/01/2022 20:14

All my children have them (not visible day to day), several friends, lots of close relatives. Wide range of education and profession, nephew is a surgeon and has a full sleeve.

LuckyMeISeeGhosts · 06/01/2022 20:15

but when people say that the tone is that there's something wrong with being working class

Yep. PP clearly thinks that their family are a cut above. Lmao.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 06/01/2022 20:18

@LuckyMeISeeGhosts

but when people say that the tone is that there's something wrong with being working class

Yep. PP clearly thinks that their family are a cut above. Lmao.

I'm glad I'm working class, we're clearly a much more accepting breed of people!
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