Felt ashamed I should be getting a tattoo

[Shootin]

So I am 50 years old. When I was 42 I was involved in a RTA. Part of my left forearm is badly scarred. I have finally plucked up courage to have a tattoo. I want a pretty leaf tattoo. My family think it is a good idea. However, I told one of my colleagues and she looked shocked (she is covered in tattoos and in her 20s) and just said ‘you getting a tattoo’ followed by ‘just get a small one’. After this I felt deflated. I just can’t understand her reaction. After all one day she will be 50. Any positive opinions please?

Your arm, your money, your choice.
One of my friends got her first tattoo when she was 65. It looks great 10 years on.

She wants to be super dooper edgy and cool and special. If 50 yo women get them, she's pedestrian and the same as everyone else.

If there's one thing people with tattoos AREN'T, it's super edgy and cool. I know several young women who think they're edgy and cool coz they got tats! IMO the ones who are cool and individual are the ones who HAVEN'T got any, because they stand out, and they didn't conform and get tats like many of their peers.

I mean there's nothing WRONG with tattoos - but someone isn't EDGY or cool if they have them. Not these days!

Hopefully the different area will be the toilets where her attitude belongs .

Go get that tattoo and fuck her ! 😉

Tell her to go fuck herself, then get the biggest brightest tattoo you can find.
I got my first in my forties but kinda got addicted lol. Getting into piercings now.
My aunt got her first aged 75! As a tribute to her husband that had passed. it made her happy and in the end that all that matters eh.

I follow this tattoo artist on IG. She makes such a difference to people's scars.

instagram.com/ngocliketattoo?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Being charitable to your colleague did she maybe think you should just get a small one to start with ti see how you get on rather than going for a large area for your first one?

Tattoo artist here - it’s not for her to gatekeep! I hope you can look forward to your new art, never mind what ANYONE thinks! 🖤

Got my first last year at the age of 48. I love it and am planning to add to it.
I've wanted tattoos since I was a teen but life got in the way, I'm so pleased I did it.

My mom got tattoos in her late 60s

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she's young. A twat as well, of course, but who wasn't occasionally as a youth? From my keyboard psychiatry expertise I'd say that as she is young she may have built her "identity" her sense of self, from being "obscure and individual ". Couple that with how society sees aging women and for her, if you get a tattoo then her identity challenged (because actually it's not unique and individual- it's very common and just a pretty picture upon our bodies, not a personality trait. That's not to say they can't have huge depth beauty and meaning to the individual, and others, but they are not "you" ) but also draws attention to that fact that her youthful ways won't keep her youth.

Have the tattoo op. A part of your body was changed without your or natures permission, the least you can do is make the change to your liking! For you, and not for anyone else.

She can fuck off.
I’m much older than her and pretty much covered with tattoos. A few cover scars from previous accidents. The rest, well, they also mean something to me and I wanted them.
This means something to you, why give her reaction a second thought? She can clutch her pearls over her own skin. Yours is your own to do with as you please.

Ignore her. I got my first one at 51. I'm 54 and I've got 3 now.

But she wants to think she is. Bless her conformist heart.

I remember when there was me and the Asian girls with nose piercing at school. I was considered completely alternative because I half shaved my head and dyed the rest. Now you have to chop your own arm off to be edgy.

There is a weird tipping point where 'when everyone is special, no one is'.

I concur with the first reply.
Go for it. I've seen some fantastic tattoos that have been done to camouflage scars.

@Dolallytats wow that’s amazing!!!

The most supportive thing I can say is Fuck her to the far end of fuck and then some more.

Get your tattoo OP and show us a picture.

@Mermaidparades thanks, I absolutely love it!! My downstairs neighbour is a tattooist and did it for me...Jay Moon Shall Adore Tattoo Studio, Shoreditch...credit where credit's due!!

Just read all the messages. Thank you to each and everyone of you. It makes a difference.

I got my tattoo aged 60. ☺️

I love it, very special to me and to my wife; my daughter bought us them as Christmas presents.
We all went to the tattoo parlour and had such a good time with the female artist.

One of my favourite memories 💖

Rainbow-that link you sent didn't work. Can you reshape? I have a huge scar I'm thinking about having covered & would really like to see that IG profile! Thx.
OP-GO FOR IT!! I'm 49 and about to....I'm from a very conservative family, who'll all be horrified. I don't give a monkey's. It's my leg. 🤗

I would've said "don't know why you're so shocked, EVERYONE has tattoos these days". Take the shine off her edgy little ass

From one tattooed person to (soon to be) another - don't ask heavily tattooed 20yo for opinion about tattoos. Chances are their own work is not that good and they don't actually know that much about tattooing :P

Hope you LOVE your new tattoo, sounds great! Xxxx

Your tattoo idea sounds beautiful. I just recently got my first at 40....... now booked in for 2 more.
Took me a while to decide on the design of my first, and my friend who is a tattooist put all my ideas together. It's got a DNA strand for my daughter and details from one of my grandads paintings.
Please do post a pic of yours I'd love to see it

Hello! I am 54 and I am thinking of having a tattoo myself. Will be my first one ever. I am thinking of a mandala style tattoo on my forearm. I haven't mentioned it to any of my family...3 adult sons and my hubby. My youngest son (23) has a BIG tat on his leg, no one else has one. My hubby is VERY traditional...quite likely won't approve. (Fuck him...lol) If I do it I will go alone and SHOW them my tattoo (or wait til they notice it) when it is complete. I am done with peoples approval/disapproval now.
I didn't have the jab ( some of you may disapprove...so be it)and my ability to stand alone and make my own decisions is through the roof now thank you to the doctors in my family that discarded me for not having the jab. There was a huge positive in their disapproval and discarding of me. I acted and stood by my decision and still do. I'll take the same stance if/when I have tattoo!! I say go for it to anyone that wants a tat no matter your age!! Love to all that accept it from me xx