Tattoos are all the rage. Rappers, actors, musicians and sports stars have all popularized body ink with elaborate designs, sometimes all over their entire body. In today’s culture, tattoos are trendy and a sign of toughness. But what about 10 or 20 years from now? Will today’s tattoos still be such a good idea then??
Most people don’t really think about the permanence of a tattoo, or what it will be like to live with their youthful decision as a 70-year-old. Worse, most minorities and darker skinned people have no idea that unlike those with white skin, their tattoos can never be removed. So, Mike Tyson’s tribal tattoo around his left eye is there to stay.
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| What Does This Mean? |
Tattoos are frequently ignorant expressions of a temporary feeling. That Mickey Mouse tattoo on the hand after a drunken weekend at Disneyland as a 20-year-old, may not be such a great idea for the responsible adult applying for a job as a 30-year-old. That tattoo on the neck displaying the name of a current boyfriend or girlfriend may not be so great once the relationship ends soon afterwards. Or what about the 25-year-old who thinks it’s a brilliant idea to have “Juicy” tattooed across her belly, who may not like the way that looks when she’s pregnant at 35, or a wrinkly grandmother at 85. But there it will be. And we won’t even go into all the non-Chinese people whose bodies are tatted with Chinese letters which may, or may not mean what they think it means.
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), the amount of people wanting to remove their tattoos has increased 43% from 2011 to 2012. This is consistent with a recent survey from the United Kingdom which found that nearly 1/3rd of people suffer from tattoo regret. Further, tattoo removal (for those it will work on) can cost anywhere from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the design, colors, etc. So, a huge back tattoo could cost upwards of $10,000 and would require 4 or more treatments, spaced 8 weeks apart just to eliminate.
Most younger people never see beyond the next 5 years of their life, so it’s important for them and for anyone to question the logic of using their body as a drawing pad. Since trends frequently come and go, has anyone realized yet that the current tattoo trend is just a temporary fad? Has anyone considered how their favorite outfit from 5 years ago is something they wouldn’t be caught dead in today? So, it stands to reason that most of today’s tattoos will be hideous reminders of a forgotten trend come tomorrow.
Before getting a tattoo, it’s important to ask yourself: Do you really want a permanent reminder of what may be a temporary feeling? Because if you don’t, you may fall victim to tattoo regret!
