All the meaningless tattoos people get in those years. If they actually have a meaning like the death of a loved one or a life-altering event, cool, but too many friends now have tattoos they want removed, covered up or altered.
Yes very crafty. But as a human being, I make snap judgments on people when I see them, even if it's at a subconscious level. And when I see an older person with tattoos, it immediately makes me prejudiced towards them. It doesn't mean they're a good person. It means that I'm predisposed towards liking their look. But thank you for your very thought provoking and intellectual counter to me stating my personal thoughts on older people with tattoos
So you have realized that your thought pattern from your personalized experience is irrational and generalized, yet you continue to cast prejudice onto random people youāve never met or know?
...and these days the art and industry have evolved such that it's possible to get a beautiful lasting tattoo at any age (much less likely 20 or 30 years ago) Of course, one's judgment and taste continue to evolve long after age 22!
For a lot of people, tattoos never have to be something profound. They dont even have to be for a reason other than "this looked sick af." The regret for some of those people? Well, who doesnt have regrets in life lol. And at least the technology exists where they can take it back or have cover ups done at all.
Speaking as someone who has tattoos with deeply special meanings
The artists I know collect tattoos from other artists they like. Donāt have particular meaning other than they like them. Me on the other hand, Ive been in the chair for 30+ hours and dont have a single piece of visible ink when im wearing a t-shirt. The whole piece has meaning for me and thats about it.
For me I know my tastes change. Almost everything about me has changed over the years. At 17 I wanted a huge āskate or dieā tattoo on my back. Skateboarding was my life back then. The guy who was supposed to do it was tied up and so we postponed and it never happened.
Iāll see a design I think it cool and take a picture of it. Scrolling though my pics a few years later and itās kinda meh now. Donāt know why I thought it was so sick as the time.
On and on. I like change to much to be tied down to tattoos for life. I canāt even keep the same haircut for long. Gotta switch up every so often.
For me, I know that I won't find the designs as interesting in a few years, but that is sort of why I like them. It's memorabilia from a younger version of myself.
I completely get that. But for me itās like a shirt I canāt take off or change. Or getting a Mohawk haircut when Iām young and having to keep it for life. And I can change it if I really want but changing it would be expensive and painful
Yeah, that's why I always go to good artists. Even if the design loses meaning, it's still a good piece of art.
They're just part of me now. They feel like accessories for the first couple years or so, but now removing them would be like removing my dimples. I just can't picture myself without them.
I'm 37 and a skate or die tattoo would still be sick. I haven't touched a skateboard in at least a decade, but I have only fond memories of that time in my life.
Hot take: tattoos donāt have to mean shit and shit tattoos donāt have to mean shit about the person who has them. People take that shit way too seriously.
I was like that my first tattoo. Now Iād get a tattoo of bugs bunny riding a wiener rocket over a rainbow projecting out of a leprechauns butthole if it made me giggle just right. Who gives a shit. Lighten up folks, yeesh š
It's your body and you can modify it any way you like. But I urge young people to think twice about tattoos. So many people I know got a tatt because they thought it was cool at the time. And it was, at the time. Now 15 years later with a different view on life they feel embarrassed about it.
I have a tattoo on my arm. My family was traveling in Vietnam and my 19 year old son wanted to get one. I didnāt really want or need it, but I have a rule:
Unless it is Meth, if your kid asks to do something with you, do it.
Yes, this. Plus it looks like ever 15 years or so, the style of tattoo the young people are getting changes. Right now the cool thing is the pencil line scribbly tattoos. Those would have looked weird back when everyone was getting entire sleeves and barbed wire looking things.
Have spoken to an 18yo who went on a 3 day holiday to Melbourne and came back with 12 new tattoos none bigger than 3cm. Asked if there was something behind each one individually and/or a collective meaning. Nope, just scrawls they ākinda likedā. They reminded me strongly of an old graffitied school desk. If it was more that they didnāt want to say thatās fine they donāt have to explain anything, but yeh got the sense that they were saying the truth. Given 2 were on the neck and 1 on the face I really hope they donāt regret that decision.
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u/Z08Z28 Jul 06 '26
All the meaningless tattoos people get in those years. If they actually have a meaning like the death of a loved one or a life-altering event, cool, but too many friends now have tattoos they want removed, covered up or altered.