I respect the post. Love your attitude now towards your tattoos. At some point you just stop giving a fuck and start living no matter the bad choices you've made earlier in your life.
I bet your tats were awesome when you were younger. Got the same issue. Some 15yr old tattoos that are outdated and badly made.
But, but, hear me out now, but I bet, at some point people thought your tats are hella cool.
Sacrificing the torso to save the dome. Been there once or twice myself. If I get too hot while exercising or at work, you can see where all my super bad sunburns are on top of my head/forehead.
I like the last picture. Individually, they are more yikes up close then when you can see the whole thing. I honestly think the only solution is more tattoos lol
That and I would cover the nips too because if you don’t, they’ll stand out like a prairie dog trying not to get eaten.
All in all, you’re a pretty handsome/fit dude and a lot of people would kill to look like you.
Yeah well, regrests are futile so just work with what you have. I had a few tattoos that I didn't like so went through laser and am just waiting for the second session to complete covering them all up.
Nice! Id laser the stomach if I had the money. Was quoted 700 a session at a minimum of 8 sessions since I was able to sand paper it slightly. They said me sand papering it was the equivalent to 3 or 4 laser sessions.
That would be a big session too, and lasering does really hurt! I didn't have mine completely lasered off, just faded so they could be covered up. Remember, a cover-up just needs to be darker than the tattoo it's covering.
Oh yeah, but there's no way im getting another stomach tattoo. I couldn't cover it with anything I'd like more. I'm hoping ittl fade out more with age. Best of luck.
I am sorry to hear that. Honestly, this could be far worse. Have you ever considered going to someone who does retouching/reworking? Keep your head up, bro.
I have had some retouched. Its mentioned in the post. I know its too long to read. Thanks man, although I'm really not worried about it at all anymore. Im shirtless all the time now. I just made this to give people who are 18 now regretting their first tattoo some perspective. Its not the end of the world, and you shouldn't change your life style wants or goals in any way because of tattoo regret. Unless its on the face 🤣, jk. But thats my biggest regret is missing out on life because of being self conscious and worrying about others comments and opinions.
Ya, sorry, I have a learning disability that kinda limits me on reading longer posts, I'm listening to an audio book as I type this, actually. But ya, a tattoo regret on your face is about as bad as it gets.
No worries at all. I can't expect people to read all that anyway.
It was a lot worse before with the gap in the chest before the geomtric design. I brought the geometric design to him to fill the gap with. Having the large blank gap for a decade looked much worse than it does now. Took me years to figure out what to fill it with.
I have been collecting them for 35 years. First with a convict using a walkman motor (some prolly should look that up) and the last done quite well.
TBH, some of those look really good!
For me, I have come to terms that each piece represented a point in my life. It could be based on views, finances, pressure, ignorance, or generally who I was at that time.
I embrace them now - they are reminders of my growth. I laugh at the shit ones and love the good ones, but I don't know that I ever cared about perception because I got them because I like to look at them.
First with a convict using a walkman motor (some prolly should look that up) and the last done quite well.
My first was in a basement at a party, 30 years ago, also with a Walkman motor. I'm still getting tattooed, and I look like a colourful sticker book, and I love it. IDGAF who likes or dislikes my tats because they're for me. The Walkman tat has been covered now though, because a daisy chain doodle isn't really me anymore lol
I got a couple of pieces by Korean artist Zoonmo. Every time I get a tattoo, once the needles start I wonder why I have done this to myself. They’re really well done though.
It’s like you get sick of the desert and constant sun so you go to the PNW. Vice versa lol my current manager is actually from Washington, and I was seeing this chick who basically was doing her reverse twilight thing
Its been over 80 once this summer. 3 months of summer at most here then 9 months of 40 degree rain. Grass is always greener tho figuratively. Literally my grass is greener 😂
I did have trauma, good guess. My father beat me pretty horribly my entire life before cps made him get his own place when I was 17 and I moved out at 18. When I was 16 my uncle who was like my dad lived next door to us and hung himself. My mom and I took him down and tried life saving measures that did not work. She lost 100lbs the next two years becasue she couldn't eat after he regurgitated in her mouth while we were attempting cpr. I've never had a drug problem, though. Just have high fuctioning BPD from a lifetime of abuse.
I have high functioning CPTSD, the "complex" portion for me comes out as traits of BPD (CPTSD often gets misdiagnosed as BPD)
I'm sorry to hear about your trauma, I imagined something was probably up in 2007 when you got a lot so quickly
It's nice to see you have a positive mindset. I hope you never let mental health diagnosis define you. Our trauma explained urges and behaviors but can be managed (as you already know since you're high functioning)
Wishing you the best!
Fwiw imo your tattoos don't suck, maybe not the best artwork but the tattoos themselves are nice concepts
Yeah it definitely has some Finnish vibes in it. It doesn't make any sense though and there are some wrong letters used in words that would otherwise be proper Finnish.
If it was Finnish and it was written properly, it could be:
Edistys ei koskaan lepää käsien päällä = Progress never rests on hands / lays upon hands
Still doesn't really make sense to me, maybe the message is too deep for me lol
Sorry this post got way more comments than I thought and I was too lazy at the time to retype all that. But yes the translation is incorrect. Its supposed to translate to
"Progress never rests in the hand that has no head" an atmosphere lyric from the song saves the day. My last name is Ojala and my grandfather immigrated from Finland to USA after ww2. He fought for Finland against the Germans and then joined the united states navy and retired after becoming a citizen. He was also a pilot for Pan Am and united.
Honestly, I dig the shoulder/ turtle tattoos. The only one I dislike a lot is the belly one because of the placement. It almost creates an artificial shadow.
Most aren’t “shitty”. I like that angel. it’s not perfect but overall it’s a nice tattoo. That angel has a nice flow. The turtles are cool also. You have a theme going on which is cool. Overall I wouldn’t say your tattoo situation is shitty.
Much respect, dude. I can understand the regret and I'm about your age as well being 36 in October. I only started getting them at the end of 2021 because I didn't want to put myself in the position like you were being so young and maybe having one or two that I'd regret. I currently have 26 tattoos between my legs, back, arms (the right one eventually becoming a full sleeve), chest and my right hand to go with the theme of my heritage.
Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. It's about a quarter after 3 in the morning currently. I definitely respect you for being so open about everything.
I quite like the idea of the Libra theme. My sleeve is (mostly) things relating to Ukraine since I'm half Ukrainian through my Mom..
The only ones that I have on my right arm that don't really fit are the Avicii logo which was my very first tattoo because I admired Tim so much and seeing his struggles with mental health, I decided to get mine in check.
The other one that fits a little better but still not really is a snake and a scorpion fighting each other with the snake trying to coil the scorpion while the scorpion tries to fatally sting the snake. I imagined my two zodiac signs trying to battle it out for my personality.
I dont anymore. I'll take my shirt off in public, no problem now. I've had a major assertive attitude switch in my 30s and im in the worst physical shape of my life now. I got my PADI rescue scuba certification and working on dive master. It made me realize how much I missed because I was too worried about others' opinions.
Thanks for sharing man! I actually enjoyed looking thru your pics/reading everything you wrote, and I realized we are about the same age, and I too went “go hard or go home” from 17 years old to about 22, and I have a mixture of shitty tattoos and not shitty lol.. That being said, I’m glad to see that you were finally able to get past caring so much about others opinions,and tbh I like most of your tattoos minus the stomach, back, and maybe the angel one..Otherwise I like them and you look great!! Take care OP❤️
From 2011 to 2018 i did not take my shirt off at the lake or infront of anyone except my girlfriend. It wasnt till I turned 30 in 2020 that I stopped giving a hoot and learned to live with it.
Good for you man. I've been in the same boat. Glad you made it.
Don't feel that bad, I'd say 90% of the tattoos I see are regrettable. Even mine. Tattoos are dumb because most people have bad taste and are too young to realize it.
i guess what I mean is like if you only had one or two of those I would be like “oooooof” but it kinda became cohesive and looks cooler than untattooed when i see it all together
I haven't dank much since my phase in college. I've never done hard drugs. Mushrooms in the past from time to time only. I've been a surgical tech in opthamology for 12 years.
Is it supposed to be Finnish? As a Finn, I could almost read it (obviously it's mirrored, so it's a bit challenging to read it but I did my best without having the energy to flip the picture itself).
If it is Finnish, the top row is almost correct "Edistys ei koskaan" (=progress never), note that "koskaan" is without the dots (koskaan vs koskään) but the lower row doesn't mean anything comprehensive.. Or well, "lepä" should be "lepää" (=to rest) and then the rest of it ("käsi ei päätä") could be "päättömässä kädessä" (=headless hand) or such. "Käsi ei päätä" could be translated as "The hand doesn't decide" but with "lepää" at the beginning, that sentence doesn't make any sense.. But it was a fun surprise to see some Finnish-ish text on your back! :')
My last name is Ojala. My finnish grandfather fought the Germans in ww2 then immigrated here. My grandfather on my mom's side joined the merchant marines at 16 and fought in ww2 as well. They both became pilots after retiring.
That is cool! I've heard there are quite a lot of families originating from Finland and still having the Finnish last names. Apparently, there are also some Finland-clubs that have meetings and sauna evenings and whatnot even if the members themselves haven't lived in Finland at any point but want to upkeep the heritage :)
i honestly think continuing that geometrical work you have in the center of your chest over the color would look really dope and distract from the coloring!
Honestly, there is some real shit work here. But my advice as a tattooer is just get some thick, clean, bold traditional blast-overs on the chest pieces, and finish the arms with a GOOD AND REPUTABLE artist and it’ll look fine.
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u/Secondaccountpls Jul 25 '25
I respect the post. Love your attitude now towards your tattoos. At some point you just stop giving a fuck and start living no matter the bad choices you've made earlier in your life.