Love or loathe Tattoos

Hate them! When my son was 17 he was off to Spain for a holiday with friends & I was to take him to airport in early hours. I went to wake him up & he was lying in bed with his arms out of the covers & BOTH his arms were tatooed. I always thought he was odd as he always wore long sleeves even in the heat that summer.
He had British Bulldog on one arm & his football team on the other. I read the riot act all the way to Gatwick!
Some years later when he realised the error of his ways & had 2 sons of his own he tried to get them removed but had to settle for having them covered up. So now- in his 40s he has Koi Carp ( rather beautiful I must admit but not to him!!) on his arms & has told his children if they EVER even think about tatoos he will disown them. TBH they think tatoos are gross anyway.

I have never liked them and find the latest full arm, full leg, back and chests far too much, though each to his/ her own.

Strangely as I was approaching 70 last year I seriously thought of having just a small one, not sure why, just because I suppose,

I went into a tattoo shop to have a look at designs etc, but when I saw a customer being ‘done’ the look of pain on her face was enough to stop me in my tracks. I no longer feel the urge, but maybe at 80.....?!?! Though probably not.

Black Dick.” Hope I haven’t offended anyone
Ellie I wouldn't think so! Reminds me of a Welsh lad who had "ludo" tattood in the same place; at times it said "Llandudno"
OoRoo

I work with 2 other women and all up their arms and neck and hands on one and they work as waitresses in a posh hotel they really do need to cover up

Complete waste of money and looks vile especially the full sleeve/torso and anywhere on show on women.

For me, tattoos have to have meaning. I have a small Coptic cross on my inside right wrist, to commemmorate my baby granddaughter who was born asleep, and a star on the top of my left wrist for my 9-month-old grandson, who is a little star!

I have a friend with two very pretty tasteful tatoos. One of which hides a scar from an accident. I think it would be useful to have your blood group tatooed and have joked about a 'press here' or X for the correct hand position for CPR being useful. But I used to be a first aid trainer and humour got a bit 'wry' at times. Its a personal choice, I think finding a talented tatooist is the key. I've met ladies who keep wanting another & another & they aren't cheap. I don't have one.

I find them revolting,My father had one done during the war and hated it as he got older and the pattern turned into an ugly grey / blue mark ,all colours gone.I think any business that sets itself up to remove them will make a fortune in a few years time.

I had a friend who would have a tattoo for every year she survived cancer. It started with a small butterfly on her shoulder, the following year she added a flower - I just wish she had survived long enough to have her whole back covered.

There we are then - if anyone is looking for a gap in the market business wise, tattoo removal could prove very lucrative.

I don't like them or understand why anyone would want something permanent drawn on their skin. I especially dislike the ones where a whole arm is coloured or even the face. It just seems a shame. But I guess each to their own. I'm just very pleased my children have never been interested in them

Not for me and can’t see the attraction

I hate them,what are they going to look like when they reach there 70s and 80s,so people are plastered with them.

Personally I dislike them intensely. I do understand, though, that some people have them done for reasons particular to them, and some of the artwork is beautiful. However, what looks good on young skin can look awful when that skin is old and saggy.

Also, there is meaning to some designs which may not be appropriate to the person 'wearing' them and can you be certain that, for example, Chinese letters mean what you think they do? They might even have colloquial meanings that we don't know.

Silliest, though, in my opinion, is wearing shorts in freezing winter weather just so that your tattoos can be seen.

I'm top hypocrite. I have two tattoos to celebrate important moments in my life. My adult daughter knows that she can have whatever she wants tattooed on her body but she has to be 80 years old. ?

My youngest daughter has tattoos on both her arms, her nape, her ankle and a full back. Each one represents something that is special to her. My eldest grandson has one on his arm, a beautiful antique pocket watch with the time set to his sons birth time. His partner also has them. I myself have none. I have no objection to them at all, actually I find the giant holes in the ears which are the thing right now much more objectionable

Im with you Twiglet77. I hate them. I see them as a sign of mental health issues. I know the girls especially will hate them when they're old - my work in the NHS meant I met many elderly ladies who when undressing apologised to me for having them and tried to cover them from me. I always acted professionally and never showed my inner thoughts about them or said anything negative, but will never forget the shame they seemed to feel. Maybe things will be different when todays young girls are old.

Some tattoos are amazing - a local builder has his children's faces inked on his arm, and they are like photos. David Beckham's tattoos are of course works of art, but I have seen some absolute horrors that look as if they have been crudely done with a felt tip pen. I do feel concern about the notion that ink goes straight to the lymph glands. Also, they don't look good on old skin!

I really don't like them, even the pretty ones. There is something about the willingness to mutilate the body for the sake of... identity? art? that bothers me. The one time I had a very painful experience at a hairdressers, the young woman had a lot of tattoos. It's up to her but I didn't go back and I tend to think if they are willing to suffer that amount of pain.... how sensitive will they be to causing it? But it's so prevalent, there must be something about it I don't get. And to think of what they will look like when the owner is much older..... (shudders).

We've had quite a few "tattoo" threads since the inception of GN. Quite understandable, if you are fairly new, you wouldn't haven't seen previous ones. As always they divide opinion, I'm constant in mine, I really dislike them. One of my sons has a couple.

Each to their own, I think they really spoil lovely limbs, toned arms and legs don't need writing on them at best they look grubby at worst sometimes they look like bruises. I remember the late Peaches Geldof and Amy Winehouse both had loads, sometimes that suggests "an out of control/addictive" personality to me, they were both attractive girls, they'd have looked so much better without them imo. Angelina Jolie is another and hers look all wrong when she wears an evening dress, why would you want the geographical co-ordinates of where your children were born plastered up your back for someone else to puzzle over. Kind of useless information anyway

Bodies sag and droop and become wrinkly as they age, the inkings on wrinkles and saggy bits are going to look a bit sad one day

I’m with the loathers here. My son has a small one but I can’t even remember where. Neither daughter has any, nor do their partners. Youngest DD has a beautiful friend who is covered in tattoos and piercings starting from age 17. I just want to weep when I see her.

Had 2 piercings in each ear aged 16 in the 1970s - very rare then. Did it as an act of rebellion as my mum said I couldn't even have them pierced the once! I grew disenchanted with having pierced ears after a couple of years. In my 20s my friends were having tattoos but I held off as I knew my tastes would be different in a decade or two - and they were.

Loathe them. But I accept that everyone is free to do as they please with their bodies.

I used abhor them, like a class/tramp stamp.
I've loosened up on them but do think less is more and young people don't think theyre skin will ever change. Location matters. Very full on is like a statement and immature bit permanent

Hate with a vengeance if they can be seen .
Hope the craze ends soon.