I'm not as fundamentalist about it, but I'm an ink-skeptic. You see a lot of young people getting them because they're bored and a lot of older people getting them to stay relevant. The latter is especially endemic among rock stars. And as you keep getting more and more you just wind up with an incoherent mass of images, most of which end up the same color as a blue ballpoint. And I just have to wonder, what was the intention here?
Thursday, August 7, 2025
Needled
I have a friend who's drawn a line in the sand against tattoos. He's told his nieces, for one thing, that he'll disinherit them if they ever get tattoos. I don't know how much they stand to inherit from them. It's mostly about sending a message, although he doesn't think they're likely to get them anyway.
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2 comments:
There are some very good reasons not to be tattooed, first among them being that they're permanent. Skin is very nice as it is even if it does get wrinkly. Tattoos will change in appearance as the skin loses its elasticity and the once brilliant ink fades, a result you mentioned. Besides that, of course, the you who thinks a tattoo would be very cool may well feel differently in a few years.
Truth to tell so many people have them now they're no longer unique. They are also very expensive ($100. an hour is average) and very painful to remove (and very expensive), plus it’s not possible to remove all of the ink and there will be scarring. When I noticed elderly women flashing new tattoos it ended any possibility of them being fashionable.
Also, the health related problems of tattoos has been well documented. Life is hard enough without deliberately courting potential new problems.
Tattoos are a fad among white people, one that may already be fading away. (I mean the tattoos not the other...)
The permanence of tattoos is indeed the top reason not to get them. If you buy a shirt and later decide you don't like it you can always stop wearing it. Not everything is like that, though. Put it this way: I sometimes thought about getting one when I was younger, but I've never regretted not doing so. While some people who do have them, I suspect, sometimes stare at their arms and say, "What was this one all about?"
So many people have them because for a long time they were promoted as a way to distinguish yourself from everyone else. Obviously when a large number of people follow the trend that supposed uniqueness goes away, but while that should have been clear, it didn't really slow tings down. I think that's starting to change, but we'll be looking at ink for years to come.
As far as health goes, we all have to make our own choices. That said, if I'm going to incur health risks I'd prefer it be for food that actually tastes good.
A number of black and otherwise dark-skinned people have gotten them, although with less contrast they don't show up as well. But we are probably due for a different fad.
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