Tattoo epidemic

[Job]

I know this polarises many people, but I feel it needs some kind of government intervention, I was in a Tesco express yesterday and I was pretty well the only man under 60 who didn't have a tattoo, in fact every single young lad had at least a full sleeve.
I've seen ridiculous fashion come and go, awed at the sheep like rush to copy everyone else, but this ever increasing trend is self mutilation on an epic scale, these people will be stuck with this fleeting fashion victim urge for the rest of their lives, like a handlebar moustache and mullet they can never cut off.
Certain people suit tattoos and it is an integral part of their lifestyle and culture, but these are mostly the average fashion wanderer, people who buy stuff because someone on the telly wears it...they really do need protecting from themselves and the Tatoo should be treated like cigarettes, with compulsary warning posters in parlours.

 

[Ormorof]

Warnings about what?

Potentially maybe feeling silly later in life?

Being judged by fuddy duddies who think its unclean?

 

[Raven]

Idiots have always been idiots. At least they have a sign now.

Tattoos are fine if they mean something but these sleeve things are just daft.

That being said, we live in a society where if you want to look like a pillock, you can, which is good.

 

[throdgrain]

Most of my mates have loads of tattoos. I don't, oddly enough. There's reasons for it I wont bother you with.

I thought recently about getting one, then I thought, I can't be arsed lol.

 

[BloodOmen]

Haven't got a single tattoo, never really seen the point behind them personally Each to their own though!

 

[DaGaffer]

I'd actually be curious to know what percentage of the population actually have tattoos. It does seem like a lot, but...confirmation bias in action.

Personally I've never figured out an image I'd want to see every day for the rest of my life, so the point of tattoos is a bit lost on me.

 

[Gwadien]

Sleeves and tribal tattoos are dumb.

Tattoos which took a bit of thought are nice, especially when you work with people where it could be seen as a ice-breaker and shows a bit of character rather than talking to a robot.

 

[Scouse]

Like the xenophobe who has an irrational dislike of immigrants when they don't actually live near any I used to hate people with tattoes as I didn't know anyone with them and they were rare and startlingly different. (Like, when I was a teenager).

Now they're utterly ubiquitous I couldn't give a fuck. As long as parents aren't doing it to their children then there's nothing to see here. If someone wants to cover their entire body in tiger print (or this sort of thing) then that's their perogative.

It's all really just a stupid human emotional reaction to "different".


Dislike of people with tattoes is like disliking men with long hair - and I know that's serious for people with long hair as I used to have it myself - and it gave me employment ruffles when I work in non customer-facing jobs.

Of course, I never cut my hair for the people who moaned. It was a great shit-filter to sort out who was a wanker and who wasn't. I actually walked out of an interview thanking the interviewer who mentioned cutting my long hair (for an IT job) with the words along the line of "I think we'll stop here. Thanks very much for showing me that you're the sort of people I never want to work with".

 

[throdgrain]

I probably would get a Harley tattoo if the moment came up, it just never has yet ..

 

[~Yuckfou~]

A guy I worked with got a Chinese character tattoo, the symbol for virility.
He showed the waiter in a Chinese restaurant, who told him it actually meant sperm.
So Sperm Boy it was from then on..

 

[Scouse]

And @Job wants to stop this sort of thing??!!!

 

[Job]

Like the xenophobe who has an irrational dislike of immigrants when they don't actually live near any I used to hate people with tattoes as I didn't know anyone with them and they were rare and startlingly different. (Like, when I was a teenager).

Now they're utterly ubiquitous I couldn't give a fuck. As long as parents aren't doing it to their children then there's nothing to see here. If someone wants to cover their entire body in tiger print (or this sort of thing) then that's their perogative.

It's all really just a stupid human emotional reaction to "different".


Dislike of people with tattoes is like disliking men with long hair - and I know that's serious for people with long hair as I used to have it myself - and it gave me employment ruffles when I work in non customer-facing jobs.

Of course, I never cut my hair for the people who moaned. It was a great shit-filter to sort out who was a wanker and who wasn't. I actually walked out of an interview thanking the interviewer who mentioned cutting my long hair (for an IT job) with the words along the line of "I think we'll stop here. Thanks very much for showing me that you're the sort of people I never want to work with".

I'm not disliking different am I, every fucker and his dog has one, I'm looking out of the door of the house I'm in , the bloke across the road has just pulled up with his missus , he's got two sleeves and shes got both calves done.
In twenty years time , when the very idea of such a thing is ridiculous, they are going to look such soft twats, wearing the generic, wallpaper pattern tats.
More than they do allready obviously.

 

[Raven]

YOU ARENT ENTITLED TO AN OPINION FFS

 

[Gwadien]

The money involved is also pretty insane, I know someone who's a bit older than me and he's a big of a big-shot in the tattoo 'scene' he charges £700 (which isn't extortionate on a global scale) for a full day session, he's fully booked for a year.

If he works 51 weeks a year 6 days a week he earns £214,200 p/a - obviously minus taxes, costs etc.

 

[mooSe_]

Tattoos aren't so socially acceptable here in Japan. Traditionally only Yakuza members had tattoos and it's only the recent influence of western culture and increased number of foreigners that has changed that.

I've seen a few Japanese people with tattoos, but nowhere near the number of people in the UK. It's usually something quite small or easy to cover too; except for the shirtless Yakuza guys I saw having a barbecue.

Having visible tattoos is more of a problem here because of that. In the UK you might not be able to get some customer-facing positions if you can't hide your tattoos, but in Japan you will be straight up banned from entering some places. Many Japanese business owners don't want Yakuza or criminal-types hanging around, but they can't just say "no Yakuza", so they say "no tattoos" instead.

Many hot springs, public baths, gyms and swimming pools, for example, have a no tattoo policy. Some of them will let you in if you can cover the tattoos with a bandage, but some won't even allow that. Realistically they probably wouldn't tell a bunch of Yakuza to fuck off, but I regularly hear stories of foreigners with tattoos having trouble.

 

[Scouse]

I'm not disliking different am I

Yep.

You're disliking different from you and calling people who feel differently about them twats.


It'd be a boring world if we all felt the same way tho.

 

[fettoken]

Tattoos aren't so socially acceptable here in Japan. Traditionally only Yakuza members had tattoos and it's only the recent influence of western culture and increased number of foreigners that has changed that.

I've seen a few Japanese people with tattoos, but nowhere near the number of people in the UK. It's usually something quite small or easy to cover too; except for the shirtless Yakuza guys I saw having a barbecue.

Having visible tattoos is more of a problem here because of that. In the UK you might not be able to get some customer-facing positions if you can't hide your tattoos, but in Japan you will be straight up banned from entering some places. Many Japanese business owners don't want Yakuza or criminal-types hanging around, but they can't just say "no Yakuza", so they say "no tattoos" instead.

Many hot springs, public baths, gyms and swimming pools, for example, have a no tattoo policy. Some of them will let you in if you can cover the tattoos with a bandage, but some won't even allow that. Realistically they probably wouldn't tell a bunch of Yakuza to fuck off, but I regularly hear stories of foreigners with tattoos having trouble.

Just want to point out that you referred to 'Yakuza' three times in that post.

 

[mooSe_]

Oh, they're the Japanese mafia. I count 4 times.

 

[Gwadien]

Just want to point out that you referred to 'Yakuza' three times in that post.

@mooSe_ is their PR guy.

 

[soze]

I think they can be amazing bits of art and I would get one. But the one time I booked one the guy had a 45 day wait and by the time it came around I had changed my mind as I kept thinking about changing the design so decided against it. I saw a girl who had some amazing tattoos but she wore a shirt and a skirt and it covered them off so at work you would not know she had them.

I do think there needs to be a cooling off period though, pick your design and book it in then 14 days later you can get it done.

 

[ECA]

I'm not really against tattoos - some of them look good. My issue is I can't think I'd ever be happy with a single design forever.

 

[soze]

I'm not really against tattoos - some of them look good. My issue is I can't think I'd ever be happy with a single design forever.

That is where a sleeve could be great as you can evolve your design over the years \ decades. But you still need to the starting point to your theme.

 

[Starman]

I have none nor do I want any.

I always thought these things are like fashion its cyclical they'll come, go and come back again in some form.

 

[old.user4556]

Interesting topic as I've been talking to my missus about tats recently, especially on the back of watching tattoo fixers. I don't have anything against tats, I think they're much more socially acceptable today than they were when I was in my early teens - the only people with tats at the time were hard men and army blokes. My only issue is that shite tats, look really shite, or if you don't suit tats then they also look shite. You need to be cool enough to pull off a sleave, otherwise you look like a dick.

What impresses me the most about Tattoo Fixers, especially Jay, is their incredible artistic talent to draw an idea off the top of their head and then recreate that permanently on someone's skin. Incredible artwork, and therefore incredible tattoos, look awesome in my opinion.

You can't polish a turd though, if you're out of shape, have crap biceps or a big fat woman, then it's going to look shite.



Fashions change though - tribal tats? Celtic tats? Barbed wire tats? Folk wouldn't want those now, and that's my biggest issue. I've had my ears pierced and looking back I think "what a fucking bell-end". I expect I'd feel the same about any tat I got down the road, and it's pretty much permanent.

 

[Bodhi]

I think I'm about the only person in my group of friends who doesn't have one tbh, never found anything that I particularly liked - apart from me mate, who's got the Lives display from the bottom of Manic Miner on his arm, which I do like. Can't really copy though.

I did have bleached hair for about 3 years at the end of the 90's, which I didn't think was permanent, however I am now folically challenged let's just say.

No idea why you'd want to ban tattoos however - unless you spent more thime than was healthy reading the Daily Mail.

Ah. I see.

 

[old.user4556]

Maybe we should all chip in and get Job a tattoo - maybe a passage from the Koran on one shoulder, and a crescent moon on the other?

 

[Embattle]

Not got any tats.

 

[Lakih]

I was surprised to see how common tattoo's are here in the US. I moved from a small town in northern Sweden where tattoos weren't uncommon but it was 90% younger (<30) people who had them. In the US it's all over the place, doesn't matter what colour, age, sex, or (apparent) social class - everyone has them.
I was thinking about getting one when I was in my 20s but I could never find something that I would permanently have on my body.

 

[Shagrat]

Always been around tattoo's (dads a biker, always had a houseful of biker types when I was younger, our holidays were often camping at rallys etc) so no real stigma attached to them for me, although I do question the reasoning behind some peoples tattoos now and whether they do realise they'll be stuck with the design they select for life.

 

[Edmond]

I love watching tattoo fixers, and as @Big G says, I'm amazed by the artistic talent these guys have. I don't have any mainly because I know I would look at it in 10 yrs time and hate it.

But to try to get a government intervention for people with tattoos.....really? If these people want to have shit tattoos and look like twats, then that's their problem and business, is it not?

Wtf does it have to do with anyone else. I'd love to see @Job walk into a tattoo parlour and tell some big hairy biker that he should not be allowed to have his tattoo, in fact I would pay good money for a ringside seat