Tattoos

66Mustang

Does anyone have them and care to share more.

What do you have; why you got them; when did you get them; do you regret doing it, did you change your mind as you got older, or would you do it again without hesitation.

I can’t wear short sleeves, partly because I used to self harm mostly by cutting my arms which has left a legacy. I have 30-40 scars on my left arm and 10-15 on my right. It’s obvious what they are from so not like I can lie and say I had an accident or something.

I was thinking it would be a way of covering them. I think they can look cool and am not against the idea but I wouldn’t want to do it and then hate my body even more than I already do.

I don’t know what I would have, I think it would need to be a full “sleeve” to cover all the scars, I think I would want it just black, not colours. I like the tribal patterns but I am not from a tribe so I don’t think it’s right to have them (just my opinion no offence to anyone else who has them).

Enough about me, I made this as I thought it could be a good subject to make a thread about to discuss a topic which is hopefully not too controversial.

rebel11

What you could do is get 'transfers', they were 'cool' in the day, you placed them on your wrist, then add water, then get a cloth and squeeze hard. They aren't permanent, so just use them, change them when you feel like it. 

66Mustang

@rebel11 that's not something I thought of. But a great idea actually, can "test drive" without the commitment...thanks for the suggestion.

rebel11

66Mustang said:

@rebel11 that's not something I thought of. But a great idea actually, can "test drive" without the commitment...thanks for the suggestion.

Make sure you carry out product safety review before use, if anything 'untowards' happens to you, Admin would hunt me down. I'd have to go into hiding
@Hannah_Scope @Alex_Scope    

Hannah_Alumni

You can get fabric tattoo sleeves online too! 

I would also think about other options if you wanted to cover your scars @66Mustang. Maybe reach out to an aesthetician? I've seen a few people have different treatments to blur the harshness of scars and some specialists tattoo with "skin coloured" inks to cover scars.

I would both love a tattoo and hate a tattoo at the same time. There are many lovely designs I've seen but I am so indecisive and always remember it is permanent. I think I'll end up having most of these designs I like on art canvases

Sandy_123

Just a suggestion foundation make up to your skin colour 

66Mustang

Thank you for the suggestions, some things to look into.

WelshBlue

I've got a Chelsea FC crest on my arm but am saving up for more

I'm designing a glove type to have an android effect (wires, cogs, knuckle plate on the stumps)  on my hand and on the thumb and finger I lost. 
I've got facial scarring from a bad car crash and I want an android effect on that too (metal plating, screw heads etc) ... the boss is not so keen n the facial one ... but my face, my disfigurement.  My choice

@mustang67 ... sleeves are much classier in blue or black IMO.  My son has one and there's about 30 different images of memories making up the sleeve, wouldn't look the same multi coloured

Go for what makes you happy, have a plan of what you want it to look like and don't faint of so many hours at £50 ish 

66Mustang

@WelshBlue

I quite like your idea of kind of almost making your injuries part of the design and using them as a basis for the design. It is sort of mocking the injury and embracing it/making it into something decent at the same time.

If it makes you feel more confident then I think it's worth it.

Not comparing my injuries to you at all as mine were entirely self inflicted.

rebel11

WelshBlue said:

I've got a Chelsea FC crest on my arm but am saving up for more

I'm designing a glove type to have an android effect (wires, cogs, knuckle plate on the stumps)  on my hand and on the thumb and finger I lost. 
I've got facial scarring from a bad car crash and I want an android effect on that too (metal plating, screw heads etc) ... the boss is not so keen n the facial one ... but my face, my disfigurement.  My choice

@mustang67 ... sleeves are much classier in blue or black IMO.  My son has one and there's about 30 different images of memories making up the sleeve, wouldn't look the same multi coloured

Go for what makes you happy, have a plan of what you want it to look like and don't faint of so many hours at £50 ish 

Chelsea just annoy me, spend £600m on players to finish in 12th place, they probably needed to spend £1,200bn to finish in the top 6, then £1,500bn to finish in the top 3.

rebel11

@66Mustang

Here is some sound advice - https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/think-you-ink-are-tattoos-safe

WelshBlue

66Mustang said:

@WelshBlue

I quite like your idea of kind of almost making your injuries part of the design and using them as a basis for the design. It is sort of mocking the injury and embracing it/making it into something decent at the same time.

If it makes you feel more confident then I think it's worth it.

Not comparing my injuries to you at all as mine were entirely self inflicted.

I like the idea of giving people something to really stare at lol
Plus loads of people think I'm weird, so I'll embrace it

As for your injuries, it doesn't make them any less real being self - inflicted.  It makes them more personal and more real IMO

I remember the first time I knew my daughter was cutting ... the me being physically sick at the sight of the cuts wasn't the fact she was doing it, or at the angry red cuts/ scars - it was the fact she was hurting so much inside that it was the only way to cope/ to find release/ relief ... and I couldn't make it alright with just a Dad hug

Never be ashamed of who you are, my friend ... or the fact you've had struggles.  It takes a brave person to admit it  

As for Chelsea - mismanagement on a grand scale ... sickening when you think of all the good that money could have done in the world.  Bubbles always burst ... 

poppy123456

I don't have any myself but i've been thinking about it for quite sometime. I've even gone as far as going to a tattooist to ask for a price.

I know what i want (sort of) and it's personal to me, which is what i think totoos should be. It's related to myself and my late nan so very special to me and not something anyone would know what it means, other than my family. It would be on my lower arm but can't decide if i want front or back of the arm and it would be colour, with black writing.

I haven't gone ahead purely because the thought of the pain scares me a lot. I've saved the money and have it in a bottle lol. One day... soon..ish

My younger daughter has 3. Two are small and related to Taylor Swift. She's a huge Swiftie and loves her. The other is a picture of our white cat, with flowers and his name. It's at the top of her arm. She's not confident with her body either and is usually very reluctant to show her arms and legs. This year during the warmer weather she has gone out with a top on with no sleeves and for her, that's the first. She felt very proud of her big tattoo. She's also said that she would love a sleeve but what of, i have no idea.

66Mustang

@WelshBlue thanks for the kind words and support..wish I could click the like button more than once, ha ha...

My parents were exactly the same when I was cutting, they didn't worry so much about the physical wounds (though my Dad did say "I wish you would cut me instead"), but that there was a root cause causing the need to do the cutting. I hope your daughter is better now and that it's in the past for you.


Poppy - thank you for the post and interesting thoughts. Interesting that your daughter has similar issues with not wanting to expose her arms/legs and that the tattoo made her more confident. Out of curiosity and you don't have to answer but is that the same daughter who suffers with autism? 

I think you are quite right about the designs being personal to you, it sounds like you thought long and hard about it, not just looked through their book and said "I want that one".

poppy123456

66Mustang said:

Poppy - thank you for the post and interesting thoughts. Interesting that your daughter has similar issues with not wanting to expose her arms/legs and that the tattoo made her more confident. Out of curiosity and you don't have to answer but is that the same daughter who suffers with autism? 

I think you are quite right about the designs being personal to you, it sounds like you thought long and hard about it, not just looked through their book and said "I want that one".

You're welcome. Yes, that's the daughter that has ASD. All she talks about is her next one

WelshBlue

@66Mustang ... your Dad sounds like a good man.  Whilst I understood why she was ... it wasn't until I was diagnosed with PTSD and was using the elastic band technique that I truly realised what she had gone through, when she was ... that primal need 

She's doing well thanks.  

Back to happy times ... I've seen some brilliant tattoos of cars ... a nice face of a mustang with the dancing horse could look cool.  I know a few people with sleeves, and while they go for things personal to them, they all seem to have one thing in common ... all pictures compliment one another to blend in (if that makes sense)

66Mustang

Thanks @WelshBlue glad she is doing good now.

(I tried the elastic band thing and found it helped a bit for me as well, also the ice cube in hand helps too.)

I'm not sure about a car, anything that's a man made like a "product" or brand I'm not sure, I think I prefer natural objects, or just patterns if that makes sense...yes what you say about them all complimenting each other makes perfect sense. I will have a think about it over several months before I act as it's a one way trip!

Thanks

WelshBlue

66Mustang said:

 I think I prefer natural objects, or just patterns 

I think I'd agree with you.  Organic objects etc look better.  I think my son has got a lion, an eye an old pocket watch, mandala patterns, celtic patterns, and script/ objects from the countries he's visited and numerous other things which all blend seamlessly. 
(Not that he needs reminding of being strip searched by gun point leaving Croatia then strip searched by gun point entering Bosnia lol ... 4 hours all the other bus passengers waited)

As you say, it's a one way trip of no return and can either be tacky or very classy.  My nephew has the cast of Peaky Blinders on his legs ... I think it looks awful in one way but very skillfully done.  Always worth asking the opinions of the artist ?

Poppy' - my wife is having her first ones this month ... an elephant holding a balloon and a Mandala with the kids initials in ... on the understanding the artist uses numbing cream 

As told her ...I had sympathy contractions when my daughter was born ... if she can have 2 kids she can have a tattoo, because all the accidents I've had; nothing has ever compared to those pains - was glad to pass them back to her 

Nice to read of the confidence your daughter has found from the ink 

66Mustang

Interesting point about the Peaky Blinders. Wouldn't ever want something like that myself. But it would attract my attention and I would look at it thinking "that's interesting". Maybe that is what the wearer would want so the tattoo has done its job. Would also think, good for whoever got it, like you say I would admire the skill as well.

Actually thinking about it I am not keen on, or wouldn't want, maybe 90% of the tattoos I see out and about.

But likewise...90% of the cars I see out and about I wouldn't want either...I am still very much a car lover...because of that special 10%...

All that matters in the end I guess is that the "owner" likes it.

My personally, I am quite conservative (not politically) and I think to put something on your body you have to be 100% devoted to it...wearing a shirt with something on is one thing but having a tattoo of the same thing, you can't take it off (not without a lot of pain and expense anyway)

Jean Eveleigh

I have one currently it is a pink care bear and my daughters name. I have had it about 20 years.
I would love to have more but I cannot find a design I love enough to have on me when I die or to withstand the pain to have scratched into my flesh - I keep looking and I have several images saved in a tattoo possibilities folder but I still cannot settle on anything else to actually move forward and get a new tattoo

66Mustang

Yeah that makes sense @Jean Eveleigh, I like the bear, Forever Friends isn't it? I love those