Thread: Tattoos

Originally Posted by Philadelph

WARNING: my comment may be offensive here, but isn't meant to be...

Anyway– if this (the above quote) is how you decide on a tattoo and whether or not it is 'acceptable', I think you are living your life for the wrong reasons. Again, this is just my opinion.


P.S.– TAD? Check.

I think that we all live our lives the way we do for different reasons,, for example I work for myself in an industry thats reasonably open minded , therefore I will possibly never have to attend a job interview.
Others who have chosen a different career path may find a need to have tattoo's placed more discreetly and I understand and respect that.

For what it's worth I love good tattoo's but have none and never will , they are forbidden by Orthodox Jewish law. How I envy those on here with tattoo's and blt's....

Originally Posted by Philadelph

WARNING: P.S.– TAD? Check.

Tattoo Acquisition Disorder. I've got it bad LOL

Originally Posted by Englishgent

I think that we all live our lives the way we do for different reasons,, for example I work for myself in an industry thats reasonably open minded , therefore I will possibly never have to attend a job interview.
Others who have chosen a different career path may find a need to have tattoo's placed more discreetly and I understand and respect that.

For what it's worth I love good tattoo's but have none and never will , they are forbidden by Orthodox Jewish law. How I envy those on here with tattoo's and blt's....

I won't argue that point but if you were to break that particular law, I assume you're keeping all of the others , you can get buried wherever you want ...... if that is any consolation. Here is an article on the topic from the NY Times that may be of interest. As far as the BLT there is no way.

When I got my ink my artist told me that he does not not tattoo the following:

Below the cuff line
The neck or collar area
The face
The hands
Women under 40 yo that want belly tattoos
Permanent makeup.

A good artist understands the social stigma and will help you in the right direction.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Sounds like some of us can add TAD to our acquisition disorders !

i have two tats and i would have to agree, they are more addicting than any drug you can take

Time to pipe up!

I have a decent amount of ink. Nine pieces in ten goes. First was a star which my grandpa paid & took me at seventeeen to a sailor's tattooist in Portsmouth. He was a sailor & had retired a much inked Captain. The star was "To protect me out among the heathens." in London. Every piece since I have drawn up & taken to the tattooist. The next two are already drawn up & awaiting funds to take to the tattooist. Each has its own particular meaning & association.

I never considered whether or not it is acceptable to have a tattoo. You have a tat to make you stand out. If you ever see me shirtless, you would remember the ink. People who worry about how other people perceive miss the point. Getting the ink is an experience in itself. The lasting memento is how you have chosen to express the art you have inside on the outside, be it mass-produced & tacky or individual & meaningful.

TAD? Check. Complete incomprehension of anyone who has a problem with anyone who has ink? CHECK! Time to next tat? Less than three months

Originally Posted by singlewedge

A good artist understands the social stigma and will help you in the right direction.

A great tattoo artist will let adults make decisions for themselves.
Besides, nowadays it's so main stream to have a tattoo that you are much more likely to be judged on the content of the tattoo rather than the position or even just that you have a tattoo at all.

I didn't choose to get tattoo thinking they would make me stick out, I chose them thinking they say something about me, and the comments I've gotten on them certainly say something about the people viewing them.

How people view tattoos on others has changed over the years along with other social mores. I can remember when a father or mother could have been tortured and wouldn't have revealed that their unmarried daughter was living with her boyfriend . In the early seventies it became 'no big thing' and was freely spoken of by parents in conversation.

Having tattoos on my arms since the 1960s and being sleeved in the '70s I can't count the times I have been asked,"Were you in the navy"? The assumption in the '60s being that if you were tattooed you must have been in the navy, drunk when you got them, or both. By the 1970s the assumption became that if you hadn't gotten the tattoos in the military you were either an ex-con, or in an outlaw motorcycle gang, and certainly drunk, or a sociopath.

I think tattooing started going mainstream when celebrities started getting them. Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Cher among others, were some of the early ones that began to bring tattooing out of the sub culture it was into the style that it has become. Ten of fifteen years ago we started seeing girls walk into the shop asking for barbed wire around the arm. This was something that had never been asked for by the 'weaker sex' while among men it was a common request. Turned out a famous model of the time had gotten it. Monkey see, monkey do.

Tattooing faces has always been something no reputable pro tattooer with any sense of conscience would ever do IMO. Fellow tattooer Mike Malone and I were talking about it one day and he said that it was 'social suicide'. I think that is an apt definition. Tattoos on the neck, usually names in fancy script, are popular. The top of the foot is the new 'spot' for many ladies now. The hands were formerly verboten in most reputable shops but so many young tattooers are doing them now that that is also becoming less of a taboo. As social mores change so too does the perspective on what is acceptable and what is not.

I will say this about the face.

Even in New Zealand and Australia where natives actively line and work and facial tattooing is part of the native culture, it is still taboo. Hows that for backwards?

The reason the Jimmy, my artist not JimmyHAD, did not do the neck, the face, the hand, or below the cuff was employability issues. He did not want to be responsible for you not getting a job cause your work required ink to be covered.

Originally Posted by singlewedge

I will say this about the face.

Even in New Zealand and Australia where natives actively line and work and facial tattooing is part of the native culture, it is still taboo. Hows that for backwards?

The reason the Jimmy, my artist not JimmyHAD, did not do the neck, the face, the hand, or below the cuff was employability issues. He did not want to be responsible for you not getting a job cause your work required ink to be covered.

I have talked a lot of people out of the neck tattoos because of that issue. Many times I have pointed out to customers wanting tattoos that may give them problems that I am heavily tattooed but can cover all of it with a long sleeve shirt and trousers. If they still want them on the neck we will do them. The hands are only done for people that have the hand picked tattoos like the pachuko marks and want them covered or for people who are fully sleeved and know what they are doing. IOW, they are already so heavily tattooed and know what goes with being so that a tattoo on the hand won't be an issue for them. I would never do a facial tattoo no matter how much money I was offered.