Tattoo love – 爱上刺青的女人

I developed love for tattoo at very late stage. I always wanted to get one but was hesitated for a very long time until I got to Seattle. Seattle is a city, where people joke that women in Seattle are always about tattoo first, pets the 2nd and then comes boyfriend or husband. When you walk in the street, you can see men and women showing off their tattoos everywhere, regardless age. And you get to see all different tattoo studios everywhere.

People got tattoo for different reasons. There are some few main reasons that I can think of-

1. Purely out of love – there are people who really love and are additive to tattoo(or pain?). They love different graphics on their bodies, and are happy to see their body becomes an art. I heard some people also sell their bodies for advertising space. I would not encourage it as it will most likely end with regret. Think twice before you do it.

1. Cover and disguise some scar tissues on the body – many people esp. women would use tattoo to cover scars on their body, esp. those whom suffered from big surgery like post mastectomy. It would work very well if the scars can be incorporated into tattoo design. From what I heard, tattoo helps many people to recover their confidence.

1. Symbol of love, hatred, lessons in life, etc. – when people are in love, they tend to honor love. Personally, I would not encourage to tattoo your partner’s name or picture on the body, what if the relationship goes sound, the tattoo will always be there to remind you of he/she. There are some pasts that we don’t want to look back and so does some people. It’s costly and painful to remove a tattoo. When I got one of my tattoos, I was at very low period of my life, I wanted to use the tattoo to remind me of the huge mistake that I made, and refused to sink. I picked the design very carefully before I did it. And am gladly that I still love it as otherwise, I could be regret about it.

1. For cool & style- esp. for young people. They want to be cool and fashion. Tattoo seems to be a good way to express their own uniqueness and individuality.
   Because my friends have it, I got to have it too. Don’t want to miss out. We see herd effect everywhere. This is an area where people would tend to follow what others do as they are afraid that if they don’t follow, they will be strange and isolated. But again, as said, tattoo is permanent, better think twice before you do it, and if you do decide to go ahead, pick a good artwork that you will most likely love for good.

When I was young, I used to associate tattoo with bad guys. I guess the social medial and movies didn’t help. Most bad guys (prisoners & gangs) seemed to have tattoos. It’s really amazing how people’s eyes have changed. Now people have high tolerance to tattoo, and don’t judge people by that. For me, they are one piece of art, a way to freely express your true self.

When I got my first tattoo, my husband told me that I will be addicted to it. He was right. But I had to argue that I didn’t know that it would hurt like hell when you apply the tattoo to where the bone is like ankle and ribs. If you are not very sure that you want to get many tattoos but would like to get one to see, I may suggest you to start with ankle. To be honest, if I started mine from the ankle, I don’t think I would ever get rest of them. I have low tolerance for pain, it was really painful at least to me, that was when I stopped getting more tattoos.

No matter what prompted you from getting tattoo, you got to love what you get. It becomes part of you. When my friends saw my tattoo for the first time, all of them almost dropped their jaws to the ground. They couldn’t believe that a serious woman like me would ever get a tattoo, not to mention about multiples. Some even doubted if they were real.

When I was about to get my first tattoo, I was dating with my husband. I wasn’t sure what he would have thought about tattoo. So I asked him “what do you think of a woman with tattoo?”, he didn’t respond to my question directly and asked me back “what do you think of a man with tattoo.” I laughed. But when I told him reaction from my friends of them seeing my tattoos, he wanted to make sure that I told my friends that it was not under his influence and he couldn’t take responsibility for that. Lol.

Are you a tattoo lover too? What do you think of tattoo? Wondering if anyone makes steemit logo their tattoo? If you are interested in this and like to discuss, pls leave your comments here. Thanks for your time.

Image credit- pixabay.com

我爱上刺青已经是不小的年龄了。以前一直想着，但久久不敢行动直到我到了西雅图。西雅图人有个笑话，说那里的女人是刺青第一，宠物第二，然后才是老公或男朋友。当你走在西雅图的街头，随处可以看到各种年龄的，带着刺青的男男女女。刺青店也处处开花。

人们刺刺青的原因各不同。我能想到的主要如以下：

1. 纯粹对刺青的爱：有的人对刺青是无条件的爱和喜欢，而且上瘾（或者是对疼痛的上瘾?）他们在身上到处都刺了不同的刺青，把自己的身体当作一件艺术品。我听说有人出卖自己的身体，作为广告地方。如果是这个原因的话，我建议最好是三思而后行。很有可能最后就是后悔，最好考虑清楚。

1. 掩饰身上的伤疤: 很多人，特别是有动过手术的女人如乳房切除术。如果能够把伤疤设计到刺青图案里是可以起到很不错的效果的。很多人说刺青给他/她们带来了新的自信。

1. 作为对爱情，仇恨，生活中教训等的一个标志：热恋的时候，很多人会用刺青来纪念他们的爱。个人建议最好不要把对方的名字或头像等刺在自己身上。万一哪天失恋，人可以离开，但那刺青可是随着你走的。时刻提醒你他/她的存在。在人一生中有很多事包括人是不堪回首了。如果要把刺青洗掉，那是要花很多钱而且非常痛的。 当我刺身上的一个刺青时，那是我生活的最低谷，我用刺青来提醒自己犯过的最大的错误， 并拒绝就此失败和颓废。但我在刺之前是选了又选，所以直到现在我都很喜欢。
   否则，估计会后悔死了。

1. 显示酷和时尚：特别是年轻人。他们追求酷时尚。而刺青是能够表达他们独立个性的一种好方法。

1. 跟风，因为朋友们都有，所以我也得有。否则怕拉对了。羊群效应也适用在这里。 人是很奇怪的，有时候担心如果自己没有跟上被孤立。但不管怎样，记住刺青是永久的。三思而后行。如果最后决定还是要做的话，最好是选好设计，选你可能会一直喜欢下去的图案。

在我年纪很轻的时候，收到媒体和电影等的影响，我一直把刺青和坏人联系到一起。因为以前电影里的坏人（罪犯&帮伙）都有刺青。很惊喜人们眼光的改变。现在大家对刺青都习以为常。也不再用它来判断一个人。对于我自己，他们就是每件独立的艺术品，一种自己表达自己的方式。

当我做第一个刺青后，我老公就提醒我说你可能会对它上瘾。话是没错。但是我也可以说那也是因为我不知道如果把刺青刺在接近骨头的地方，如脚踝，那疼痛是难以忍受的。所以以我个人经验，我建议如果有人想要做第一个刺青的话，不妨考虑从那些地方开始。 我当时如果是先刺脚踝，估计我就不可能继续下去。那是钻心的疼。所以从那以后，我就没再添加新的刺青了。

不管你做刺青的原因是什么，你一定要爱你所刺的。 它成为你身体的一部分。当我的朋友们第一次看到我的刺青，而且还是多个后，他们基本上都诧异无比。他们没想到像我这么严肃的一个人也居然会去做刺青。有的人甚至开始怀疑那些不是真的，只是临时的。

在我做第一个刺青前，我和老公在恋爱中。我不确定他对此的看法，所以尝试地问他：“你对有刺青的女人怎么看？”， 他没有直接回答我的问题，反问我：“你对有刺青的男人怎么看？“ 我笑了起来。 但当我把朋友们的反应告诉老公的时候， 他让我务必告诉我朋友那不是受到他的影响的，所以他无法对此负责。我哈哈大笑。

你是否也是刺青爱好者？你对刺青的看法如何？不知道是不是有人把steemit 的商标作为自己的刺青刺在自己的身上？ 如果你对此话题感兴趣想要继续讨论的话，请在下面留言。谢谢你的时间和阅读。

图片来源- Pixabay.com