6 times you shouldn't get tattooed

It's kind of strange, a tattooer encouraging people not to get tattooed but if you read below I'm pretty sure you'll agree with me (on most counts anyway).

So here we go

1. When you're partying it up on holiday
We all know what goes down on holidays to Ibiza, Magaluf and similar places.
Debauchery and chaos. If you're from the UK you'll know the British have a reputation for heavy drinking while on these holiday destinations. You'll find a lot of tattoo shops in these places. Most of them don't care if you're drunk or how the tattoo turns out.
Working in a tattoo shop in a holiday destination is soul destroying, every client is hyped up, probably drunk and getting some tattoo like 'Ibiza 2018', or some persons name they literally just met in a club the other day. Oh and everyone want's it as small as possible, somehow they think keeping it small makes it ok. This is a bad idea, making a tattoo too small effects it's longevity and readability as it ages.

Your mother must be proud, oh and wait till you meet a respectable woman, they'll love that.

So you shouldn't swim for a couple of weeks once you've been tattooed or soak the tattoo. Kinda sux if you're on holiday? Most people just ignore this.
You shouldn't get the tattoo in the sun. Yeah I'm sure they're not going to get sunned up while on holiday!
You need to keep your tattoo clean, not so easy when there's 8 of you living in a small rented flat that you pretty much just use to crash in and you're out clubbing most of the night and stumbling home at 6 the next morning.
The tattooers actually don't give a fuck about what happens to the tattoo. Why would they, they're probably never going to see you again. They're on a 4 month gig just making some cash and then off to greener pastures. Most of these studios aren't driven by ethics or have resident tattoo artists.
I'd say 80%-90% of tattoos that people get done abroad end up getting covered up or need to be reworked.

2. When you get into a relationship
Love is a powerful emotion, well actually it's a feeling brought on my chemical reactions in your body. We all know when you first start dating someone you're into you have this overwhelming feeling, you just can't see yourself with out them, it's forever. Until it's not.
When people come into the studio wanting a partners name we always ask how long they've been together and advise accordingly. Things can go pear shaped at the drop of a hat in a relationship and then you end up with a sour taste in your mouth and a tattoo you probably need to cover up. Leave names for family and long term relationships that have stood the test of time.

3.When you're in an emotional state of grief, despair or depression
Not the best time to get tattooed. If you lose a loved one the grief can be so heavy you might feel that you need to prove that you love the person, that you'll never forget them, so people run out to get commemorative tattoos. Well it may be a nice idea, save it for when things have settled down, when you've had some time to process the grief, there's no rush.
I recently had a client who was up in our town for the funeral of his mother, he wanted a tattoo of his family tree with his mother crossed out... I mean, what! I can see the concept behind it but it just seemed like a knee jerk reaction to grief. We talked it over and he ended up agreeing it wasn't the greatest way to remember his mother. I never saw him again.

Depression is a fucker. It plays with your hormones, body chemicals, it can change the way you think. Although you might think getting a tattoo will make it better, (and in some instances it could lead a path to a different direction or have the person feel like they're doing something about their depressions) we generally don't make the wisest decisions when depressed and carrying that decision around you for life can't be fun.

4.When you turn 18
Now I feel a bit of a hypocrite saying this because I did the exact thing (at 17 actually), but it was a different time then, you only chose what was on the walls, you couldn't take your ideas to the tattooer, it was pick it off the wall and get it tattooed, so you chance of getting a totally wacky tattoo were somewhat minimised.

There's something about breaking the rules, you turn 18 and you want to prove that now you have control of your own life and things you couldn't do before, well your'e gonna turn it up to 10 and do all of them!
I just feel that you have so much in front of you at that age, that within 4,5,6 years your whole view on life can mature and change. You should rest assured knowing that you could get a tattoo if you wanted now that you're 18, maybe write down what you want to get tattooed, put it in an envelope and open it 6 months or a year later and see if you'd get the same thing, or even a few years later, I guarantee you'll have a laugh when you read it.

Also there's the issue of where you get tattooed, getting a tattoo in certain visible areas can put off future employers (sad but true)

.5 When you're ill
If you're feeling under the weather, recovering from being sick or just starting to come down with something call off your tattoo, reschedule it.
Chances are it will hurt a lot more, your body isn't at it's best to get tattooed, the healing will be affected because your body is busy fighting off a sickness and trying to heal a tattoo, it has to split its' resources so healing can take longer and getting better again takes longer too.
Another thing people don't realise is that you're risking passing on your illness to the tattooer an most of us are self employed, so when we're off sick, no $$$$.

6. When trends hit or you become part of a subculture
A lot of the cover ups I do are related to this, possibly because it ties in with being young.
When small stars were a thing and girls where getting them on the back of their neck or behind the ear, man I've covered up so many of those. Remember the Blade vampire symbols, I've covered so many, so many bar codes, band names, Cheryl Close tribals on the hand. Forget the hype, get your own tattoo, be an individual, you'll never regret that.

Blade vampire markings... urghh..

Hope these all make sense, it's from a tattooists perspective and while it's not set in stone it's definitely something to think about before getting a tattoo...

Peace Out