A tattoo is an indelible drawing on human skin. By design, they are not easy to remove. By nature, some colours will fade, over time. By nature, the design will stretch as your skin will stretch.
Before you get a tattoo, look at tattoos on older people. True, the artistry may not have been good to begin with, but, with enough of a sample size, you will get a good idea how yours may look in twenty years’ time.
Then, there is the subject matter. What is fashionable today may be passe in twenty years.
Also, there is your own psyche; the mind you have today will not be the mind you have in twenty years’ time.
There is a logical error in getting a tattoo; you get a tattoo to express your individuality, some dearly held belief. Trouble is, many others are doing exactly the same thing.
What is the result?
You look quite similar to others of the same age and background who also decided to get a tattoo, the same way young men in the 1970’s thought flared jeans and long hair made them look more attractive to women.
That is to say, you have typed yourself.
You will have announced, before you even open your mouth, to anyone who can see the tattoo, that you are someone who thinks tattoos are a good idea, and also some of the sentimental ideas your mind holds, based on the content of the tattoo.
This is not a good strategic move. People judge on appearances and they do so very quickly. It’s safer for them, in military terms, and saves time in what is now a society offering sensory overload, daily.
You may never know the opportunities you have missed because a casual acquaintance caught sight of a logo on your dermis.
The only people who can reasonably tattoo themselves are those who don’t need to find employment, because they are self-sufficient, or military personnel, who might be rendered otherwise unrecognisable by the horrors of war.
That’s why tattoos were mostly the preserve of the wealthy, prisoners and sailors in the past. Boredom was also a cause; a tethered dog will bite himself, for stimulation, and a trapped human being will do self-centred harm to relieve monotony. It’s also a form of bonding with your comrades.
However, your situation will change, but your skin comes with you everywhere you go.
The final reason someone should think seriously about getting a tattoo is to consider how much money there is to be made in the tattoo laser-removal niche, how painful the process is and how many clients the niche attracts.
You can change your clothes in thirty seconds, get your hair cut in fifteen minutes, but you can’t change your skin in a hurry on a sunny Saturday morning!