Hey Everyone! =)

[Tammy Therrien]

Hello, My name is Tammy. I'm new here. Came across the website and thought it looked really interesting. I am 23 years old and live in New Hampshire. I love tattoos so I'm hoping I'll fit in great here.

I actually just got a tattoo finished today. its a pretty decent sized piece on the lower portion of my leg, a cherry blossom tree. I did add a picture of it. I had it started about 3 weeks ago. I also had another very small one touched up today (a small shamrock on my wrist). The cherry blossom wasn't too painful. The worst parts were the bottom of the tree (near my ankle) and the parts on my shin and also the parts that were close to the back of my knee. Today was interesting though because it was still a little itchy from the first session. So I was worried it'd hurt a lot. It actually felt good! So weird. But the touch-up on my wrist hurt so much more than I expected. It barely hurt when I first got it on March 16th.

I'm guessing everyone heals differently and each place on the body is different, also the color of ink and kind of design, But I'm finding that this new addition today (the cherry blossoms) is bleeding quite a bit. It's also not just red blood, it's the clear form of blood. None of my others have bled much before or at all. I think my first one did but stopped once I unwrapped it. This one is still oozing a tiny bit of the clear stuff. I'm thinking it may be because I was on my feet all day. Or maybe because its color.

Alright last thing I wanted to add/ kinda vent about. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a girl or if people are really that judgemental, but lately people have been giving me the oddest looks because of my newest piece. I'm not worried about it because I love it and don't care what people think of me. Today a lady I work with said "It's gonna look good once it's down at your ankle". I bit my tongue so I wouldn't say anything I shouldn't say, but I thought it was such a dumb thing to say. First of all I don't care what it looks like when I'm old, I'll be happy to be alive. But second, I didn't think that people's legs really sag that much. lol So I'm curious if other girls get ridiculed for being tattooed. Or if it's just all guys and girls. People should really be used to tattoos by now :D

[Brock Varty]

Everyone gets shit for being tattooed from someone in their life. They can fuck off for all I care. Tattoos don't change who you are.

Congrats on the new piece and welcome to the board.

[Mark Bee]

Welcome!

[reverend1]

Welcome

[Graeme]

Welcome Tammy. The lower leg can be a difficult spot to heal, so just be patient, keep it clean, don't baby it too much, and you should be okay. And yeah, a lot of people have stupid opinions about tattoos and the worst thing about it is that they think they have this completely original and brilliant insight when they tell you that your skin is eventually going to sag. Fuck 'em.

[hogg]

Welcome, and good luck healing your tattoo. I know that the ones on/near my ankles were the worst to heal.

[hollyjoybee]

Hi Tammy! Welcome to the forums.. i'm relatively new to posting myself but a long time lurker :) So far i only have my legs and arms tattooed and the legs have definitly been harder to heal. Our bodies do a pretty awesome job of doing the whole healing thing though so just keep it mosturised and clean and i think you'll be just fine!

I'm a wee bit older than you (27) but if it's any concillation i'm getting a lot of grief for being tattooed too. Someone just told me an hour ago if i carry on i'll end up looking like a lesbian and then who'd want me... (firstly what's wrong with looking like a lesbian anyway and secondly why would i want someone who didnt appreciate my tattoos?!)

Life is for living right now.. not for worrying about what our ankles will look like when we are 90. Frankly i'm gonna be wrinkly anyways so it may as well be pretty wrinkles :) I saw an old guy on the bus today and he had a swallow on his hand and it looked totally awesome.. all faded but still a beautiful outline. I almost went and complimented him.

Ignore people, enjoy your life and enjoy your tattoos :)

[else]

I spend the majority of my time with old folks, and I don't think their tattoos look bad at all!! Faded yes, but bad? No way!!

Everyone's skin sags.

I'd rather have faded sagging tattoos, than be a sagging plainskin. Gonna sag either way.

People spend way too much time thinking about how tattoos look on old people.