Is my tattoo really this bad or am I overthinking?

[AnjaH]

Hi! 7 days ago I got a tattoo done I really wanted, but now I feel like it doesn‘t suit me, and I don‘t know why. Is it too dark for my figure? I‘m really panicing and thinking about getting it lightened up with a laser (the cat was supposed to be black, but the tattoo got bigger than i imagined, because of all the details and now i feel like it‘s a little much). How do you feel about the tattoo, or what do you think I could do to make it feel a little bit more easy breezy and more fitting for a petite woman like me. Do you think the only option is to lighten it with a laser? Am I overthinking? Will the skull get lighter in the next month?

Edited February 25, 2020 by AnjaH

[scottyg]

you're overthinking: it's really common for ppl to get upset when they first see it after its done.

I wasn't panicked, but when I first saw a DUDE on my back... it took a minute.

you'll grow to love it.

[Hogrider]

Calm down! A tattoo doesn't heal for 4-6 weeks. Until it's healed you won't know what it's going to look like. Even after that it will fade over time. Don't even think about lasering that. I guarantee that if you start monkeying with that it will look worse, not better. You've got a nice tattoo, enjoy it.

[Hogrider]

2 hours ago, scottyg said:

you're overthinking: it's really common for ppl to get upset when they first see it after its done.

I wasn't panicked, but when I first saw a DUDE on my back... it took a minute.

you'll grow to love it.

I stopped looking at my back in the mirror!!  🙂

[oboogie]

Just own it. It's fine. Trying to laser that is going to lead to heartache.

[AnjaH]

43 minutes ago, Hogrider said:

Calm down! A tattoo doesn't heal for 4-6 weeks. Until it's healed you won't know what it's going to look like. Even after that it will fade over time. Don't even think about lasering that. I guarantee that if you start monkeying with that it will look worse, not better. You've got a nice tattoo, enjoy it.

Don‘t you think lasering it one time to make it a little lighter would make it better? I‘ll have to wait for it to heal anyways, if I don‘t like it completely after a month or so I‘ll think about that, but maybe until than I need to get used to it!

thank you!

[oboogie]

33 minutes ago, AnjaH said:

Don‘t you think lasering it one time to make it a little lighter would make it better? I‘ll have to wait for it to heal anyways, if I don‘t like it completely after a month or so I‘ll think about that, but maybe until than I need to get used to it!

thank you!

NO. It will fade as you wear it. They don't stay that black EVER. Quit worrying about it. Please. And maybe don't get anymore tattoos if you are this obsessive. 😉 

[Gingerninja]

Leave it be. Remember, laser isn't like an eraser. Doesn't work like that...let it heal and it will settle. 

[Hogrider]

21 hours ago, AnjaH said:

Don‘t you think lasering it one time to make it a little lighter would make it better? I‘ll have to wait for it to heal anyways, if I don‘t like it completely after a month or so I‘ll think about that, but maybe until than I need to get used to it!

thank you!

What part monkeying with it will make it worse is confusing you? Educate yourself on laser removal. There is no guarantee, or expectation, that the entire tattoo will fade at the exact same rate.

 

You will find someone that will claim they can do what you want, even though they can’t, and then you’ll be back here asking how to fix the mess you caused.
 

Quit obsessing over this and just enjoy your nice tattoo.

[Hygge.]

You will learn to love it, having your first tattoo is weird.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Slartibartfast]

Not sure if you have seen my thread on laser removal but I would encourage you to check it out if you feel like getting out of your head on this and maybe feeling better about your new tattoo.

just for a taste, I am going to paste a post I made covering the topic of should I shouldn't I.  

 

-------

I do feel that most of the time, the second guessing, remorse or panic after immediately getting a tattoo is normal for me at least and not a good judge of how much of a mistake it was/wasn't.  It often has more to do with OCD, Anxiety and cognitively distorted thinking like "catastrophizing".  

The tattoo I am getting lasered wasn’t that bad although I wasn’t happy with the placement which made me decide to go through this process. 

Even still I was shocked, and continue to battle with this decision, at how much it cost each session and how many sessions I will need to MAYBE remove it.  The pain, depending on your pain tolerance and the location, is as bad or worse than people let on.  You won't know if complete removal is even possible until you are so many sessions in that it now looks like your drunk friends scribbled something on you while you were passed out...

 I'm not far enough in to this process to be very positive about it.  Four sessions in and I'm not quite half way there.  (have since discovered probably about a quarter of the way there)

Ultimately, I made the decision because I knew, after two years of having the tattoo, that I was trying to cover it up as often as possible, and I was never going to be happy with it.  I also was naive as to the effectiveness of laser removal.  I thought I'd be done in a couple sessions, and didn't realize the cost of each laser session would exceed the cost of getting the tattoo.  All said and done, if I only need 10 sessions, I will have paid over 10 x's as much to remove, as to get.  So the "math" to figure out on this one is, do you hate your tattoo 10 x's as much as it cost and two years worth of painful sessions and unpleasant recovery. ....   I am going to add that, if you do hate it 10 x's as much, will you be ok with spending about 5 years of looking a mess where a professionally done tattoo once sat, until you decide, F*** it and just blast over it with something new to agonize over?  Cause that is where I am at currently.

 

Finally, your tattoo really looks good.  Technically speaking, it checks off all the blocks so I put this down to first tattoo, big tattoo, highly visible (for you) area and mind screw that is ensuing as a result of the things I just mentioned.  

 

Give it several months and then see what you think.  If you still consider laser after that, check out what I've posted and continue to post on this forum as my journey with laser continues.

~Best of luck