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hi,you have "tattoo remorse", it's very common,it will go away, your tattoo is a nice tattoo, don't get any laser done, it will fade and lighten naturally over time, now,put a tank top on and show it with pride,nobody is going to think less of you,and if they do that's their problem.

Don't monkey with it. You'll likely make it worse, not better. You'll get used to it.

Hello all! About 3 weeks ago, I got my arm tattooed. I've been planning this one for a long time, and it's mostly a mix of my design and my artist's design. The meaning is kinda abstract -- just basically is something that reflects my identity; shows my love for embracing dreams (actual night-time REM dreams, which I always have vivid ones), and embracing the unknown from our earthly position (basically how we see constellations from earth, and I put the Big Dipper and Little Dipper to scale). Watercolor because I LOVE color even though I'm very tan. Anyways, this is where the anxiety began. I had planned to get this smaller to kind of mirror the other tattoo I have on my left arm. The artist did tell me it would need to be bigger. And of course, me being a person who's never regretted a tattoo before (I even have Ash & Pikachu from Pokemon Yellow on my ankle, totally silly) I went with it. I was like "Sure, let's make it bigger. It's going to be on the arm anyway!" and mostly, this was true, my other tattoo on my other arm I wish were bigger! So here we are. I'm a little horrified about how big it is. Everyone I talk to says it's wonderful and fits perfect. However, I'm just afraid for people to see it for some reason. I'm wearing longer sleeves than normal to cover it up and I'm just all around scared for people to see it and think of me differently. It's a big change and I'm struggling a bit. I feel that I'm slowly accepting it, but sometimes I honestly think it's because I feel like it's too "dark" or too "black". Would it be a mistake to go to a laser tattoo removal specialist and request them to do about 3 sessions to "fade" the tattoo to be a little bit less noticeable? Is that a thing that people do? Would it help me feel better about it being so BAM there? Or is this just me trying to adjust to this change? Is it a good size? Would it even fade the way I'm envisioning? I've attached a picture below. This was the day that I got it. I can even attach one healed but it's almost identical. (I'm a 27 year old girl, if that helps any.)

I felt weird at first, too, but now I have two full sleeves and my lower legs are covered. You'll get used to it. Don't try to add to it. It'll look like ass. Just own it and enjoy it. It's fine. It's not 'too dark" in any way. It will fade significantly. You won't see the "watercolor" elements at all before long.

Just leave it. Trying to cover that or "connect" the two is going to make it worse. It looks OK.

Thank you guys for your replies. I believe I can get used to it, I just get a little worried about the entire thing sometimes. There are some moments where I am completely okay with it, and others where I’m feeling remorse about how I simple I used to look before. I agree though. I think I would rather wait a bit and see how it heals rather than jump into any major decisions. But it’s good to know that there are options if I wanted to go that way!

Should I get my tattoo removed? Since posting this series, I occasionally get messages asking if tattoo removal is something I would recommend. I am always happy to respond and help others with this decision by sharing my experience. Rather than retype the same thing again and again, I figured I would post my latest response here in case anyone reading this thread finds themselves grappling with the same question. 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 as people let on. You won't know if complete removal is 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. 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. If so, Do it. I will be posting updated "healed" pictures from my latest session as soon as I get a chance. Slarti