soraya

I look at my tattoos as part of a process, so I don't favor one. I love them all, because I just like being a tattooed person.

Interesting and creepy experience. I cover up most of the time, but sometimes my half sleeves show. I’ve only had two photo requests, and they were quite different. One, a young woman just came up to me at a street arts fair and rather abruptly said “Can I take a picture of your tats?” First of all the word “tats” turned me off immediately, and secondly she already had her phone out like it was a foregone conclusion that I would say yes. I just politely said no, I’d prefer not to have my picture taken. She seemed rather miffed. The other time, a woman approached me politely after a workout at the gym, asked about my sleeves, and was quite nice and respectful. She asked intelligent, and I think sincere questions, and I answered them to the best of my ability. It was very comfortable, and I voluntarily pulled up my sleeves to show her the extent. At the end, she asked me if she could take a picture. She was very polite, and almost apologetic, and I said yes. So for me, it was all about context and feel. I’m pretty private, and this has only happened twice, but I’m more likely to say yes if I judge that the person is sincerely interested, and not just collecting pictures. I’m that way when people ask me about my tattoos. I love to talk about my tattoos if a person is sincerely interested and not creepy.

This is a really interesting topic! It was touched on from a bit of a different perspective here. For me, it is not an either/or thing: I’m buying both product and experience. When decided to get my first tattoo I thought I was buying a thing, and it never occurred to me that it might be an experience, except that I was going to experience pain. But after the first one, I realized that I could take the pain, and was actually glad that it was painful, and I had defeated the pain. I liked being in this weird shop where everybody there had, or was getting artwork on their body, and I liked being in the middle of that, and becoming part of that. It made me feel very alive. And even though healing was annoying, I actually liked that I had to take care of it, to be careful with it, go through the itching. I viewed it as part of the process of accepting the tattoo into my body. As I got more, I began to see it more as an experience rather than a thing. I came to like the planning, the anticipation, the preparation. Every time I decided to get a tattoo it was like deciding to run a marathon, where you make a commitment months in advance to prepare and train for the event. You go through the process, culminating in the event, and even have a aftercare process. Like a marathon, a tattoo is really a total body and mind experience for me, and I love all of it. I also think that the tattoo experience goes beyond the event. There is also the experience of being a tattooed person. I got tattooed later in life, and I am otherwise pretty mainstream, so I’m something of an oddity in my world. I’m different, people notice me. But I like that experience of living just a little differently. I feel like that is part of what I bought too: a different daily experience of living with tattoos. So I would give the nod to the experience part, but only by a hair. But fortunately we are in a world filled with really fantastic tattoo artists, and we really don’t have to chose between good tattoos and good experiences. I think we can get both.

This is one of my favorite tattoo topics: The experience of tattooing. I find tattooing therapeutic, enjoyable, exhilarating, empowering, painful, agonizing and annoying all at once. I echo Dan’s comments about the importance of the process. It is a ritual of planning, creating, collaborating, preparing, enduring, healing, and loving the result. I love every part of it. And as @Dan said, it is intimate, which is appealing to me. Not sexual intimacy, but the intimacy of permitting and trusting someone who is basically a stranger to touch you, to wound you, to permanently alter you body. You may be largely unclothed in front of them (my husband and I dated for over a year before he saw my breasts. My tattoo artist was touching them within 15 minutes of me meeting him). The pain? I like it…No! I hate it…No! It’s not that bad!…Well, sometimes it is bad, and I hate it. But I like it….Well…I don’t really like it… blah blah blah. The bottom line is, it is a pain I choose, no one that was inflicted on me unexpectedly. I don’t like it, but I like that I am able to endure it, I like that it challenges me and pushes my limits, And I love, LOVE the result.

I read the comments on the instagram photo, and the tattoo actually had been treated by both laser and saline. The person who posted the photo was not happy with the saline treatment. Quoting her comment: "I had three laser removal sessions and one saline removal. The saline was not worth the minimal results and horribly painful healing process. The laser hurts quite a bit to have done, but there’s basically no downtime (if any at all) with the healing process of that - and the results with a good laser can be pretty awesome!"

In my case, my husband has tattoos, and I got my first at his suggestion. But he has decided to stop, while I plan to get much more coverage. He is fine (actually quite pleased) with me continuing, and I accept his decision to stop. But I do wish he would get more tattoos. Part of it is that I think they look good on him, and I can visualize him with more. Another part of it is that if he continued getting tattooed, it would be sharing a common interest or activity between us. We got tattoos at the same time once, and it was a lot of fun, and it was sort of neat sharing the healing process, and the "Wow, it's healed!" moment. It was sort of a bonding moment. Also, tattooing is a pretty personal, and in some ways intimate act, and sharing that with a loved one is appealing to me.

I’ve always enjoyed reading this thread, and decided to bump it with a question: I see a lot of comments here where one partner is not tattooed and the other is, and both parties are fine with that, and both accept and respect the other’s point of view. However many of those posts also end with sort of a wistful comment like @ilysespieces's, “…I’m hoping one day he does decide to pull the trigger and get a tattoo…” So I’m curious. When your partner is untattooed, and you accept that, and everybody is happy with that, why do some of you still wish/hope that your untattooed partner will finally come around and get a tattoo?

Great photo shop work @Intomyskin! I really love the nipple-in-a-flower look in general. Its a tough call between your two examples. Both look good. I’m leaning toward the cherry blossom version in your examples. It looks more in scale with male anatomy and nipple size. I’ve fancied the nipple flower idea for myself if I ever went to full chest coverage (which is unlikely, sigh). I’d probably go for a larger flower myself, because I think it works better with the shape of a woman’s breast.

Yeah, I always get sad when summer ends. But in the spring I come back to life. Sometimes when warm weather finally comes in the spring, I think "Oh, Boy! Tattoo season!" because I see so much new ink popping out on bare arms and legs.

@sighthound- I work for an environmental consulting firm. It is a pretty traditional office environment. Lots of men wear ties, women in business attire. No dress code prohibiting tattoos, and some people do dress casual every day, but I just feel that when I'm at work, I want to project a professional image, without distractions. Others may not feel that way, that's fine. If one of my coworkers wants to display their tattoos, thats fine. Is just my personal rule for me. If I go beyond half sleeves, the coverup issue really changes. That 6” difference between half and 3/4 sleeves means I’d pretty much have wear long sleeves full time for the summer, and I really do not want to do that, especially out in the field on hot summer days. Also, my tattoo life started in my 50s, and is pretty unusual for people my age that are around me. I’m currently tying to get comfortable with showing my tattoos away from work. I really love the way I look with tattoos, and would like to show them sometimes, even though I’m committed to staying covered at work.

Somehow the posts by @Gingerninja and @Devious6 seem to be going in opposite directions.

Hey, @a_beukeveld! First of all, great pictures, especially of the vintage Japanese pieces! Interesting perspective! I get your point, and on some days I would agree! I am very aware of two conflicting ideas in my head. One is the aesthetics of the tattoo, and I love the Japanese aesthetics. In that regard, I might agree with your preference for the "modest" body suit. But I am also very fascinated with the the "idea" of tattooing — of changing the skin, changing the body. That part of me is attracted to the idea of near-total coverage - front and back, full sleeves to the wrists, legs covered to the ankles. The "idea" of changing as much skin as possible is just really attractive to me, hence the attraction to full sleeves. I do like the sharp cutoffs, and for myself, would not go onto hands, feet, neck or head. Having said that, I just realistically could never, never, NEV-ER go that far in my world for professional reasons, and because I do have some discomfort about displaying my tattoos in public. So the modest route is more realistic for me if I decide to go further. I love the Japanese style. I started out accumulating a handful of one-point style pieces scattered around, but by chance I selected an artist who worked in a Japanese style, so when I decided that I wanted to get Japanese half sleeves, I was able to make it work pretty well. I'd like to get a back piece, but that may be a long way off. As much as I like the total coverage, realistically the absolute farthest I would ever go would be 3/4 sleeves, back piece, and coverage on the front of my torso in the Munewari style (the style with the "river" down the center that you referred to). So I guess in the end we are are on the same page!

I would so, so, so love to have 3/4 or full sleeves, Japanese style, but professionally it is just not an option for me. Sigh... I currently have Japanese half sleeves. There is something about the totality of Japanese sleeves that really appeals to me. It is like they transform the arm into a completely new thing. I really admire people with the nerve to go to full sleeves and display them.

Confirmation bias may be a factor, although I tried to count men's tattoos too, but yes, I do tend to notice other women with tattoos more than men, and it is probably because I have them myself, and because I am currently very aware of the issue of displaying public tattoos (see below) I'm still in the gradual process of "coming out" and getting comfortable letting my tattoos show in public. At this point, I tend to like it when people make comments (thus far they have mostly been positive), because it makes me feel better about "going public" with my tattoos. Maybe I will eventually tire of it. I get very interested when I see another woman with an interesting tattoo, and I almost always want to compliment her or ask about it. I just like talking about tattoos. But I do struggle because I'm always thinking that maybe the person doesn't want to be bothered.

This is a subject of interest to me too, as I absolutely love the look, and I've toyed with the idea, (although I'm pretty sure I would never go ahead with it for a variety or reasons). I'm in the medium boobed category, so I had similar questions. You are right, there are not a lot out there. I have some pictures, but they probably are more in the medium category. I'd be glad to share, but some are a bit, well...inappropriate, and I don't want to violate any rules of decorum here or offend anyone. Or am I being too prudish?

This does resonate with me. Ordeal is a good word. I like the ordeal of tattooing. The ordeal of getting them, the ordeal of healing. In a way there is even an ordeal to simply living with them that is appealing. I like the fact that I have to be conscious of what I wear to work because of them. I sort of like that they have imposed an extra layer of discipline on me.

In my dreams, I would have a full Japanese body suit, neck to wrists to ankles, front and back. But it is just out of the question for so, so many reasons. But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming and looking at pictures of people who do, and sometimes I play “what if…” and have thought about the nipple question. For women with total boob coverage, the nipple is an issue, maybe more than for men, due to nipple size. I used to think that designs that just left a hole where the nipple is located looked odd. Why not just tattoo over it, or color it black? I’ve seen a few pictures and read things that suggest that nipples don’t hold color well, and have to be re-tattooed repeatedly. YIKES! But I saw pictures of some ladies with Japanese body suits where the nipple is incorporated into the center of a flower, and I think it looks cool. They leave the nipple natural, but it doesn’t look like an unnatural hole in the design. I really like that. It sort of “celebrates” the nipple, but makes it part of the design. Here a couple of pics of the same lady, in different stages of her body suit development, so you can get an idea of what I am talking about. Wish this could be me...sigh. Sorry if this is too much boobage. .

I was approaching middle age when my mom saw my first visible tattoo (I already had one that she didn’t know about). She just sort of exaggeratedly rolled her eyes and shook her head, but had a smile on her face and wasn't judgmental. But I started getting more and more she just couldn’t comprehend it, and there was a period when she wondered if I had gone wacko. She kept saying “Why?” and “I just don’t understand.” But she was never rude or judgmental. She truly just didn’t understand why. It was just beyond her ability to process. I think we who are tattooed (especially if we have a lot of coverage) can easily forget how different we look, or how extreme it may seem to others to go through the pain of a large tattoo. But even as she struggled with accepting my tattoos, Mom always complimented the artistry of my pieces, and never criticized. She eventually got accustomed to the “changed me,” and accepted it. What is interesting is that she is now at a point where she makes an effort to point out people with interesting tattoos to me, and even has made an effort to learn a little bit about the subject. And quite honestly she has developed a pretty good eye for quality work. And her reactions demonstrate that you can be uncomfortable with tattoos, or not understand the motivation, yet still be polite and respectful.

I don’t know if this fits in this under this topic, but it does involve ladies and tattoos so here goes. Being a woman, I tend to notice other women with tattoos more than men, I guess because I feel a connection with other tattooed ladies. Now that we are in summer weather, the tattoos are out there for the world to see. The local weekly farm market seems to be a place where I see a lot of women with tattoos. I’m really amazed at how many I see, and it makes me feel better about showing mine (another long story that has been discussed elsewhere here). Since I generally tend not to notice men’s tattoos, few weeks ago I started to wonder about the proportion of women to men with tattoos. I decided to count how many tattooed men vs. women I saw. Over about 4 visits, I found that by my count there are between 3 and 4 times more women with tattoos than men! Furthermore, I saw more large pieces (back pieces, sleeves) on women than men. This really surprised me, and sort of excited me too! I think it is so cool that ladies have sort of grabbed the art form and run with it. I’m aware of scientific surveys that show that slightly more women than men get tattoos, but in my observation the split was quite lopsided. Disclaimer: I realize that my count is not a scientific survey, and could be skewed by the fact that in hot weather women tend to show more skin than men, and so it stands to reason that you would see more lady tattoos. Also, the market tends to have a higher proportion of women attending than men anyway. And maybe there is some sort of demographic thing going on regarding the type of woman or man who frequents farm markets, yada yada yada. But I thought it was interesting nevertheless.

My hubby is that way too! He is the one that first suggested that I consider getting a tattoo. It was kind of sweet and awkward and funny because he went out of his way to be polite and respectful, and he sort of hemmed and hawed before he got the words out. At first I wasn't at all interested, but decided that it might be a fun adventure, and it would please him to boot. Of course I loved it and one thing led to another and I got many more, and will continue. My husband is very attracted to heavily tattooed women, so it works for both of us. I would like to be totally covered front and back, except head, neck, hands, and feet, and I know that he would squeal on the inside if i did that. But professional considerations must rule for me. I have half sleeves but probably won't extend them beyond the elbows. But I am planning a back piece, and I'm toying with the idea of getting the whole front of my torso covered Japanese style. Then maybe legs to my knees. We shall see... I have told him about my thoughts and he contains his glee pretty well, but I know he would love, love, LOVE for me to be covered (and so would I)!

Welcome! So cool that you are really diving in and are going big! Good luck!

This is sort of a microcosm of life for all couples, tattooed or not. There are couples who are on the same page about things and they have a great relationship, while there are others who seem to never be on the same page, and you wonder how they survive together, yet they do. And others who seem to be on the same page, but their relationship still falls apart. And everything in between. I guess relationships are complicated - with or without tattoos. I just feel good knowing that we are "a tattooed couple." It is a bond, something special, out-of-the-ordinary, that we share. We are different together.

Hey @cattoolady, Love your half sleeve! That comment could have come out of my mouth! I have often thought about exactly the same idea. My first tattoo was hidden even in my middle-aged lady bathing suit. My next few were not quite so hidden but were on my torso and covered by everyday clothes. Up until then, my placement guidance was that they couldn't be visible in a dress that I might wear to an office party. Then I decided that I wanted one on my upper arm - I just liked the way tattoos looked there. It would be small, a couple of cherry blossoms. But I was aware that arms were "visible tattoo territory" which opens up a can of worms. It was a big step for me. For the first time I had to think about whether it would show at work, and select the day's clothes accordingly. I started to accumulate a "coverup wardrobe." But after I got the upper arm tattoo, something changed in me, like I passed a point of no return. I realized that liked being a tattooed woman, and I liked the way I looked with tattoos, and that there was no question that I would be getting more. I was very aware of crossing a line when I decided I wanted half sleeves. If I did that, I knew life was going to change, and after I finished my first sleeve, it did. I was very aware of being different. I absolutely started thinking of myself as a "tattooed person," rather than a "person with tattoos." I think there is an important perceptual difference there. It's like the difference between the tattoos simply being "on me" vs. being "me." I think it was the point where I started to see being tattooed as an essential part of who I am. Does that make sense?

Funny, when I read that question, my first thought was no, which I suppose is an odd response since I am tattooed - isn't that changing my appearance? I guess for me, changing my appearance would be things like being taller, or changing the shape of my face - something really fundamental. I see tattooing as "enhancement" of appearance, not "change." But back to @Guerillaneedles original question: I'd never thought of it that way, but my getting tattooed was definitely a commitment to something that can't be changed. I very consciously thought about that before my first tattoo, and I was deeply attracted to that aspect of it. I do think that I'm a person who accepts things that can't be changed. When situations come along in my life where something happens or goes wrong, I'm more likely to move ahead than look back and wish something hadn't happened. "Ok, how can we fix this?" Rather than "how did this happen?" It happened, you can't change it, so move ahead.