Tattoos are a personal choice. Get them or don't. Sure there's always some bad decision that the rest of us can clearly see looking in from the outside, but if that terrible looking tat that someone has makes them happy, who are you to judge?

As for the increase in people getting them, I doubt it's a reduction in the intelligence of the general populace. I'd say it's more along the lines of society in general become more liberal in its views and tattoos no longer existing solely in the domain of perceived scumbags.

CSB moment I know, but I just got a second tattoo this weekend just about 20 years after I got my first. I'm quite pleased with the new one and yeah, it probably won't look as spectacular when I'm 90, but both of them are on my upper arms/shoulders where they are going to look decent far longer than say my torso and are easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

There always will be some place of employment that would immediately turn you away if they knew you had a tattoo, but there's a pretty simple solution; don't work there. If they're that uptight about tattoos, it'll likely be a corporate nightmare of a job anyway. Likely the same kind of place that won't give your cv a second glance if you don't have a degree or certifications up the wazoo. Some of the most talented sysadmins I've worked with have looked like utter criminals, but I'd hire them in a second over some clean cut farkwit with an unrelated degree or meaningless certifications with little practical experience.

Short of it is, carve your own path through life and screw what the people so unhappy with their own lives that they have to tell you how to live yours have to say. We all get one shot at this folks and I'll be farked if I'll listen to what anyone has to say about how I should live it or look. So far, life's worked out just fine for me, tattoos and all.

/end of pontification

altinos: With this tattoo machine, you won't even know what the tattoo is until it's done.

Link (new window)

although not randomly, but never understood why they couldnt invent something censored like this to ink a human? certain pre-measurements censored and then it would ink you based on a submitted imagery. like those fancy custom card machines in stores. probably could be more accurate and realistic than human. you would then only have your tattoo shop artists submitting drawn artwork on flat paper to the machine and then it would do the rest. so it wouldnt be putting "artists" out of work, only advancing the quality of artwork in the field.

and of course you would still have freelancers that show up to the biker shows to give hammered men and women regrets on the choice in tattoo.

Sounds like you need a new fark handle, intolerant jerk.

So now-a-days drunk frat boys and sorority girls just take a sharpie to your face when you're the first to pass out... now that shame will be permanent?

Sounds fine to me.

/it would suck when it happens to a 12 year old, though.

I always thought this was awesome.

DIY kits? Nothing like contracting Hep C while lying on someone's kitchen table, huh.

Clean studios cost money for a reason, kids.

/got two hours of color on my koi half sleeve this past Saturday, now almost halfway done!
//wear long sleeves to my corporate whore gig anyway, so whatevs.

You Are All Sheep: I always thought this was awesome.

AND FOR THAT YOU SHALL BE PURGED, HERETIC!

Hepatitis outbreak in 3...2...1...

skinink: When you get tattooed you don't suddenly start to speak one more language, or develope the ability to run faster, do you? All you did was to come away from the parlour with ink rubbed under your skin where it won't wash off. So what's "cool" and "awesome" about THAT? I can't stand the current tattoo trend. People are trying to get their own look, but how will they look 20-40 years from now? I've also noticed a lot of women get the same tattoo, such as a butterfly rose or heart. Instead of looking different they're looking alike.
People who get tattoos are fascists. They are narrow-minded and are usually homosexual. Most people who have tattoos are racist as well. The idea of the tattoo is to make a statement, a statement that says: I belong to a certain group and I don't like those who are different.

They also smell bad and pick their ears.

intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

How, exactly, were DIY tattoo kits not available before? Oh, you thought people didn't use tattoo guns on themselves before? You silly submitter you.

StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

That you cannot imagine any other reason is why you are narrow minded.

StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

No, but branding all people who get tattoos as attention whores does.

Arcturus72: Oh, another tattoo thread? Is this where the non tattoo'd get to hate on those with tat's and vice versa?

*grabs popcorn*

Why yes, I have tattoos, not like you'll ever see them while in public unless I want to show them to you.

you got your penis tattoo'ed to look like a space shuttle, too?
/got my 'nads tattoo'ed to look like launch exhaust as well

LavenderWolf: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

That you cannot imagine any other reason is why you are narrow minded.

Yeah, because the guy in the picture with the bladed-skull-death-warrior above is actually just trying to express some deep and important lesson on life. Sure.

You Are All Sheep

Haha, guess if you're gonna do it, you do it right, and own it.

/good art work, not my style, wouldn't get a tat. but to each his own.

I'm hungry for muffins now.

intolerant jerk: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

No, but branding all people who get tattoos as attention whores does.

Sorry, but that's exactly what they are. Especially the ones that, "you'll never see unless I show it to you." Yeah, no attention whore there. Try again.

SideOfBacon: /got my 'nads tattoo'ed to look like launch exhaust as well

Goodness, gracious! Great balls of fire!

I think everyone considers ink when they're younger (what would I get? Where would I put it?). I did too, until I met someone when I was 17 who had a unicorn tattooed on her big ol' sloppy trailer-trash boob, and I realized that, one day, that unicorn was going to turn into a giraffe. No. Thanks. Best decision I never made.

Now I just chuckle to myself to see all these people getting tats and trying to be unique and non-mainstream, not realizing that by doing so, they are becoming the mainstream, and anything but unique and individual. And one day there'll be a lot of wrinkled old folks with saggy blurry tats in very unattractive places.

Bleh.

StrangeQ: LavenderWolf: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

That you cannot imagine any other reason is why you are narrow minded.

Yeah, because the guy in the picture with the bladed-skull-death-warrior above is actually just trying to express some deep and important lesson on life. Sure.

Right, because everybody who has a tattoo feels like Mr Cool Ice.

You're a moron. I hope you don't breed.

LavenderWolf: StrangeQ: LavenderWolf: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

That you cannot imagine any other reason is why you are narrow minded.

Yeah, because the guy in the picture with the bladed-skull-death-warrior above is actually just trying to express some deep and important lesson on life. Sure.

Right, because everybody who has a tattoo feels like Mr Cool Ice.

You're a moron. I hope you don't breed.

Why else would you get one then moron? I hope your needle gives you aids.

StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

as someone with 2 tattoos not visible 90% of the time to anyone else, where does the attention whoring come in exactly? native american and african tribes have been doing tattoos for 100s of years before the first tattoo parlor was ever even thought of. the tattoos were done for both artistic expression and specific meanings within the tribe. why don't you get off your soap box and do a little research and not branding everyone as an AW due to a little inking.

Good, I hope to see more tats like these floating around

when I was in my early twenties, I kind of wanted one. A buddy who's 10 years older told me "if I like something that much, I'll get it put on a shirt. at least then I can take it off when it doesnt fit"

Made sense to me then, still makes sense now.

SideOfBacon: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

as someone with 2 tattoos not visible 90% of the time to anyone else, where does the attention whoring come in exactly? native american and african tribes have been doing tattoos for 100s of years before the first tattoo parlor was ever even thought of. the tattoos were done for both artistic expression and specific meanings within the tribe. why don't you get off your soap box and do a little research and not branding everyone as an AW due to a little inking.

Right, that's it. The recent surge in tattoos is from people going back to their tribal roots. Got it. So what tribe is this guy from?

BillSmith70: soze:
Clean studios cost money for a reason, kids.



How is a clean home any different?

Lack of sterilization equipment for one. Although when I was a kid we just used a sewing needle and indian ink, with a lighter to sterilize the needle.

this is old stuff, bought my own gun about 8 years ago of amazon.
that being said its nice to see fark is as relevant and up to date as rick romero. old crap is old

fang06554: Lack of sterilization equipment for one. Although when I was a kid we just used a sewing needle and indian ink, with a lighter to sterilize the needle.

They don't have bleach and boiling water in homes these days? Or Lysol?

StrangeQ: Right, that's it. The recent surge in tattoos is from people going back to their tribal roots. Got it. So what tribe is this guy from?

The xreme tribe. Duh, it's written right on his chest.

altinos: They don't have bleach and boiling water in homes these days? Or Lysol?

Not saying I agree with the article, only that they figure you are going to have a room of 20 preschoolers passing around a tattoo gun covered in blood and cheetos.

As I said, when I was a kid we used a lighter.

StrangeQ: LavenderWolf: StrangeQ: LavenderWolf: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

That you cannot imagine any other reason is why you are narrow minded.

Yeah, because the guy in the picture with the bladed-skull-death-warrior above is actually just trying to express some deep and important lesson on life. Sure.

Right, because everybody who has a tattoo feels like Mr Cool Ice.

You're a moron. I hope you don't breed.

Why else would you get one then moron? I hope your needle gives you aids.

Personally, I got one because I like both the way it looks and what it represents to me. It's just a simple canine pawprint, on my back. About 3 inches wide or so, plain black. I don't give one whit about what other people think about it, because I wanted it, and I like it.

Again, you demonstrate your narrowmindedness by being unable to imagine any other reason than "attention whoring" to get a tattoo. Yes, there are attention whores out there who do get tattoos to further their attention whoring. I'm a social recluse, it makes absolutely zero sense that I would have a tattoo to attention whore.

I bet you're going to say that because I described my tattoo in this thread it's because I'm an attention whore. That doesn't mean anything when I haven't left the house in three days.

StrangeQ: SideOfBacon: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

as someone with 2 tattoos not visible 90% of the time to anyone else, where does the attention whoring come in exactly? native american and african tribes have been doing tattoos for 100s of years before the first tattoo parlor was ever even thought of. the tattoos were done for both artistic expression and specific meanings within the tribe. why don't you get off your soap box and do a little research and not branding everyone as an AW due to a little inking.

Right, that's it. The recent surge in tattoos is from people going back to their tribal roots. Got it. So what tribe is this guy from?

The tribe of attention whore? There are obvious attention whores and there are normal people with tattoos. Learn to tell the difference.

fang06554: Not saying I agree with the article, only that they figure you are going to have a room of 20 preschoolers passing around a tattoo gun covered in blood and cheetos.

If one were to use the same tattoo equipment on many people, industrial sterilization would be appropriate. If one were to use it on themselves only, then household cleaners would probably be fine. Just my opinion, as someone who has no ink at all.

StrangeQ: SideOfBacon: StrangeQ: intolerant jerk: ...easily hidden from narrow minded folk.

Yep, I'm not so much of an attention whore that I feel the need to permanently scar myself to get other people to notice me. That sure does make me narrow minded.

as someone with 2 tattoos not visible 90% of the time to anyone else, where does the attention whoring come in exactly? native american and african tribes have been doing tattoos for 100s of years before the first tattoo parlor was ever even thought of. the tattoos were done for both artistic expression and specific meanings within the tribe. why don't you get off your soap box and do a little research and not branding everyone as an AW due to a little inking.

Right, that's it. The recent surge in tattoos is from people going back to their tribal roots. Got it. So what tribe is this guy from?

i think you missed this important piece of my comment about some of the reasons tribes did it (see bold+underline+big). if that is how one feels they want to artistically express themselves so be it. i for one don't pass judgement on one for decisions they choose to do with their body. if the end result means issues in unemployment for the inking being considered "unprofessional", then that is something he has to live with for the decision he made (notice the 'he' portion which in no way affects 'you'). you must have some really deep issues to have to take on concern in your life for actions of others that affects you in no way.

Rapmaster2000: I assume that would mean more tattoos. Well, that's just another crop of idiots that I would never hire at my small business. It's one thing for my customers to see unprofessional behavior in the form of regular tattoos. I shudder to imagine the types of inbred yokels and ghetto types that would do their own tattoos. Probably a bunch of ex-cons.

FDR
thomas jefferson
ben franklin
george washington
teddy roosevelt
fmr sec. of the treasury george schultz
winston churchill
mr rogers had full sleeves

all tattooed people. and all would have been out right dismissed by you just because they had tattoos. best of luck with that 'business' of yours. especially when a competitor of yours that isn't a discriminatory bigot wipes the floor with you with a talent pool you have written off for the most arse backwards, superficial derpdom.

that said,

jebus farking christ people, how, and especially why, are you so concerned with what other people do, ESPECIALLY when those things have NO affect on you at all. tattoos, gay marriage, driving hybrid cars, abortion...can't you just file those things under 'things that are personally not for me so really i shouldn't give a fark and i'll go back to minding my own farking business.'

the real stupidity here is not that people should want or desire to get a tattoo for whatever reason, the actual quantitative IGNORANCE is that untrained and uninformed people think they can perform these complex procedures in unsanitary conditions, inferior equipment and on the cheap, and that everythings going to be hunky dory. on the upper end of worst case scenario results from a DIY tattoo are paralysis, brain damage, amputation and death.

how about you arseholes worry about the welfare of your fellow man and not their personal choices? complain about the lack of public education concerning the health risks of unprofessional tattooing or banning the sale of this equipment to unlicensed individuals and keep the tools in the hands of trained professional tattooers. not only are the people who buy these kits a health hazard to their customers/victims...they also have a direct negative impact on licensed artists who practice the art legally, pay licensing and certification fees, maintain clean facilities and genuinely give a shiat about a client's safety, oh and don't forget trying to provide for themselves and a family, roof over head, food on table, etc

LavenderWolf: Personally, I got one because I like both the way it looks and what it represents to me. It's just a simple canine pawprint, on my back. About 3 inches wide or so, plain black. I don't give one whit about what other people think about it, because I wanted it, and I like it.

Again, you demonstrate your narrowmindedness by being unable to imagine any other reason than "attention whoring" to get a tattoo. Yes, there are attention whores out there who do get tattoos to further their attention whoring. I'm a social recluse, it makes absolutely zero sense that I would have a tattoo to attention whore.

I bet you're going to say that because I described my tattoo in this thread it's because I'm an attention whore. That doesn't mean anything when I haven't left the house in three days.

So you're just a narcissist. Much better.

skinink: When you get tattooed you don't suddenly start to speak one more language, or develope the ability to run faster, do you? All you did was to come away from the parlour with ink rubbed under your skin where it won't wash off. So what's "cool" and "awesome" about THAT?

I can't stand the current tattoo trend. People are trying to get their own look, but how will they look 20-40 years from now? I've also noticed a lot of women get the same tattoo, such as a butterfly rose or heart. Instead of looking different they're looking alike.


People who get tattoos are fascists. They are narrow-minded and are usually homosexual. Most people who have tattoos are racist as well. The idea of the tattoo is to make a statement, a statement that says: I belong to a certain group and I don't like those who are different.

Dad, get off the internet, you're embarrassing me!

BillSmith70: soze:
Clean studios cost money for a reason, kids.



How is a clean home any different?

Sanitation != sterilization. How many people do you know that keep a ream of medical film and an autoclave in their home? How many of these DIY people are going to be trained in sterile technique or use single-use contact items (fresh needles, ink containers, gloves, equipment covers, etc?)

Now how many of the people they ink are going to know to look for these things?

I don't tthink any of these kits should be banned, but I do reserve the right to look down upon them and their users.

BillSmith70: So their is no such thing as sterilization equipment in homes? Let me guess, you only approve of "clean" government approved shops.

Are you really saying that someone who orders a "My first tattoo" kit off ebay is going to have an autoclave?

My first tattoo I gave to myself, I have no doubt it can easily be done safely and cleanly at home. I think the point is that if you go to a professional tattoo parlor, where the tattoo artist's livelihood depends on keeping strict rules of sterility, it is considered cleaner then a bunch of kids opening up a DIY kit in their livingroom.

SideOfBacon: i think you missed this important piece of my comment about some of the reasons tribes did it (see bold+underline+big). if that is how one feels they want to artistically express themselves so be it. i for one don't pass judgement on one for decisions they choose to do with their body. if the end result means issues in unemployment for the inking being considered "unprofessional", then that is something he has to live with for the decision he made (notice the 'he' portion which in no way affects 'you'). you must have some really deep issues to have to take on concern in your life for actions of others that affects you in no way.

Right, until they go to court and sue me for not hiring someone who by my judgement makes poor life decisions and would be better off not working for me. I really don't care what you do with your own body, it just makes it easy to pick the idiots out of a crowd.

DIY laser eye surgery anyone? (new window)

StrangeQ: LavenderWolf: Personally, I got one because I like both the way it looks and what it represents to me. It's just a simple canine pawprint, on my back. About 3 inches wide or so, plain black. I don't give one whit about what other people think about it, because I wanted it, and I like it.

Again, you demonstrate your narrowmindedness by being unable to imagine any other reason than "attention whoring" to get a tattoo. Yes, there are attention whores out there who do get tattoos to further their attention whoring. I'm a social recluse, it makes absolutely zero sense that I would have a tattoo to attention whore.

I bet you're going to say that because I described my tattoo in this thread it's because I'm an attention whore. That doesn't mean anything when I haven't left the house in three days.

So you're just a narcissist. Much better.

Because I wanted to augment my skin pigmentation with a symbol that is both aesthetically pleasing and meaningful to myself?

Yeah, I stand by my previous statement. You're a moron and I hope you don't breed.