Tattoos

Tattoo's are a form of personal expression. If you want one, nothing wrong with getting one. If you don't, there's nothing wrong with not getting one either. I like tattoo's, but, I don't actually have any myself. I've thought about getting them, but I've never decided on anything I wanted badly enough to have done. My wife has a bunch, including what amounts to a full sleeve on one arm at this point. I think they're beautiful, but more importantly, she does.

There are some things to consider. In this day and age it's less of a big deal, but depending on your line of work you may want to consider placing your tattoo somewhere it can be covered. Especially for a first tattoo. It shouldn't matter, but not all employers share that opinion.

And, they are pretty much forever. So choose your artist/shop carefully. Don't be afraid to go to several shops, look through the artists work (they should have an album of their work), sit down and talk to the artist, or ask for references for their work. The internet makes some of that a lot easier now, plenty of artists have their work online. But remember that tattoo's do take time to apply, so, you still want to go visit the shop and talk to the artist at some point. Depending on the size and complexity of the artwork you could easily be hanging out with that person for several hours (or days). Any reputable shop/artist should be willing to answer any questions you have about the process, how they maintain a clean shop and equipment, care and cleaning of your fresh tattoo etc. And if you have a particular design or style you want, make sure that you and your artist are on the same page style-wise. There are a lot of different artistic styles when it comes to tattooing, pick an artist that specializes in the style of art you want and you'll both be happier.

And once you have a design in mind, think on it for awhile. A few years is probably excessive, but a few months isn't a bad idea. Nice shops can be expensive too, so, a few months while you're saving up some money to pay for it is pretty reasonable.