Getting a tattoo? Read this Post First, & a Linkup

YUP THAT’S LIPSTICK ON MY TOOTH!  In case you didn’t notice it yet, you will now.  You can’t unsee it now! LOL.  The one of me smiling, my one tooth has lipstick on it and I didn’t see it until I uploaded these photos onto my computer, and well, at that point it was WAY too late to do anything about it haha.  So, deal with it.

Before I go any further, this post was not sponsored whatsoever.  However, I need to give a shoutout to Jeff from First Place Tattoos in Hackettstown, NJ.  He did such an amazing job on these cover ups, and I could not be happier!

Today’s post is going to be a little different from usual.  I don’t really talk about my tattoos here on the blog, until today.  I got my first tattoo when I was 21 years old.  It was a super small star with the words “forever” written in Polish that my best friend at the time also got.  Well, needless to say, we drifted apart and even though we don’t have any issues with one another, we are just at different spots in our lives.  She was a great friend, and I hope she still thinks the same of me.  Well, that first tattoo was covered up after I saw that she covered hers up.

Since then, I’ve gotten 13 more tattoos and 3 more cover ups.  I was young and dumb and didn’t research tattoo artists, nor did I research artists that specialize in cover ups.  This is why I ended up having to cover up yet another two tattoos of mine, which was my birthday present to myself this year.  In this post I want to talk about the importance of researching artists, and the importance of this decision.  Yes, you can always get a tattoo covered up or removed, BUT, either way, it’s not really something you want to do.  I’m going to give you some guidelines/questions to ask yourself, and I’ll explain my reasoning why, with my own experiences.  I recently had two of my tattoos covered up because of my stupidity in the past.

Getting your first tattoo?

Here are some important things to ask yourself if you are getting your first tattoo.

• Do I really want this?

I have gotten quite a few tattoos that meant something to me at the time, but are basically just there now.  There were a few that I got spur of the moment and I love them, but others are well, meh.  For example, I have an elephant with a pink bow blowing bubbles, and I LOVE HER!  Then I have something that I drew myself, that looked much better on paper, and definitely doesn’t look right on my body.

• If I were to wait a month or two, would I still want this particular thing tattooed on me?

The two cover ups that I just got (pictured above) I waited a few months for.  I went to the tattoo shop in July and booked my appointment for October because that was the first available time.  I had a lot of time to think about it, and I’m happy I did.  I didn’t want to make the same mistakes that I made before and even though I wanted my tattoos covered up right away, it was worth the wait.

• Is this artist good at what they do?  Have I seen their work?

If you look at the one above of the ribbon with the 2005, that is the perfect example of not knowing the artist’s work.  I went to Texas and wanted to get something small for my epilepsy, and that is what I got.  I figured since it was small it wouldn’t matter if it was good or not, but something that small can still be seen from far away.  The ribbon itself was fine, but the color of the ribbon was WAY off, and the numbers look like garbage.  I didn’t realize when I was younger that an artist really needs to know their stuff in order to make the details beautiful too.  The second tattoo I’ll talk about in the next segment about getting cover ups.

• Are they an apprentice?

If you are getting a stupid tattoo done by an apprentice, make sure it’s somewhere where no one can see.  I got one on my wrist, and it looked terrible.  The lines were wobbly, and the color was so uneven.  I thought getting a small heart on my wrist wouldn’t be a big deal, but it legit looked like a child drew on my wrist.

• If I get a job, will this be an issue?

I didn’t really think about this at first.  I’m stuck with the visible tattoos that I have now, but finding a job was really stressful for me.  I honestly thought a job would turn me away for having visible tattoos.  At my last job for 5+ years I had to cover the Simba tattoo on my foot with a bandaid every day, and I had to put makeup on my wrist every single day.  It was so messy, because the makeup would get everywhere.  All over my clothes, on my desk, my keyboard pad, you name it, it was there.

• Don’t forget to tip!

Yes, you are supposed to tip your artist.  Not many people actually know this, I mean I didn’t know when I got my first tattoo.  If you aren’t willing to pay all of that money and tip, don’t bother getting a tattoo.  They say that tipping 15%-20% is a good tip.

• Healing Process

Bottom line, depending on how your body heals and what you actually get, you will feel like a lizard person for a bit haha.  The one on my ankle was really bad because it was solid black and the one on my wrist was just annoying because of the spot it was in.  It took about two weeks for the scabs to fully come off.  Oh, that’s another thing, it will scab, and whatever you do, DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT REMOVE THE SCABS.  If you do you will mess up your tattoo.  I had an accident with the Marilyn Monroe tattoo I have on my ribs.  It’s solid black and pretty big, and my bra strap got caught in the one scab and I didn’t know.  Well I took off my bra and the scab came off with it.  That spot of my tattoo needs to get touched up because it’s a faded black since it didn’t heal fully.

• It can become addicting/expensive.

I can count on 1 hand how many people I know who regret their tattoos, or have sworn they will only have one, but I can count on 561879 hands (exaggerated just a tad haha), how many people I know who got one and had to continue getting them.  In the end you can end up spending thousands of dollars really quick.

• Touchups.

You will need to get tattoos touched up.  Over the years, they fade, and the colors aren’t as vibrant.

Getting a tattoo covered up?

This is more important than people think.  You may think covering a tattoo is easy, but it’s not.

• Have you seen this artist’s cover up work?

If you look at my wrist in the above pictures, that was the second time covering up my wrist.  The tattoo I got done by the apprentice was “covered” up with the cherry blossom, and as you can see, it was a terrible cover up.  When I went to the artist over the summer to have him look at my cover up ideas, he was definitely a little nervous about the one on my wrist.  He was appauled at how bad of a cover up was done previously.  I honestly thought the only way to get rid of that tattoo was to get it removed because when you cover tattoos, they usually end up having to be much bigger than what they currently are which is why I was happy that my tattoo artist was able to keep the one on my wrist the same size.

• Is your tattoo something that can be covered up?

When I was having my wrist looked at, I honestly thought nothing could be done because I hate roses, but settled for the Peony that looks kind of like a rose lol.  Finding a tattoo with detail and making sure the placement works is the difficult part.  My wrist was half traced and half freehanded.  Once the artist put the “rough draft” of the peony on, he started drawing the rest of it with a pen to see what he could do with the bottom end of it.  The above was the best he could do given how terrible the tattoo previously was.

• Having trouble finding something to cover up your tattoo?

You can’t just cover up your tattoo with anything.  It has to be something that is detailed, or something that can really hide what’s underneath.  The cover up on my wrist was the best thing I could find without it being a huge deal.  I didn’t want anything that represented a rose, and even though this peony looks somewhat like a rose, it was the best thing we could do.

At the end of the day, from my experiences, all I will say is do your research, and really think about it.  If it’s something that can be hidden that’s great, but you will still know it’s there.  If you get someone’s name tattooed on you and they become your ex, even if it’s hidden, you know it’s there and have to look at it every day.  I never had names tattooed on me (thank god) but I have had tattoos that reminded me of a point in my life.  I feel like those tattoos, no matter how bad the memory is, they remind me to keep going every day.  I still have a few more tattoos that I want to fix or touch up.  I am older and have seen what a good tattoo actually looks like, and a few of the ones I currently have need a little work.  If you ever decide to get a tattoo you will do and get whatever you want because it’s your body.  Just keep in mind, that unfortunately, in 2018 tattoos still aren’t viewed the way we would like.  Some of the older generation still thinks tattoos are only for prisoners or military and that girls shouldn’t have them.  At my last job, one of my coworkers (not knowing I had tattoos) stated that girls who have tattoos are whores.  Some of the girls with tattoos that I know are the absolute biggest sweethearts and definitely not whores lol.  People can still give you nasty looks, and it’s because they don’t understand.  And that’s ok!  My parents and brother hate my tattoos, but they have accepted the fact that I have them and they just hope I don’t get any more haha.  I personally love sleeves, but wouldn’t ever get one because of my profession.  If they are done right, they can look so beautiful.

In my opinion, as a tattooed person, I think of my body as a canvas and the tattoos are part of my painting.  If you have visible tattoos, get used to people asking you what they are and what it means, or why you got it.  This can get annoying at times, but some people are really interested in knowing your story.

Now, onto the linkup!

xoxo Monica

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