That’s the standard discouragement offered to young people getting tattoos. The thing is, though, that it’s not a criticism of tattoos: it’s a criticism of getting older, with your skin getting thinner and more wrinkled, and your body shape changing. As one of those aging (as are we all) people, I just have to say, “bullshit!”
Here’s a collection of tattooed older people, and I think their tattoos look great, and they make them stand out as unique individuals. That’s always a good thing.
I had an uncle who’d been in the Army and the Merchant Marine, and come out of it all with a fabulous collection of tattoos, and was always fascinated with them. The only problem as he got older is that the hula girl on his thigh got a little less vigorous in her dancing.
When I was in the navy I knew a guy who had “Death before reenlistment” tattooed on his chest. That must have been hilariously funny when he was a 20 year old seaman. I knew him about 40 years ago. I suspect the joke has worn a little thin since then.
A bad tattoo now won’t get better with age.
Black & white photographs really aren’t the right medium for pictures of tattoos.
I designed my tattoo so that its symbolism was hidden in an abstract pattern that I also liked on purely aesthetic terms. I then hung a copy of it on my fridge and looked at for a year before I got it done. Afterwards I told no one what that symbolism meant to me. When asked I say that yes, it does mean something but it’s personal and that I got the thing for me not for anyone else.
I did all of this out if understanding that I was going to have it for the rest of my life, and that I couldn’t know for sure just how I might grow and change over the years. And hey guess what? Almost two decades later I still love it, and expect to continue to do so until they plant me.
And I’ll also say the the permanence of it was a large part of the point. The future may scrape away my hairline, it may thin my skin and leach my colour, but it cannot undo the choice I made to end my nakedness. Not without ending me entirely. I find that a comfort, a finger raised to the implacability of biology’s subservience to time.
I was thinking of getting the White Tree of Gondor done in UV ink, so it’s invisible until I walk under a black light.
In response to that first picture let me just say, “Ouch!”
I do sometimes consider getting a tattoo. Now that I’m old(er), and apparently going to continue to do so, it might be fun. I love the images created by the Pacific Northwest First Nation folk. I have a Haida red-tailed hawk print that would look great on my shoulder blade. :)
marcus #6:
This is in no way intended to put you off, but for a first tattoo, I would highly recommend somewhere a tad more fleshy than a shoulder-blade. I’ve known several people who decided to go for a single very artistic, multiple-session tattoo, who didn’t have a good idea of the pain involved, and ended up with an outline they never returned to get filled in.
Thanks Daz! I do have rather high pain tolerance, but I’ll certainly take that into consideration.
Personally, my calf hurt more than my shoulder blades (which were my first two tatts) but I suspect the artist was heavier on the needle. What’s funny is my mom criticized my sister and I for getting our ink done saying were were “too old” to be getting into that … I was 29 when I had my first done, which means my sister should have been 36. Then she ended up getting a small piece on her ankle at age 62. ;)
I have a tattoo of a turtle on my right wrist, and at 57 years old, it’s looking good. I often receive compliments on it. I’ve been thinking on adding another turtle.
Aaargh – @ 10, I’m 57, the tat isn’t, it’s only about 13 years old.
I got a tattoo for my birthday last year when a turned 56. It was my first tattoo and definitely not my last. I was told repeatedly about how painful it would be. Well it was unpleasant but not particularly painful. Frankly the ache I got from holding my arm still in an awkward position was more annoying that the pain from the needle.
So PZ Myers since you are showing distinct tattoo envy, will you be getting a tattoo?
I got my first tattoo at 16 and two more on my 18th birthday. Haven’t gotten any since, but only because I haven’t thought of anything I want that badly. I certainly don’t regret any of mine, even the one I got at sixteen brings pleasant memories of being young and carefree and having the whole world in front of me.
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Explaining it to a six year old, how grownups can choose to decorate their bodies if they want to, but they certainly don’t have to, but not until you are a grown up. Six year old replies, “But you got yours when you were a kid!!”. Whoops.
I liked all the photos (though agree color would be better to showcase the ink) but love that second photo with her pose and defiance. I wish I could see the rest of her tattoo but clearly, she doesn’t want to and she’s answered the question well in that picture. Bravo.
I wish they were attributed too but all the links go back to a single Imgur thread that doesn’t link to anyone else. Google image search will be next step.
I’ve always liked tattoos and wanted one but have never been able to settle on something before. (Nevermind the lack of money or talent) But lately I’ve been thinking a lot about a puzzle piece.
The real question is what some of the more extreme body mods currently popular will look in 40 years. What’s that dangling earlobe going to look like when you’re 60?
It will also be interesting to see how the children of some of today’s young body mod fans rebel. I can imagine teenage kids circa 2035 going for no tattoos and wearing suits all the time, since mom and dad have a bunch of tattoos and dad has a large nose ring, and their parents dress like rock musicians.
I have a beautiful phoenix tattoo on the side of my right calf. I originally got it to hide a patch of spider veins – it was waaaay cheaper than sclerotherapy. So tats have cosmetic value for older people too (I’m 57, btw)!
My phoenix is about 10 years old, but looks just as sharp now as it did when I first got it, because I’ve taken good care of it: in shorts weather, I make sure it’s well-coated with sunscreen.
I have no ink but it has nothing to do with “how silly will it look when you are old”. First, I am not a visual person, I do not respond to visual stimuli like most people do. Second, I have no idea if a symbol that I hold as important to me now will have the same meaning years down the line.
I am not anti-tattoo. When asked by family and friends about if they should get one, my answer is always this; do not make it an impulse buy and just pick a sample from a set, design one or collaborate with an artist friend to make one that has meaning to you. But I never had anything that I have to have inked on my body.
And why I am saying any of this, I really have no idea.
There is a great documentary (it was on Netflix) called Commune, about an intentional community in the mountains of northern California. It is still around and there are three generations of people that were raised there. Some of the kids of the original hippies have gone the extreme other way, I remember one who was interviewed recalling how much he hated his long hair and begging his parents for a buzz cut. I think he is an engineer now, and very fond of suits. So I think that is possible.
I’ve basically designed my tattoo. The goal is actually having an artist flesh it out and then getting it done. I wish I knew an artist who could flesh it out for me for free, because the tattoo itself will already be… well… not cheap. Granted, it won’t be expensive, because there’s little, if any, color (it’s mostly black outline), but still… I don’t have much money, and won’t for a while. Getting a tattoo is an exercise in saving…
Plus, I could use pointers on it… if it’s too detailed for what I have in mind, if detail will be lost because I want it on my upper arm (least painful spot from what I understand, and I unfortunately have a very low threshold for pain due to extremely sensitive skin; but I really want a tattoo, so the upper arm, just below my shoulder, is the best compromise I can make with myself to get it… otherwise, I’d be going for it huge on my back, which is what I really want, but don’t trust my ability to handle the actual pain to get it done like that), and so on…
In case people are wondering What makes tattoos permanent?
I recommend to friends that they avoid fine detail work, as the design will blur with age.
I like this one of a tattoo-laden ‘Walter White.’
I think the “what will that tattoo look like when you get old?” question becomes a bit more pertinent when the tattoo is either a child’s cartoon or something which is going to date over time (like an actual tattoo OF ‘Walter White.”) Hearing “Who is that supposed to be? Is it your dad?” over and over again might get kinda old.
Sastra, that reminds me of a friend who, twenty years ago, had the logos of over twenty industrial bands tattooed to his back.
Is it weird that I got mine on my shoulder blade and enjoyed the sensation? Does this mean I like superficial pain?
First, here’s my stock response to the body shaming “what’ll you do with that when you’re 70” dreck that people pull out about essentially all body mods. If my biggest problem when I’m 70 is that my tattoos (or whatever mod is in question) don’t look as good, I’ll be extraordinarily lucky.
Next I want to address a couple points that have been brought up here.
First, pain. I’ve seen a few people bandy about their opinions on tattoos and pain. The first rule of tattoos is that everyone reacts differently. There are generalities you can make (the knee sucks, the lower back sucks, the sternum sucks, etc.), but there will always be a significant number of exceptions to all those. Additionally the same person can have different reactions to the same area on different days (one day a random area of my leg, which I’d already gotten tattooed weeks before, became absolutely intolerable when doing the shading). Honestly, unless you have a really, REALLY terrible pain tolerance overall, get the tattoo you want and try not to worry about if it’s going to hurt. It’s going to suck, I’m about 36 hours into a full back piece and most of that was pure misery that I really regretted at the moment I was getting it. As soon as it was over, it didn’t seem so bad in retrospect.
As for tattoos blurring and fine detail being lost, a lot of that depends on where your tattoos are and how you take care of them. Also, painful as the idea sounds, upkeep can also involve getting your tattoos redetailed. So, get your fine detail, but 20 years down the road you might need to have it redone to make it look as good as new. Again, though, tattoos have wildly different shelf lives. I have two tattoos that are roughly the same age on two very different parts of my body, one lost a lot of definition and needed to be retouched about 10 years later, the other still looks exactly the same as it did after it healed.
So, long and short, don’t worry too much about the pain, get what you like, and take care of it. And don’t let the assholes make you feel bad about your body.
There is now a ‘cure’ for tattoos – a cream that stimulates the body to remove the ink stained cells. I can see this spoiling a lot of people fun.
Most of my friends have tattoos. I don’t have any, but I’ve kind of wanted one for a while. I’m just a cheap ass who also has no idea what sort of tattoo she wants anyway.
I always liked what Craig Ferguson had to say about his tattoos. This is completely from memory, but I think I am getting the gist of it: His tattoos are part of him. They each have a story, and they each mean something. Even that stupid tattoo of Mickey Mouse you got on your hip when you were a drunk 19 year old has a story. The tattoos are part of you and your life story, and they grow with you as you grow. And that’s a pretty great thing.
I always thought the meaning of Family Ties was to illustrate the inverse of the, then current, ‘generation divide’. MJF’s character’s parents were essentially hippies, thus producing an ultra conservative eldest child (MJF’s character).
oops, I get it now, that’s the wrong model of what you were referring to: physical modifications. Family Ties was about _attitudes_.
Interesting to consider how the children of bodymod parents will demonstrate their rebellion.
JAL #13:
If you want to see more of her and/or her tattoos, look up “The Burning Lotus” on Tumblr and elsewhere. NSFW, obviously.
When I say, “What will that tattoo look like in 20 years,” I’m not shaming or saying not to do it. I’m saying to think about what it will look like when deciding about placement. What will pregnancy do? What if you need a c-section? Will it lose shape when your boobs sag?
Okay, if someone (very young) came to you for advice I could see that, but what on earth makes you think people getting tattoos haven’t already considered all of those things?
I only have one and it was done in the yellow area on the “pain map”, if you’ve ever seen it. That was “low pain”, and it was agony. I toughed it out without complaint but I doubt I’ll ever get another.
My biggest concern wouldn’t be age, it would be embarrassment. I’d bet more than 90% who got “juggalo” tattoos regretted it within a year (or any flash-in-the-pan pop culture), as would those tattooed with commercial products. Having a tattoo that requires explanations isn’t too bad, it lets you tell a story, unless it’s highly embarrassing or a questionable tattoo.
One thing worse than embarrassing tattoos are ones that are horribly done. I am so glad mine was done by a qualified person, not hideous hack job by an amateur.
Olav
Oh, thank you!
the feeling I have about Tattoos besides the amazing change I have seen since I was in my teens. That was when there were only sailors and soldiers and ex-cons (jail house tattoos) had them to now the even the rich and famous sport visible tattoos along with all the gang bangers and veterans.
I am aware of the history and importance of them for different cultures. I like art but I like to change what I display from time to time move it or put different things in its place. There is no image nor thought I would want permanently on display on my walls let alone my skin I just can’t do that.
uncle frogy
yazikus
Well, of course they decided to get the tat anyways so either their judgement sucks or they didn’t know!
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left0ver1under
Juggalos have been around since 1994, with their yearly gathering since 2000. Hard to call that a flash in the pan.
I would really love to get tattooed, but I have two big issues making me hold off. The first is that I need to lose a lot of weight, and if I am successful, I will probably need to deal with excess skin (I won’t be getting weight loss surgery, but even so). The second is that I have avoided (so far) the family predisposition to autoimmune diseases, and I insult my body enough as it is in the course of a normal daily life. I am afraid that ink might trigger some sort of sensitivity reaction.
I currently have no ink, which makes me the odd one out in my group of friends. At the moment, the only circumstance that would change that would be if the “bad hand” was dealt and I required a mastectomy: I would opt for a tattoo rather than reconstruction.
marcus@6: I intend no offense, but are you Haida yourself?
(The tradition of tattooing in that culture is being revived, and there are some images that are connected with specific families: a friend who does cultural resource management up in BC said that the one instance of “Hey, white person, how are we related?” he witnessed at a fisheries meeting was sufficiently cringemaking that he would steer anyone who asked away from Northwest Native elements in ink, with the possible exception of asking a Native artist to design something specifically for you.)
I don’t think that tatoos are for me.
Not because I think they’re bad or anything. I think they can be gorgeous and I often admire them on other people. I’m just too fickle in my taste.
I always thought the “1 year rule” a good idea, it’s definitely what I’d recommend my kids to do (or insist on if they want a tatoo when they still need my permission). I also know that personally I’m totally enchanted with a style or even motif for a while and then lose interest. That’s not a good basis for something permanent.
The main reason I’ve never been pro-tatoo is that where and when I grew up, the people I knew with tatoos were older people who had gotten them Chez Hitler. They were concentration camp survivors and had a series of number and letters tatooed across the front of their wrist. A good number of them had some pretty horrifying stories to tell and the tatoo was often part of that, a visual prop.
Needless to say, I never considered having a tatoo something particularly desirable.
The idea that teenagers universally rebel is a myth from the 1970s. It happened in the West in 1968 – not so much elsewhere, before or since.
Yes.
As PZ says, the subtext of “what will that look like when you get old?” is “nobody’s going to want to look at you when you’re old.” And, frankly, that’s their problem. I didn’t get the ink for the sake of strangers who make superficial judgments; the people I love me aren’t going to stop loving me because we get older.
I am 53 and have one tattoo (of a cat) that I got when I turned 50. I am kind of sick of this obsession with looking young.
To Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- – I picked a cat as a tattoo (from a drawing by one of my kids when he was 8) because I always loved cats, still do and I love my kid. Sometimes you do find an image that resonates for you for your life.
I was never very pleased about my childrens’ body art. Then my daughter got one that was very meaningful to us as a gesture of her love for me. I reciprocated. She’s thrilled. Now I’m excited for my son to get one with the same theme. A family tat. Funny how my attitude changed overnight.
Back in 1964 I knew a lad about 18 who had a tattoo running the full length of his inner forearm: A picture of Goofy (the cartoon dog) leaning up against a lamp post and playing with a yo-yo. I laughed and laughed and laughed. He got mightily pissed off and I laughed again.
If it has meaning to you, screw what other people think.
I have yet to get inked, but I have several ideas in mind.
I laughed at someone’s taste in summat or other once. They got pissed off. I realised I was a prat who was pissing someone off for no good reason.
Just sayin’.
The people with the tattoos are older, but there’s no indication how old the tattoos are. So is the question whether tattoos look good on older people, or whether old tattoos still look good?
Years ago I found an old notebook I had doodled in. I flipped through it and remembered how impressed I was with certain drawings. I had drawn the same thing ten or twelve times to the point I thought it was perfect. I looked at the drawings and realized that they were crap. At the time there were a lot of my friends getting tattoos but, for some reason, I held off. Then it dawned on me, I now see the drawings I was so impressed with are crap. My tastes are always changing. Odds are the stuff I might think worthy of a tattoo now will seem like crap to me in a few years.
carolineborduin
That may be for some people, I’m happy for you that you found something, but frankly, it’s not something I waste many thoughts on. It’s not like I’m missing something.
+++
grumpyoldfart
Well, how are you feeling about having been a prat back then?
I have a large (25cm diam.) tat on my lower back. I designed it, then had my awesome artist shade it for me. It’s a sun, in the centre of which is a woman figure, and the words “Her girl”. Her Ex-Cellency has the same one; we got them as an engagement present when samesex marriage was passed in Canada. We broke up a couple of years later, but we’re still great friends, and neither of us regrets it at all (it’s been 10+ years).
For me, it was only highly painful in the little channel right in the centre; the rest was on comfortably fatty tissue, and felt like a slow-moving sunburn. Y(L/100km)MV.
Oh, and if I weren’t broke, I’d have more.
For one thing, the ongoing success of businesses providing various treatments for tattoo removal, and the obvious demand for better technologies in this area, are a clear indicator that mentioning this kind of thing may be helpful when asked for advice/opinion.
Same goes for having seen my cousin’s ink, who apparently never heard of boob sag, and how this might be a problem for a design whose beauty hinges on its precise angles when placed on the cleavage at age 18. The distortion has started and it is not making her happy.
Is… Is #2 Helen Mirren?
@MARCUS number 8
“Thanks Daz! I do have rather high pain tolerance, but I’ll certainly take that into consideration.”
No offense intended, but I laugh every time I hear this. EVERYONE thinks they have a ‘high pain tolerance’. Having worked with patients for 25 years those that actually say so usually have…ahem…a very low ‘tolerance’…(I kid I kid). So have fun with that tattoo!
Besides – with what pain science is telling us now, old concepts like ‘pain tolerance’ no longer really apply.
Cheers
AP
Beauty is in eyes of the the beholder, freedom of techknology!!!! Just another number.