How tattoos can impact on our self esteem?
How tattoos can impact on our self esteem? This is a question I decided to talk about in this article, inspired by many of my clients I have help to regain their inner strength in a form of a coverup- or remake tattoos. So thank you guys for inspiring me to talk about this very important aspect of tattooing.
Tattoos have been made (scientifically proven) over 5000 years, but especially they have become relatively popular during the past 15 years in western culture. Over times there has been vast amount of reasons why people around the world has been tattooing them self, but today I’m not going to start talk about historical aspects ( maybe I’ll consider making another article about that in the future), on the contrary I’m keeping todays topic on the more resent era of tattooing.
If how ever you are dying to know more about the historical facts about tattooing here is pretty good link where you can extract information about it:
WHY PEOPLE TATTOO THEMSELVES?
As I said before, there are multiple reasons why people tattoo themselves. I have listed some of these reasons here below:
to honor a memory of someone or something very dear to them
to impower them self with a skin decoration that symbolizes for example strength, bravery, calmness or loyalty, just to mention few
to express love towards someone or something, for example their children
for religious reasons
or just to decorate themselves with a style of art of their liking (and there are necessarily no symbolism behind art; some people just like it that way)
Already on that list you can see there are a bunch of reasons that naturally has also an impact on how people feel about themselve; after all, tattooing is very strong way to channel our self expression and our inner world.
I’ve been tattooing almost two decades at this point and during these years I have noticed that in most cases tattoos are very impowering to people taking them and they have generally positive impact; I have literally witnessed how a new tattoo has raised up the positive self image to a point of happiness they start to cry over joy and that is remarkable.
Generally I have noticed that tattoos are a delight to people taking them; they feel stronger and not only because the pain they go through, but also because they find out they were able to see it through despite it. They also feel not only more appealing and charismatic but more aligned to their own truth.
Sadly, even though in most cases tattoos tend to have positive impact on their takers, there are also some unfortunate cases when a tattoo on the skin is causing exactly opposite reaction.
SOME TATTOOS ARE PAINFUL MEMORIES:
Even though in most cases tattoos bring quality aspects to people taking them, there are people walking around with tattoos they absolutely hate for various reasons.
The most common 7 reasons how people end up getting a tattoo they don’t like are following:
Expectations and opinions of their social group; Sometimes people want to belong so badly, they end up getting a tattoo because everyone else has one or their closest people are pushing them to do it; and there is a great difference between pressurizing and encouragement… It is absolutely fine if you don’t want to have a tattoo; it is nobody else’s business than yours. If people around you don’t respect your boundaries you can either stand your ground by pointing out to mind their own s*it, or you can start hanging in a different social groups that actually respects and supports your personal boundaries.
Taking a tattoo in a spur of the moment; “I was wasted and it was a joke”, is the most common story, but you can do it also in a clear day light completely sober by going to a walking day of a tattoo studio. I am not saying you shouldn’t go to walking days; there is nothing wrong with them and it can be super fun thing, on a contrary what I’m suggesting is that you should have a clear vision in your mind whether you want to have a tattoo in a first place and if you do, should it be something unique and precise rather than something you can select from a flash chart.
Rebelliousness; This is more common among the younger individuals on their very first steps of their adulthood, but I’ve seen it happen also in higher aged groups every now and then. This means person is taking a tattoo to piss of someone or wants to make a shocking impact to their environment…. well, yes you’ll most likely succeed with this line of approach yet if it is your only reason behind decision of taking a tattoo, it is you who will end up being hurt the most. So, maybe give it a second thought before actually booking an appointment to a tattoo parlor.
Misunderstandings with selected tattoo artist; Let me remind you that we tattoo artists are also human beings and I don’t know anyone who would have received their crystal ball from maintenance(hehe)…. Personally I ask a punch of questions before making any suggestions for a tattoo design (and I think everyone should do that ) since the tattoo is not going to be decorating my skin. Communication is the key! I am sincerely encouraging you to speak up if there is something in the tattoo design that doesn’t resonate with you, because as long as it is on paper or pad, required changes can still be made. If your artist gets upset and takes a bucket full of beans in their nostrils because you have an opinion, do yourself a favor and walk away. There are plenty of skillful artists that are willing to actually HELP you to get your dream tattoo instead of patting their own ego.
Poor selection of tattoo artist; If you haven’t heard it yet, I am going to say this old yet true catch phrase: “THE CHEAP TATTOOS AREN’T GOOD AND THE GOOD TATTOOS AREN’T CHEAP”. Very often people are in such a hurry to get their tattoo that they end up going to the cheapest one… Well… Excellent tattoo artists have waiting lines so if you want to have a good tattoo that is made professionally, you might want to consider to book an appointment from a tattoo artist who has a style of your liking, portfolio full of well executed tattoos and experience of several years versus booking an appointment today for yesterday from someone doing tattoos in their garage! Waiting lines are a good thing too because once you’ve had a meeting or exchange of info via email with your selected artist you’ll have general idea of the cost of your tattoo; waiting line gives you time to save your money to meet up your budget. Tattoo IS an investment on yourself, so be wise about your selection of an artist.
Design of their tattoo haven’t been properly thought through; Before I crack this one more open, I would like to say few words of what makes a good design for a tattoo in a first place.
design has one main element
size of a tattoo is fitted right on a body so that it looks balanced and supports natural flow of anatomy
You can tell from few meters away what it is
Sometime people have so many ideas that they want to jam everything on one picture; unfortunately this rarely work out. Sure, if you have 7-10 different things you want to add on one tattoo design and let say 2-4 elements you view as main topics, you can have them all on a full back piece so that it still make sense. However, all that can’t go to a smaller tattoo without making it look super messy and hard to read. Instead of forcing all in one, consider of having multiple good looking tattoos in stead. If you don’t want to have more than one tattoo, then take some time to think through the elements you want to have on your design to avoid having unreadable and/or messy looking tattoo.
Letting someone else making decisions about their tattoo; There is no soft way to say this… but commonly this happens when people are hopelessly in love and the relationship is relatively young. Over all this mistake tend to take place when there is some sort of emotional bondage between people; not necessarily a romantic kind. Then one part wants to have a unifying tattoo and other has to comply in order to maintain their relationship. Sometimes this decision is mutual but is something one part wants more than another, just to declare others the status of their relationship. I’m not saying it’s down right a bad thing… you just have to be absolutely certain it will last because tattoos last practically as long as you live.
Then another way to make this mistake is to let someone, maybe a friend, to decide your tattoo idea and you go on an take it blindly just because your friend think it’s a good idea… super bad pranks have happened this way… In a nutshell; make sure it is absolutely 100% your will to take a tattoo and not nobody else’s.
Usually there are not just one, but few of these reasons behind the outcome of a bad and/or unwanted tattoo; and I have to say that unwanted tattoos are not always bad or poorly made, on a contrary sometimes they are very cool as a tattoo but on a wrong person, though more often I have bumped into unwanted tattoos that are just genuinely poorly executed.
I do feel oblige to say, that sometimes people get conned by someone who is pretending to be a tattoo artist; they might have an amazing portfolio available and good talking skills. There are also tattoo parlors where you can bump into so called ”advertisement waiting line”; this generally means that someone is booking as if they had super long waiting list when in reality they might have just tattooed less than a year to couple of years and want to use this waiting line as a marketing trick to attract more people under their needles. Be mindfull about this, because it is one thing to have a unwanted tattoo based on your own judgement and decision, and completely other to get a crappy tattoo while expecting to have something absolutely amazing!! That’s why I recommend to get recommendations from people who have beautiful ink on their skin; that is one of the most trustworthy way to avoid copycat artists.
And what unwanted tattoos can do to self esteem? They make people being shamed of themselves, they remind of people, places or events that causes pain, sadness and misery. Unwanted tattoos can make people to curl down to a roll and hide which also can make it harder to accept themselves as individual; therefor they don’t expect acceptance from anyone else either and all the shame can cultivate into high stress and a loss of self worth. Unwanted tattoos are a constant reminder of mistake made and as long as it’s there on their skin it is much harder to move on.
FORTUNATELY, EVEN IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO THAT IS F**KED UP OR CAUSES YOU NEGATIVE EMOTIONS, ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST:
Fortunately, even though it may feel like it, crappy tattoo is not the end of the world. There a usually a lot you can do about them.
You could go to have it lasered; this method usually takes several sessions and it can cost a small fortune. Depending how the unwanted tattoo is made and which colors has been used, there is a possibility that not all of the ink is coming out. There are cases where tattoo has been successfully removed completely with laser, but if you are considering lasering bare in mind that it might only help to light up your unwanted tattoo so that it is easier to cover it with a new tattoo design.
Which leads me to a second option which is also more common; coverup tattooing.
Personally I just love making coverup tattoos and mainly because it is the ultimate way of helping people in terms of tattooing. It warms up my heart and brings me joy when people just light up from relieve of getting rid off a tattoo that so shameful or even absolutely painful for them. Sometimes the emotional load is so vast that when that unwanted tattoo is gone, they burst into tears just because it is such a relieve to see something more truthful and beautiful on their skin instead.
These are the people who have inspired me to write down these words, so thank you.
However, even a bad tattoo is transferable to a beautiful art piece in most cases, bare in mind it is not cheap. It takes a lot of skill to make a coverup that doesn’t come looking as a coverup and sometimes it needs also few sessions to finish depending on the original.
In conclusion; I and many of my skillful colleagues can help most certainly in most of the cases when it comes to covering a bad tattoo (sometimes laser could be required before, but that is relatively rare). If you have one, make an appointment to a consultation to figure out what can be done and how much would it cost.
If you have been spared from having a bad tattoo that is super great!! Don’t get one! My advice for all is to consider this through and through. I mentioned before that tattoos tend to last for a life time. If you know and are rock solid that you want to be tattooed, give yourself enough time to really give it a thought; you have to be able to live with that decision or end up spending more time and resources while getting a coverup tattoo….
If you have even a slightest doubt of taking a tattoo… don’t. Only take a tattoo if it completely feels right and you’re not second guessing.
THANK YOU MY AMAZING READER FOR FINISHING THIS WHOLE ARTICLE!!
Oh boy..! This was a long one!!!
Thank you so much for reading it all; it was quite a package but I do hope you find this information to be useful and insightful.
I have a new pages on instagram by the name @o.s.m._life and also in facebook. I would be happy to receive some feedback or maybe ideas for my next article. Also if you have questions you can drop me a DM.
Until next time; Namaste <3
