Probably the most common and most annoying excuse for being anti-tattoo is the one about how your tattoos will look when you’re older. This is completely ridiculous for numerous reasons and I don’t really want to get into them here and now. I’ve actually gone into them in the past and if you’re truly dying to know what I think about the whole thing, then you can go here and read, read, read.
It’s not often though, that there’s an opportunity to read what someone who has actually grown older with a tattoo has to think about their tattoo now that they’re officially considered “old”. Huffington Post journalist Denise Vivaldo got her first tattoo when she was 27, by Lyle Tuttle in San Francisco. She’s now 60 and in this article she recounts getting her first tattoo, her reasons for it and what she thinks about the entire concept of tattoo in 2010.
‘To me they are very personal. To each his own. I work with cookbook writers who are grandmothers and have tattoos. In my circle of friends, I know everyone from rappers to Lutherans with tattoos. For crying out loud, who’s to know, maybe the Pope has a tattoo. If he does, I hope it’s the thorny crown; I love that kind of visual…’
It’s an interesting read and one that just goes to show that the concern about potentially regretting a tattoo as you age is irrelevant. Everyone has their own reasons for being tattooed and their own lives to live. To say that we’re all grouped together in this “dilemma” of growing old and being disappointed with how our bodies and our tattoos will ultimately look is to speak ignorantly about a future that no one can predict. Ageing is a part of life, as are tattoos.