Coming off of summer break, many students are back in school with some fresh ink on their epidermis. I am, of course, talking about tattoos. For whatever reason, a lot of people in DHS got a tattoo over the summer. Today, I am going to be discussing my thoughts on kids in high school getting tattoos as well as asking some students with tattoos what they think. 

  So right off the bat, I’m just going to be honest: I would never in a million years get a tattoo. There is nothing I would ever want to get permanently engraved into my body. Sometimes, I have nightmares that I went and got a tattoo and then hated it and couldn’t do anything about it because it’s forever! Basically, the idea of getting a tattoo has never crossed my mind. But for a lot of teens, it’s the opposite. A lot of kids are getting tattooed at a young age. If you are sixteen, you can get a tattoo with a guardian’s signature. To me, that is crazy. 

 Here is my thought process: You are a young impressionable teen. You see all these “aesthetic” tattoo ideas on Pinterest and think to yourself,  “Wow, aren’t those so cute and aesthetic.” Then you start seeing your peers get tattoos for their birthday. This gives you FOMO. So on your sixteenth birthday, your mom takes you to the local tattoo parlor. You get a cutesy little flower on your wrist to remind you to “always see the beauty from within.”  Fast forward twenty years and that cute little flower now looks like a shedding snake and there’s nothing you can do about it. Yes, tattoo removal does exist, but it is a long, excruciatingly painful process that’s end result can cause scarring. 

The thing is, when an adult who takes care of themselves decides to get a tattoo, that’s their decision that they- as a full grown adult- made. But when you have a teen putting something on their body forever!? I just don’t get how it is legal. I asked Chloe Miller, a family friend who is 35, what her thoughts on minors getting tattoos were. Here is what she had to say: “It makes me sad knowing that some of these kids are gonna grow up and have to live with the mistakes made in their adolescence. I know that what I thought was cool in high school, I definitely don’t think is cool anymore.” She brings up a good point; people’s thoughts and ideas of what is cool change drastically throughout their lives. You may get a Pikachu tattoo at age seventeen thinking it’s the coolest thing ever, but by the time you are forty, you couldn’t care less about Pokemon. 

But what about kids who think that teens should get tattoos? I interviewed my friend Madison Colaner, a senior at Dover who recently got a Woodstock tattoo over the summer. I asked Madison what her thoughts were on minors getting tattoos and here is what she said: “I believe people should be free to express themselves, to an extent; Teens can be impulsive and make bad choices when not monitored by an adult. This is why I agree with Ohio’s tattoo law of sixteen plus with the consent of a parent.” Interestingly, Madison believed that teens should be allowed to express themselves as long as they are monitored by a parent. That leads me to the next question. I asked her what she thought about post-tattoo regret, she said, “I believe, YOLO. I am an avid piercer with twelve piercings done myself. I have two stick-and-poke tats and one professionally done. My next tattoo will be an orange cat because I have an orange cat named Leroy Jenkins the Third. I love Diet Coke and have four to five cups of coffee a day.” … I’m speechless. I mean, it really goes to show that not everyone thinks too deeply about getting a tattoo. For a lot of kids, it’s just a fun thing to do while you’re young. It does make me interested in seeing what Madison’s Woodstock tattoo will look like in sixty years. 

Something that I want to touch on a little more is the post-tattoo fading/sagging. So it’s no secret that your skin sags as you age. And because of this, your tattoo will also sag. This causes the initial design of the tat to be distorted and look different than when you first got it. Unlike sagging, fading begins much earlier. A tattoo will usually fade within a few years of getting it. Fading makes people want to get their tattoo touched up which is more money out of the bank account. When getting tattooed young, the time for sagging/ fading starts very early. If you are gonna get one, at least make sure the artist is reputable. 

All in all, if you really want a tattoo, get one.  It’s your life and whether you regret it or love it, you are the one who made the decision. I shared my feelings on tattoos but that doesn’t mean that I judge those who have them. Because at the end of the day, your flower on your wrist does not affect anybody but yourself, so why should it be my problem? So go out there and get that quote from your grandma who passed away three years ago tatted on your rib cage. Because after all, regrets are a waste of time.