Will the tattoo craze ever end?

Yeah, it’s awful. Seeing these Taylor Swift-looking girls in tank tops with an arm full of outlined flowers is always so jarring to me. Or, like, a grizzled grandma with a full sleeve.

It’s funny that when people find a way to express their “individuality” most of them end up doing it in exactly the same way.

The custodian at my job, who's 67, just got his first tattoo--a large one on his elbow. Things like this are like signs to me this fad is reaching its natural conclusion.

Make it stop ☹️

I'm struck by how many people who cry "poverty" spend tons of money at tattoo "parlors."

"I'll never get on the property ladder! I can't afford health insurance! My car is almost totally broken down!"

It’s gross to see an actress in an expensive couturier evening gown with random tattoos on her arms and back.

There is this beautiful young man in his late 20s at my gym, who has sculpted body with scattered tattoos all over, including one that is creeping up his neck.

Each time I see him, I can't help but wonder: 1. what is going on his psyche that is driving this?, and 2. what will he look like when he hits 60?

… It's downright tacky Brands are for the cattle and that ain't what we're selling at Miss Mona's Do you catch my drift?

[QUOTE] Things like this are like signs to me this fad is reaching its natural conclusion.

😂 There’s probably posts on here from 15 years ago saying the same thing.

The answer to your question, OP, is no. For now, tattoos are here to stay, no matter how many DLers pound their withered fists in frustration. It’s now seen as a rite of passage among many, akin to obtaining a driver’s license or drinking your first beer.

I'm such an outlier with my generation, I think tattoos are ugly and trashy but so many people have them now I just keep my opinions to myself.

David Bromstad is doing his best to kill tattoos, god bless him.

[quote] I'm such an outlier with my generation, I think tattoos are ugly and trashy but so many people have them now I just keep my opinions to myself.

Same. Skin looks great without any kind of markings at all.

I've seen people online with good bodies and a lot of tattoos that I think are hot. But they would look as good without them. On many people they look bad.

R8 Well I don't know, I wasn't on here 15 years ago! But it seems to have jumped the shark, the past couple years.

Mandatory full-body tattoos for all would help lessen people's focusing on skin color so much!

R10 🤢 so gross

I think less of anyone who has a tattoo that I can see. Not sorry.

Like the above poster said, you see a lot of really hot guys these days who have huge ugly tattoos. I always think "isn't that a shame."

Tattoos are great! They are basically a great flashy sign that say "Don't date me! I'm cray-cray!"

Because, let's face it: Who in their right mind would want to 'paint' their skin, permanently no less? How do you look at your beautiful skin and say, "you know what's missing? Ink!"

I remember back in '84 seeing the wife of a classmate (who got married at 18 to an older woman) with a rose tattoo on her shoulder. I thought that was so unusual and naughty at the time. Fast forward to today and cops, check out girls and flight attendants can have full sleeve tats. That everyone has them I find kind of depressing but so is the dystopian hellscape the future turned out to be.

I like the artistically well executed ones (at least in my opinion) which only account for no more than 1 in 10 of the ones I see. It’s akin to a speedo or a moustache. A small minority can pull it off spectacularly whilst the rest are cringeworthy.

Infantile society covered in cartoons

There was a time back in the '90s when it seemed like every guy, age about 15 to 35, was getting their ears pierced. A big rite of passage for high school boys was getting diamond studs. Maybe based on hip hop fashion. But that isn't so big now. I think every fashion trend becomes passe. Skinny jeans were once rebellious, in teens. Then they became mainstream, and you saw young dads in them. Then they weren't edgy any more.

I think they look hot, especially on chavvy Brits.

BETTER question: Will the faux outrage over tattoos ever end on DL?

Wait til they’re in their 70s. Ain’t gonna be pretty. Women

Yeah I always picture someone sponging off an old lady in a nursing home with a lot of tats on her.

Maybe a lot of people watched prison movies when growing up and saw all those big, burly inmates covered in 'gang' tattoo's and thought it looked cool so they wanted to be 'cool' too.

The ones with tattoo's covering their arms, legs, neck and face look dirty and like they smell bad. Not to mention the ones with piercings wherever you can use a hole punch. I don't want any more holes in me than I was born with!

R23 The answer is no and it ain’t faux.

Like I said I'm not judging people for getting tattoos, as a general thing. But I question the taste of some of them. You see people in the supermarket and they have these dark blobby things on their legs, and you wonder what they were thinking. They make me turn , they're that unattractive. And you see them a lot on fat chicks.

There’s a scene in An Officer and a Gentlemen where we see Gere’s salty sailor dog dad in tattoos—it’s meant to be distasteful.

IIRC

Not to mention, face tats are insane.

R22 = Harry Styles

Will the tattoo craze EVER end?

You’re a moron, OP.

[quote]David Bromstad is doing his best to kill tattoos, god bless him.

Such a shame though, he was utterly exquisite before he got those. He was just incredibly beautiful

R33=a delusional David fucking Bromstad.

Human etch-a-sketch

Even noted goofball Pete Davidson has wised up and is removing his tattoos. Who’s next? Jelly Roll, as he tries to reinvent himself as a slimmed-down reformed, god-fearing C&W artist with horrible veneers?

Not exactly a "craze" if people have been doing it for decades. Find something more important to rant about, OP.

Tattoos are how people deal with trauma.

I never thought I'd see the day where Disney cast members can have tattoos. They used to be soooo strict about that.

I know a tattoo artist in the city who does good work— he will draw one of a kind artwork on your body and some of it is beautiful (I think). But too many of these overly tatted people out there just have a crowded jumble of clip-art shit, stamped at random all over themselves.

The friend:

The only tattoos I find borderline interesting are those in an old-fashioned curly font, proclaiming a short quotation or name. Otherwise, maybe a small discreet graphic, or flower. The rest I always regard as a great mistake, sad to see.

Hot guy who works in a shop near me, exactly my type. Saw the other day on his inner arm some sort of indistinct symbol. Not a dealbreaker, but I pointlessly wondered, why oh why.

I’m not an entrepreneur but a tattoo removal business could change lives.

I was thinking the other day that if you opened a tattoo parlor you would never go out of business.

It’s also kind of strange that there are a lot of people who work two jobs and live in a shitty apartment and are barely scraping by, but when they want a tattoo, suddenly money is growing on trees.

There’s a priest for that!

There’s also a fundamental arrogance to making something “permanent,” along with the idea that you can improve on the natural aesthetic beauty of your skin.

A lot of hot people get tattoos because they’re bored of being hot.

A lot of fat/ugly people get tattoos to cover up parts they don’t like (which doesn’t work, because you eye is drawn to those parts).

Look on the bright side, OP: when you see a guy without a tattoo, you can really enjoy the natural beauty.

My father had snapshots from when he was in WWII. I guess he had a Kodak Brownie camera. He had some b&w photos of his shipmates on a beach in the Pacific. A couple of them had more than one tattoo. My dad's best friend (who was also in the Navy, in WWII, but not with my dad) had an anchor on his forearm.

In my childhood—through the 70s— tattoos meant either a lowrider or a Navy sailor/Marine.

I thought a lowrider was a car.

it’s also slang for a person.

Tattoos have been a mainstream "trend" for 30 years now. You might as well ask when this rap music is going to die out or when the gay fad will fade away.

I LOVE not commenting on tattoos. It's fun to ignore tatts when you know idiots want to be asked about "the meaning" behind it. I already know the meaning.... it means you are trashy, lack taste and have no class.

R50 Is it like a bustdown?

It ended with Gen Z. You guys are looking at millennials.

I always wonder: if someone gets a tattoo, and then they start getting fat where the tattoo is, does the tattoo expand or not?

When they lose weight does the tattoo get sharper?

R47, there were WW2 navy veterans around when I was growing up. They all had tattoos on their forearms. They all told me the same thing: "never get a tattoo." I never did and am very happy I never did. Conformity is so pathetic.

How much does tattoo removal cost? That’s the business to be in.

Ask Father Greg

Laughing that people here think tattoos are a "trend" - they've been around forever

But, then again, there are people here who think rap music is a "trend" too

For me, tattoos are a case of “less is more”.

One or two in a few select spots can look okay. I personally think a ring around a bicep can look nice. But once you get into full sleeves or the Chipotle Bag look, I’m out.

They were uncommon in the recent lifetime of most DLs. There weren’t seen in polite society at all.

[quote]They all told me the same thing: "never get a tattoo." I never did and am very happy I never did. Conformity is so pathetic.

Ah, the irony.

[quote] They were uncommon in the recent lifetime of most DLs. There weren’t seen in polite society at all.

You've obviously never heard about the huge tattoo that read "Snack Time" across Arlene Francis's buttcheeks.

R60 What word do you see here?

Tattoos began their shift from subculture to widespread popularity in the 1990s, driven by cultural shifts, increased mainstream visibility through media and celebrity culture, and a growing acceptance of tattoos as a form of self-expression for both men and women. This [bold] trend [/bold], which saw the number of tattoo artists in the US surge from around 500 in the early 1960s to 10,000 by 1995, continued into the 21st century, with significant increases in inked individuals among younger demographics like Millennials.

Not having permanent tattoos was more of a bourgie thing than an upper class thing. Royals and aristocrats have often had permanent tattoos for decades and decades--going at least as far back to the mid 19th century.

Among those who got them a hundred years ago or more:

*King Edward VII of the UK (got his done in Jerusalem in the 1860s)

*King George V of the UK

*Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary

*Empress Elisabeth of Austria-Hungary

*Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston Churchill's mother

*Sir Winston Churchill

Among those royals who have them today (and there's photographic proof):

*King Frederik of Denmark

*Princess Sofia of Sweden

*Princess Eugenie of York

In addition, Queen Camilla, Kate Middleton, and Meghan have all had temporary henna tattoos that lasted for months.

I'll never forget this one time when a friend and I were walking down the street and passed this Lesbian couple with a mix raced child. The mother of said child was covered in tats and piercings and dressed like a female rapper. My friend (who was a mouthy bitch) was looking at her I guess and the Lesbian snapped "Take a picture itll last longer motherfucker"! my friend then replied "Boy you havent missed a trend yet,have you Dear?" ! I died laughing !

What does it have to do with the story that the kid was mixed race?

Is that a trend? Oh, I see.

Mixed race babies are the Chanel of babies, darling!

I think tattoos are ugly, but people who say they're going to look awful in their old age are stupid. As if unmarked saggy, wrinkly old skin looks so good.

Give it a fucking rest R69. At one point mixed race babies were all the rage among that set. No one is being racist,just pointing out a fact.

R71 That's nice, dear.

R73 Okay, I GET IT.

[quote]They were uncommon in the recent lifetime of most DLs. There weren’t seen in polite society at all.

They have been mainstream for 30 years now. How old are you that 1995-2025 were some momentary blip that barely registered for you?

There are 60 year olds walking around with tattoos that they got in the 90s. It's hilarious that there are people posting here thinking this "trend" started in 2022.

You left out the part where everyone clapped, R68.

[quote] How old are you that 1995-2025 were some momentary blip that barely registered for you?

OMFG are you new to DL? The world stopped spinning for these old queens circa 1989.

R76 60s 70s and into the 80s… not common.

R76 R78 It's almost like you morons don't realize everyone didn't suddenly go out in 1995 and get full sleeves. There is a lot more ink now than there was even 10 years ago. And many of the people who have it were not old enough to have it 10 years ago.

R79, it is 2025. 1960 was 65 years ago.

[italic]When[/italic] were you born that you think "60s 70s 80s" are remotely relevant to today?

R80 it's cute how your age is also your reply number. Did you plan that?

Hit the little button for the nurse. You need your pill again.

I suggest ignoring the troll.

I can appreciate artistic/unique tattoos (like a soundwave of someone telling you that they love you). However unless they're done by someone who knows what they're doing, they don't age well and become amorphous blobs. I recently learned that Kat Von D has become Christian, and is in the process of blacking out most of her tattoos, which I thought would look bad, but it's strangely better than illustrations.

To me it is like building a beautiful new house and then taking a spray can and covering your house in graffiti, except even that can easily be painted over. Who does that? Yeah I know someone actually did that but not everyone is doing that.

Tattoos have always been part of lower class Anerican culture so I think that's a constant.

OP- Also when will the SHAVED PUBIC HAIR craze end.

Hideous ink.

A well-chosen and well executed tattoo can be incredibly attractive. The problem is the people who, like in OP's picture, don't know when to stop. That said, we'd live in a much better world if everyone took a deep breath and agreed not to get so hysterical about choices other people make about their bodies which don't affect you in any way.

R81 they are relevant to explain what eldergays mean when they say they knew a time where tattoos were not common at all—as they later have become.

I've always agreed with Diana Vreeland (the most chic person who ever lived), "Never ink your body "

Summer's the worst when they're all showing. I've seen o many women with them all over their legs this summer, so ugly.

[quote] I've always agreed with Diana Vreeland (the most chic person who ever lived), "Never ink your body "

How do you feel about her other fashion dicta?:

"Lizard is always best"

"Put apricot with pink"

Speaking as someone who changes costumes at least three times a day, permanently ‘inking’ yourself seems absurd.

Not my thing. To me, it looks trashy. But I am a snob about many things.

My husband, ex-US Navy, has a small, tasteful Chinese junk and the words “Hong Kong 1973” tattooed on his bicep.

It’s the only tattoo I’ve ever liked.

Multiple tats also scream: "Fuck it. There's no future for me or for the world!"

Outlaw all tattoos.

I'm in the camp that finds them sexy/passable on certain people. I don't have any and never considered it but I'm fine with people who think them through. Face tattoos are tragic, as are random placements. The worst though? Tramp stamps of ANY kind and crappy ones circling the belly button. Now THAT'S tacky and a deal breaker.

I've noticed an increase in neck and face tattoos.

What do these people do for work? Do they plan to be baristas or cannabis shop clerks their entire lives?

r100 I wonder about that too.

I find it hilarious that once a symbol of non-conformity and "edginess" tattoos are now mainstream and borderline dull, and those without tattoos are now the non-conformists.

[quote]it's cute how your age is also your reply number. Did you plan that? Hit the little button for the nurse. You need your pill again.

Aren't you the edgy senior citizen? Old people have tattoos now. It's not a youth vs age debate. It's a trashy vs. non-trashy debate.

No matter what other people said in the thread, I think I've seen way more tattoos this summer than I ever remember seeing before. I guess that's what prompted me to make the thread. I can easily see a majority of younger people going in the opposite direction in the near future, because there's nothing original about it any more.

I'm so used to seeing them I don't even notice anymore.

As soon as we see more and more of the top athletes, actors, models, influencers, fitness gods singers.... anyone that's top of their game.... with ZERO tatts on their bodies (and yes that time will eventually come), that's when the craze will begin to die down.

Only when the tide turns that tattoos are so 'yesterday' will the next generations shun them.

Is there a similar situation in Europe?

[quote] Diana Vreeland (the most chic person who ever lived)Diana Vreeland (the most chic person who ever lived)

And one of the ugliest.

[quote] My husband, ex-US Navy, has...small, tasteful Chinese junk...

How lovely of you to be so genteel regarding his lack of endowment.

I'm definitely in the DL minority, but I think the right tattoo can be hot on the right guy. It's got to be well-done, clearly well-considered, and take into account the musculature that is there at the time.

Lean rockabilly guys with full sleeves can be incredibly hot.

I think they’re like ear piercings now…here to stay.

Well even if no one gets a single new tattoo, it's not like the people who have them are all going to get them removed. So we will see them forever.

But I'm thinking it may one day be passe and a whole new generation will go, Ugh! What were they thinking?? Like how people look at '50s perms now.

I remember a woman I work with said she hated tramp stamps, then her daughter ended up getting one. She claimed to be okay with it since the daughter got the family name tattooed on her back.

Only fans

I love it. They look so ugly!!!!!!!! I just laugh

The other day, I saw a young woman with all kinds of random stuff tatted on her body, one of them was a bug, looked like a roach...

I stopped at a sort of Wiccan craft bazaar recently. All the gals were overweight, and their marshmallow skin was covered in tats. No one was friendly.

I thought about getting a tattoo saying "Please pay before pumping" on my ass cheek, cause I'm still young and gorgeous and can get away with it. That and I'm a whore.

R117, yes you are...a fucking whore

I've always said - if I want to see artwork, I can go to an art museum. Or see it online. I don't need to see it on flesh.

I’m glad I never got a single tattoo. And I never will.

Don't you love it when you stare at someone with a bunch of hideous tattoos all over their body and then they you look at you like "What the f*ck you staring at"??

Honestly I think any tattoo on women is classless.

When I was much younger, I regularly had a down low hookup with an older former British Navy Welsh guy with sailor tats including a swallow on each pec, ships, mermaids, the whole lot. He was really hot, and it still turns me in thinking about him. It was authentic because the ink had context. Now it’s mostly poseurs who wear symbols that don’t have any real tradition or connection to their lives. If you follow some of the translation subreddits for example, it’s filled with tragic tattoos people get in languages they don’t even understand. Tattoo removal is a booming business, and that speaks volumes.

I both love and loathe tattoos. It just depends.

R40 All those people have terrible skin. Maybe that's why people get them?

Elder gay woman here. Hate tatoos. Nothing worse than shopping in the produce section at Vons or wherever . And these fat old ladies ( if we’re lucky they have Bermuda shorts on), their flabby pale legs jiggling about —- with tatoos . And I wonder just why why !!!!

It’s bad enough to be old, pale and flabby ….. the tatoo CALLS ATTENTION to that body part . It’s sick. And how about tatoos as mini obituaries with a fucking picture of the person —- those people shouldn’t be allowed to live

My “greatest gen” dad had a single chain link tattoo around his wrist from the navy. Ok. Dirk Yates’ guys in the 90s had maybe one or two tats… not ideal, but ok, they were in the military and I get it. Today? Just fuck off and die.

Omg, R10, I can barely watch Bromstad now. The affected mannerisms and personality, creeping tattoos and poor wardrobe choices - it’s all too much.

One thing people don't think about: ink covers potential skin disorders that start occurring more frequently with age.

My dermatologist believes undetected skin cancer rates will rise in the coming decades.

I like it when one tattooed person gushes to another how great a job the artist did—how beautiful the tattoo is.

They all look like tacky black velvet paintings and spray-painted vans from the 70s!

My 50-year old sister in law just got one on the inside of each forearm. She’s going through some post-midlife thing. She always said she never wanted to get tattoos because she didn’t like them, but now she has one on each arm. I wonder how long it’ll take her to regret getting them.

Eventually they all turn into blurry mistakes.

Keep 'em comin'

One of my first relationships, he had a tattoo on his chest that looked like a small circular something-or-other, like a tattoo he had gotten changed. We were 19. He would never tell me how or why he got the thing, or what it was, or used to be.

A highly-personal choice, yes.

But every one eventually becomes old, saggy, dried-up wrinkled and gross.

The Japanese still exclude people with tats from most of the onsens (public baths). At a couple of the hotels I stayed at there were signs stating that anyone with a tattoo on their hide would be asked to leave immediately. I was surprised they hadn’t lightened up on this traditional prohibition especially in hotels where at least half the guests are from abroad.

One of my favorites (sported by Justin Bieber, among others) is the tattoo of some significant year in Roman numerals—but they write it as if it were in Arabic numerals, so 1976 = I IX VII VI.

R137 that is so ignorant I don't know what to say.

Dermatologists will be making a fortune in the coming years erasing all those bad decisions.

What I really hate to see is people in the medical field with loads of tats. I abhor a phlebomist with huge trashy tattoos coming at me with a needle. People with tats look unclean to me. It should be banned in some professions.

R139 don't need to be a dermatologist to do tattoo removal

I live for the day!

"It should be banned in some professions"

They had to allow tats in Law Enforcement due to low enrollment. Now almost every cop in videos has them up their arms.

Let's hope so, R10.

Hideous! - and the tattoos are kinda ugly, too!

Tattoos, especially dark ones, are effective against skin cancer. No need to wear sunscreen on tattoos, folks!

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) prohibits visible tattoos while on duty and requires all body art to be concealed by the uniform or other clothing. Tattoos are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and those with inappropriate or offensive content, such as gang-related, racist, or discriminatory designs, are strictly forbidden. Candidates with such tattoos may not be hired, while others can be hired as long as the tattoos can be fully covered and adhere to the content restrictions.

Same for LA Sheriff’s Dept.

R137 I used to work for the North American division of a Japanese company. One of my colleagues, who'd previously served in the U.S. Coast Guard, had a bunch of tattoos on his forearms and had to visit Japan for work, in the summer when everyone wore short sleeved dress shirts because of the heat. When a group of work colleagues went out to dinner the restaurant politely but firmly told him to wear a pair of "pantyhose" for his arms they provided to cover the tattoos. He said it was really embarrassing. Not long after the trip he began the process to have most of them removed, which he described as painful - like feeling your skin on fire.

We all make bad decisions when we're young and spend the rest of our lives mending.

R148 Yeah, but my goofy shag haircuts and permed mullets weren’t permanent.

I wonder what separates the people who get tattooed from the people who don't? Are people who get tattoos more impulsive? Do they care less than the non-tatted about what they'll look like in ten years? Are they more fetishistic?

I don't think there's a simple or single reason for everyone but the fact that so many young people are getting may have something to do with that old idea of the reckless youth.

I know a kid who knew a tattoo artist (kid, meaning, 25)...he'd just get random tattoos. There was no plan. So he has some small tattoos above his knees that didn't show when shorts were longer--but do show, now that shorts are shorter. Then he got 3 on one arm, then one (a cross) on his neck, behind his ear, then another near his ankle. None are very large. These days, this is sort of minor.

Anyone remember Tattoo Roulette? (Late Show with James Corden, 5 Seconds of Summer.) This is pretty funny.