Speaking From Experience, 18-Year-Olds Shouldn’t Get Tattoos (Sorry)

I have eight tattoos, and in all honesty, if I were to wake up tomorrow morning with all of them magically gone from my skin, I wouldn’t mind one bit. Yes, I have pieces that I do genuinely like; they mean something to me, I like the way they look, and I consider them tasteful and stylish. However, there are a handful that I f*cking hate. The one I regret the most? My first ever — the tattoo I got on my 18th birthday. This should come as no surprise since I turned 18 in 2008, and what was popular back then is certainly not topping the charts these days. But man, do I seriously regret it.

Looking back, I wish someone had stopped me from getting my first tattoo when I was 18. Although I was into tattoos back then (and still am), I never would have made the same decision I did, even if I had waited to book my appointment just a mere few months later.

At the time, I was dating a guy we’ll call Steven, who was three months older than me and already covered in tattoos (some acquired illegally). And I don’t mean with dainty, fine-line tattoos people are seen with these days.

Some of Steven’s most notable tattoos included two huge black and white shamrocks on his chest (think the size of your palm), his family crest on his upper left arm, and the Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor logo (a sort of wasp-looking insect) on his knee. Not only did I think these tattoos made Steven hotter, but I also thought they made him an expert in the body-art field, which is why I allowed him to make my first-ever tattoo appointment with his tattoo artist.

I didn’t do an ounce of research on my own, and instead thought that my brain screaming “yummy” every time I saw Steven shirtless was enough to indicate that I was in good hands. (I mean, a Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor logo? WTF was I thinking?)

I ended up getting a quote tattoo from the song “Your Glass House” by my favorite rap group at the time, Atmosphere. The line also doubled as a twist on a line from a Shakespeare play, and since I loved rap and was majoring in English in college, I thought the design was so me. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.

Now, I no longer like the design because it’s huge and I find the font to be hideous. Plus, my body has changed a lot since then, and my tattoo shows it. It’s blurry, the ink has bled a ton, and you can barely decipher what it says, even if you look at it really, really hard. (For the record, it reads “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”) At this point, it might as well just be two thick black lines running across my right hip.

Most of the time, I can forget it’s there, but since I live in Los Angeles and spend as much time as possible at the beach and in my bikini, I’m constantly reminded of how much I hate it. Whenever I’m photographed in a swimsuit I try to angle my tattoo away from the camera or cover it with my arm, which makes for some pretty awkward pics.

To make it all even worse, do you want to know what I’m doing now as a 34-year-old with a fully developed frontal lobe? I’m getting the tattoos of yesteryear removed. I start the process next month, and from what I’ve heard, it’s going to be pretty miserable. Not only is it supposedly painful, but the process is long and arduous, and there’s no guarantee that my skin isn’t going to look a little funky once all is said and done. I might be left with a tattoo-shaped scar rather than heavy black ink, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take at this point.

Do I have a perfect plan for when people should be able to start getting tattoos? No. But I do feel strongly that for me, 18 was way too young. I got three of my eight tattoos before I turned 25, and I dislike all of them. Maybe you know someone (or you are someone) who is a rare case and still loves everything they were into back when they were in high school, but it’s much more likely that you’re like me, and your tastes have changed a lot since then.

Renee Rodriguez (she/her) is a staff writer and social producer for PS. She writes across all verticals, but her main areas of expertise focus on fashion and beauty content with an emphasis on reviews and editor experiments. She also produces social content for the PS TikTok and Instagram accounts.