Any tattoos? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Off Topic

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Any tattoos?

Hil

(website)

Veteran

I have wanted a tattoo for years and have never been quite brave enough to get it done. DH is not a tattoo fan so whenever I spoke of getting one, he dissed the idea.

You can imagine my surprise then when I opened my Christmas pressie from DH at the end of last year and enclosed was a voucher for one of the best (albeit very intimidating) tattoo shops in Johannesburg!

The story behind the tattoo started on the day I finished my doula training. The trainer drew a spiral on my hand that day which resonated with me on some deep level. A few months later, I bought a silver chain with a triple spiral celtic symbol as a pendant at a craft market. I was in love with spiral designs and visually loved the triple spiral pendant I had found. I had no idea until I got home and googled it, that it was called a triskelion and among other things, symbolises the triple goddess - maiden, mother, crone and the cycle of life. I decided then that if I ever got a tattoo, it would be a similar design. Something symbolic of my journey to finding passion for birth work. Something symbolic of how I feel about the privilege of being a woman and a mother.

I finally worked up the courage to go last week and boy oh boy, it was painful! I love it though - it feels like it was always meant to be there. It is still a tad scabby but I thought I would share the story with you.

#1 - The pendant I mentioned
#2 - Maks, the tattoo artist working on the design I showed him
#3 - As we say in SA - Eina!!!! (Ouch)
#4 - Fresh ink
#5 - One week in

This post has 5 photos. Photos uploaded by this member are only visible to other logged in members.

If you aren't a member, but would like to participate, please consider signing up. It only takes a minute and we'd love to have you.

Off Topic

19 replies

Latest reply was from Karie

rabbit

Veteran

Very nice! I know some people get tattoos to commemorate milestones, like this one.

I have no tattoos yet, but love them on others. In my town it's almost like a requirement that all restaurant and coffee shop servers have full sleeve tattoos, which I admire, especially the floral/plant ones.

viva

Veteran

I have a small one on my hip that I got with DD the younger last year (she turned 18 and I turned 50). I had never wanted one before but it was a fun ritual to do together. We chose the same shape which had personal meaning, and while hers is very visible when she is wearing a bikini, mine is much smaller (smaller than yours) and I would have to show it to you. So obviously we're a little different, she and I.

I was surprised by how much it hurt -- and glad I had chosen a small design ! I really like mine but don't know that I'll get another. On the other hand, I don't know that I wouldn't. Like Rabbit, I live in an area where they are very common so I see them all the time and on all sorts of people. And I find myself admiring them often.

Your tattoo is quite beautiful and I love the story. Thanks for sharing it, Hil!

Kristin L

Veteran

Very pretty tattoo! And I love the story and meaning behind it.

I have 3 on my back as of right now. My first was an ankh on the back of my right hip 9 years ago. It's about 2 inches long and maybe 1-1.5 inches wide and needs a touch-up like no one's business. I got it while in college and was really starting to learn who I was. I then had the numbers 711 a few inches above the small of my back 7 years ago when I was leaving my undergrad days and starting grad school. That was the dorm room where I met all of my friends from college. 3 or 4 others got the same tattoo, but on their forearms. My last one from about 4 years ago is part of the Order of Thistle crest on my left shoulder (please don't kill me Scottish fabbers). That's the one that's most visible and has lead to me getting grabbed/pushed the most. I got it after learning about my family's roots and really liked the inscription of it.

Style Fan

Veteran

Thank you for sharing your story and your tattoo pictures. I don't have any tattoos but admire them on others. Sometimes I am the only person (other than DH) in my Yoga class who does not have a tattoo. Lots of sleeve tattoos around here. I have never felt moved to get one. I can't think of anything to tattoo on myself. I did have a vet tech who had a paw print on her neck and I liked that but not enough to have one.

Peri

Veteran

I'm not tempted to get one, but Hil yours is beautiful and I love the meaning behind it. That seems like a great thing to do.

deb

Veteran

It is lovely. That is a hard place to get one because the skin is so thin and there is really no fat. I have a rose on my hip that I get touched up/re-done every decade. It was a bud when I turned 30, became a half open but wen I turned 40, and became a fully opened blossom when I turned 50. I will be going in soon to have it updated now that I am 60. My kids call it my morphing rose.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

No. Nor have any of my BF's since the one I moved in with at 18. Oh, maybe a fling I had one summer was tatted . . . but not the serious years long, decades long relationships.
I have an old friend I don't see much anymore, but who I count as one of my best friends over my life who runs a tattoo parlor in SF. I was there with him when he got his first in Hollywood some 20+ years ago. He's covered now. So, it's not my thing, but if it's your thing, enjoy.

leopardluxe

Veteran

Nice ink! And how wonderful it is that you chose something with so much personal meaning. Those are the best types of tattoos to get, imho, simply because it will be with you forever so it should be something you will always draw pleasure from looking at.

I have one on my lower hip that is my own design. I've had it for around 25 years. It has multiple meanings for me:

1. it is my own design, from back when I was finishing up art school. I figured if I was going to put a permanent painting on myself it should be representative of my own art.
2. I got it done while I was living in London so it is a good reminder of my traveling youth adventures
3. It is a dragon, which is a symbol of wisdom and strength
4. The dragon has butterfly wings as a reminder to myself that wisdom should be tempered with lightness and joy --essentially, to lighten up and not take myself, or life, too seriously.
5. The dragon is also smirking, which speaks to my often sarcastic personality (friends often tell me I have a distinctive "smirk" when I am being facetious).

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Nice ink. xo

Lyn D.

Veteran

Looks great!
Do they use numbing cream? That must be a sensitive spot on your wrist.

minimalist

Veteran

What a beautiful story - and lovely design!

rachylou

Veteran

Cool!

***
rabbit - I know I'm not a real hipster baker because I have no tattoos and we have to wear jackets... hipster bakers only wear aprons, so the tattoos show... Bane of my existence

Kiwichik

Veteran

Nice ink. I don't have any tats but both my brothers have Ta Moko covering their backs. My daughter has a number of Samoan tattoos with special meaning and then who knows why? A strange tat of a rose and what looks like rosary beads on her ankle WTF?
I like tattoos on others but I can't stand pain so they're not for me.

Sara L.

Veteran

I love it! I would love a tattoo on my inside wrist. Not sure what - maybe something with my kids' initials, but I think a wrist tat at this late stage in my conservative engineering field wouldn't go over well with my boss.

Aziraphale

Veteran

What a great story! Your tattoo is lovely.

I've decided there are two types of people who get tattoos. There are those who think very carefully about what they want, and choose a design that reflects something very deep and personal about themselves or the direction of their life. They get a special feeling of happiness when they look at their lovely, well-thought-out tattoo.

The other type of person gets one on the spur of the moment because "it seemed like a good idea at the time". (Alcohol and youthful exuberance might have been involved). The tattoo has no special meaning, but might reflect something that was on their mind around that time, like, f'rinstance, er, what book they were reading. This explains why I have a tattoo of Hobbes (Calvin's stuffed tiger) on my backside. (Well, it's on my lower back. Which technically qualifies it as a tramp stamp. Can a tattoo be a tramp stamp if it's not a fairy or butterfly?)

All I can say is, thank god it's not a fairy.

Anonymous

Love your ink, it's perfect for you and so special that your hubby gifted it when he isn't so fond of them. I have one and DH dislikes tattoos very much and would have preferred I never had gotten it done.

Neel

Veteran

I want one and I love yours! What a lovely story behind it

I don't know what I want. It needs to be very meaningful. And I am feeling uninspired! DH has two.

Sarah A

Veteran

I find tattoos fascinating, for what message to person in interested in sending with the ink. Yours is so in tune with you. Very cool of DH to acknowledge your personal desires with a gift of an idea he didnt initially care too much for. The symbol has a lovely shape and balance to it as well.

Karie

(website)

Veteran

Very nice tat! I have two. One is on my upper arm - that one is a pink breast cancer ribbon with forget-me-not flowers around it. I got that in remembrance of my mother, grandmother, and aunt who all died of breast cancer. I used to plant forget-me-not flowers around my mother's grave.

My second tat is a heart shaped scroll, and it's on my right calf. It has no special meaning other than I did it just for me, just because I wanted to. I'm thinking of adding a third tat, the words "Life is a daring adventure or nothing." It's a quote from Hellen Keller. I don't want it where it's visible to everyone, just where it's visible to me.