I NOTE WITH DISGUST how a lot of Bajans are getting tattoos.
And many of them are going for big ones on their legs and arms in particular.
There are even some people who have intricate ones across their chest and just above their butt.
Believe me, many of you will regret having those tattoos as you age and start becoming more important socially or in business.
That is what happened to me and a number of people I know or heard of in England, where I grew up and worked before moving back here.
The in-crowd
When I was growing up, getting a tattoo was the thing to do to be part of the in-crowd. And let’s face it, all of us like to fit in.
So I got one on my right arm when I was 18.
I remember that well as it was the second defiant act against my parents’ wishes.
The first was getting a job, moving out and getting my own flat, rather than going on to university. None of my friends were going on to study, so I did not see the need to go either.
Then when I was in my early 20s I got a big one on my leg. The only way anyone could miss it is if I wore slacks.
Again I bowed to peer pressure as my other friends were getting big ones in can’t-be-missed places on their bodies, so why not me?
T-string
But I went one step further than my friends.
I got one on a butt cheek. With a T-string on, I was a hit among my girlfriends and, of course, my partner at the time loved it.
Fast-forward about 15 years and I’m in my late 30s, getting plump and much more serious about life and a career.
I had taken several professional courses and was looking at pursuing more professional qualifications.
I had matured, too, for that. Gone were the silly parties and meaningless get-togethers where I did nothing but drink, eat and behave like a spoil brat.
Instead, I had become a workaholic and hard-nosed professional whom clients were asking for.
So there I was, very much responsible and capable. Yet when I dressed in my skirt suit each morning there was this horrible-looking thing on my leg.
It represented the opposite to whom I had become and I despised it.
I could not believe that I actually did something so hideous to my skin. And, worse, I was stuck with it.
That is the thing that none of us really ever look at when we’re gung ho about getting a tattoo. You just can’t get fed-up with it and take it off as you would do your underwear.
Laser
You are stuck with it for life unless you’re willing to get a laser to take it off. But that is expensive and, I heard, really painful. In some instances, too, scarring results from that procedure.
Because of this predicament and my serious difficulties with how it presented a different image of me, after a while I tended to wear pants suits most of the time.
Fast-forward 25 years and that tattoo is still there on my leg, as well as the other two.
Each of them has dulled a bit, but not sufficiently that they aren’t noticeable whenever I wear shorts or some off-the-shoulder top or dress.
I will die with these hideous things on my skin because of the wayward decisions taken in my youth.
That’s why I would encourage young people to think twice about getting a tattoo and, if they must have one to be included in the hip circle, get a small one somewhere that can be covered up, if need be.
