My Take on Tattoos

Many people view tattoos as a means of expressing themselves whereas there are still numerous "old-fashioned" people who view tattoos as inappropriate, or even as a sin.  Personally, I don't have any tattoos and more than likely I will never get one.  I have thought about getting one in the past, but honestly, the ink that they use in tattoos is filled with chemicals and toxins and I wouldn't want to inject that into my body.  I suffer from eczema and have skin problems and my body reacts very badly to toxins and chemicals sometimes.  Just dying my hair caused gobs of my hair to fall out! And I didn't even bleach it or anything. So who knows how my body would react to the chemicals in the ink they use in tattoos!

However, this does not mean that I don't appreciate other people's tattoos. I believe tattoos can be a great way of expressing yourself as long as you do it tastefully.  One of my absolute best friends has tattoos on her body and each one represents something about her life and her past. Her goal is for all the tattoos on her body to tell a story.  She has a catholic rosary necklace tattooed around her ankle because she grew up catholic and her mother was catholic.  It reminds her of her mother who died due to pancreatic cancer when she was only 14. She also has a tattoo of her daughter's name as well as the father of her daughter.  She is planning on more tattoos and designs to symbolize all that she's gone through. I really like how she's getting her tattoos and if I were to get tattoos that is how I would go about it. However, there are people who make mistakes and get tattoos that I consider stupid and ridiculous. For example, my sister once went to college with a girl who got a tattoo of a frog on (of all places) her stomach!  Talk about stupid! But it gets worse, just a few months after getting the tattoo she got pregnant.  According to my sister, the frog was stretched out badly by the time she reached 8 months. After she had the baby, the frog was all shriveled up and wrinkly. Needless to say, she regretted that tattoo and was looking into getting it removed.

For those who choose to get tattoos, I believe there should be a lot of thought put into which tattoos you pick and where, because you'll have to live with it for the rest of your life.