OhBetty

When my best friends husband died unexpectedly she asked if I would get a matching tattoo with her to honor him. I said, "Absolutely!" It was supposed to be a grasshopper on our right foot. We searched for hours until she found the image she wanted. About a half an hour before we were to go to the shop she pulled a T-Shirt out of the drawer, paused, held it to her chest and starting crying. She looked over at me, held up the shirt and said, "I changed my mind. I want to do this instead." It was his phrase, he said it all the time 'It's all good'. I never wanted any writing or anything like this but now it is on my foot and I don't regret it for a moment. Truth be told, at the time, I would have had 'Live, Love, Laugh' tattooed on my forehead if it meant relieving her grief for one second. That same friend was diagnosed with cancer in May. When she told me about it I took a sharpie and drew a line through 'It's all good' and wrote 'Fuck cancer' snapped a pic and text it to her. She responded, "Tee hee. No no mama put it on the other foot. I don't have time to die." She had her last radiation and chemo treatments yesterday and the tumors have already shrunk over 90%. The moral of this long post, sometimes tattoos are just tattoos and sometimes they connect us to those who help us walk through the darkest shit in life. Sometimes a bad tattoo can turn out to be your favorite. Lest we not judge what we don't know.

People staring at my tattoos doesn't bother me in the slightest. I've had them for a long time. But I agree, the uninvited touching is beyond aggravating. Along with having tattoos, I have long, thick, curly red hair (at the risk of sound arrogant - it is beautiful). A few years ago I was standing in line at the market. It was just one of those days and I wasn't in the nicest of moods. The woman in front of me turned around and started stroking my hair telling me how beautiful it was and asked if it was natural. I smiled, reached out and put my hand on her boob, as I started to squeeze I said, "Gosh, thanks so much. Your tits are beautiful too. Are they real?" She was so shocked and looked like she was going to cry as she quickly walked away to get in another line. I just laughed. It was extremely satisfying.

We're still laughing... Hahaha - That pact is necessary!

My roommate and I were just talking about bad tattoos and she lifts her shirt and says, "Look what happens when you're sixteen and your head is up your ass!" I spit water everywhere laughing. She plans to cover it with a vulture but for now she has this... Poor thing!

Thank you for the feedback. We did try dry healing this time. First one since the aquaphor nightmare. We have tried many different methods. Next on the list will be to keep it wrapped. I'll bring up your suggestion as well. I feel terrible because it's as though his beautiful work goes south and the tattoo ends up looking very aged. This is a pic of the rose I took this morning (had it done last Saturday). I love my tattoos but would really like to find a better healing method that preserves them. Thanks again.

I've been working on my lower leg for about a year now. Just did front of lower shin and knee ditch. What the hell was I thinking doing them at the same time? The hot lava reference - fits perfectly. Everything was going great until day 4 when a few spots on my shin got bubbly and gooey. The ditch is doing great except in the crease as to be expected. I have 16 tattoos and have followed instructions of the artist(s) to the T but I still seem to ooze for days and scab horribly. Happily they seem to heal up nicely. A tiny bit of touch up and golden. The worst reaction so far was with the use of aquaphor. By the end of day 2 it looked like it melted the tattoo (I did not overuse it). I go to a great shop with great artists. Maybe just my skin? We're all stumped... Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you!

Hi. My current location is Las Vegas, NV. I've been lurking around the site for a while and finally decided to register and have some fun. I have several tattoos - Some I love, some I don't. But I love tattoos, the fun ones, the serious ones, the what the hell were you thinking ones - All of them. I like seeing the expressions we choose to decorate ourselves. The stories behind them or lack thereof. Oh and the skill of the art fascinates me. Thanks for all the great laughs, cringes, and information so far. I'm happy to now be a bonafide member. See you in the forums.

Hell for sure. I had my knee ditch and front of lower shin done on Saturday. Ouch! Can I say that again - Ouch! Day 4, both areas really sore and swollen. First time in my life I've had a cankle. I'm currently lying in bed with my leg propped up against the wall. Every time I have to stand up it results in about 20 seconds of profanity and then I laugh at my self as I gimp on my way. Couple of spots in the ditch look ugly and I can tell from experience there will be a few long lingering scabs for sure. Did the knee cap about a year ago which hurt like hell going on, but compared to this, healing was a breeze (got lucky). This ditch though...damn.