From about 13 on, I knew I wanted tattoos and if I looked hard enough, I could probably find my old journals (from when I should have been taking notes in school) where I doodled all my amazing tattoos I was going to get the day I turned 18. A lot of nautical stars, metalcore lyrics, upside down koi fish...who knows what else. I finally got my first tattoo when I was 18. Not on my birthday like I always thought I would but a couple months later. It was a logo for a straight edge band. I still like the band and they were massively influential to my music taste and lifestyle (I was straight edge at the time) but it's kind of funny now because I'm no longer straight edge and beer has actually become a big passion of mine in recent years.
I'm 25 now and I don't regret it, but I had also been deciding what I wanted for 5 years and obsessing over tattoos since I was in middle school. As it stands now, if I could go back and do it again, I probably wouldn't. Had I been able to get a tattoo at 16, who knows what I might have done. I was a lucky one, probably just because I've always had an affinity for art so I had a little bit of a head start as far as realizing what good tattoos looked like.
I'm assuming you're 16 or 17...waiting until you're at least 18 isn't that hard but I know it feels like forever. If you wait until you're 18 and still make a bad decision, at least you're an adult and can take full responsibility for your decision instead of later growing to regret it and blaming the artist or your parents for letting you do it. Plus it never hurts to think about something permanent for a while. If something is a good idea today and a good idea a year from now, it was always a good idea. You'd be surprised how much the tattoos I want even now as an adult (kind of) change over 6 months or so of sitting on the idea and really thinking it over. In the meantime, learn as much about tattooing as you can. Look up artists, do research into what makes good tattoos, think about how you want your tattoo to look...just don't get it until you're at least 18.
rose094 reacted to Synesthesia in Hello