Michaelshane

I think its beautiful.

I thought a lot about if or how to respond to this comment. At first I drafted a nasty, sarcastic response, but I thought better of it and decided to be more charitable.
I can say with absolute certainty that I did not make the wrong decision to get tattooed.
I got tattooed because I wanted to, for my own reasons. I happen to absolutely love my tattoos. The only regret that I have is that I’m not totally covered.
When I first got tattooed, I had no idea what was ahead. I was going to get one tattoo, hidden, even when wearing a bathing suit, and that would be the end. It was to be a private thing. That was the way I wanted it, and I was happy with that. I never imagined that I would get more than one tattoo, much less several. And even as I got more tattoos, I intended to keep them private. The were to be for me and my husband. Even when I completed my half-sleeves, they were calculated to be coverable.
But I never imagined how much I would like being a tattooed person, I never anticipated how much I would come to love the way I looked with my tattoos. I never imagined how happy they would make me. And I never thought that I would love my tattoos so much that I would sometimes like to share them with the world.
This whole discussion would never have happened if I had decided to keep them private, so to suggest that I made the wrong decision simply because of my concern about what people would think is rather unfair and uninformed.
I’m not a person that is saying “Hey, I’m thinking about getting my first tattoo. I will cover my whole forearm and back of my hand. But I’m worried about the reaction of others.” in that case it might be appropriate to ask if the person if they are sure that they are making the right decision. But I am a person already happily tattooed and am now simply trying to become comfortable with letting them show in public.
I like LST because most people here are understanding and helpful. They are (usually) not judgmental of the tattoo decisions that others make. If a woman posts that she is getting a backpiece and want to wears something that will not be too revealing while the work is being done, you get dozens of helpful suggestions from women who have already dealt with the issue. No one says “If you are afraid of showing you body in the tattoo studio, then perhaps you shouldn’t get a tattoo.”
Quite honestly, the comment is exactly the kind that I might expect to hear from a rude person who is a tattoo hater.

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet but i found out this weekend that sailors in the 14th century believed if you have a tattoo of a rooster or a pig on your foot it would keep you from drowning.

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After tattooed,leave wrapped two three hours.Wash,hot water,soap.Air dry,re-wrap leave wrapped over night.In the morning,wash,air dry,put on aquafor.No wrap during the day,re-wrap two more nights.When it starts to peal get itchy,put on coconut oil.

Day three.Healing nicely.Just Aquaphor.

Maybe not yet.
But then why are you here to "gather valuable information"? Surely it's just so you can better heal your own tattoos or make recommendations for your friends and family, right? That's why you took the time to read and comment on the numerous after-care threads already here, right?
If being skeptical of some random user's veiled probes into a subculture is "bullying" then I'm glad this forum has some big ol meanies.

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All the Marlboro men had upside down tattoos.

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All the Marlboro men had upside down tattoos.

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All the Marlboro men had upside down tattoos.

Then you'll love this. It looks like NASA has posted almost every Apollo mission photo in high resolution on Flickr. They even have the blurry photos.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/albums

Many of these were processed by my grandmother when she worked at JSC. I wish I knew where the photo paper 11x17's that she gave me went. :( Some of the not perfect prints could be taken home by the photo lab workers.

I was a member of the recovery team for Apollo 14.Im getting some space themed stuff too.

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Day three.Healing nicely.Just Aquaphor.

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I know this is an older thread but I wanted to comment as this has happened to me severely on several occasions.
It has happened on my arm band, which is predominantly blue, with greens and yellows and blacks. Mostly the blues and black raised up and was itchy for weeks. It was HORRIBLE. I tried cortisone, and Benadryl cream and oral, and also calamine lotion. It eventually went away.
It has also happened on the big demon on my leg, parts of it raise up and get itchy, can last a few days. My pirate ship has also had this.
The worst was my anchor on my foot, which is one of my newer ones. It itched SOOO bad and had red splotches all over, full on allergic reaction. It was awful. The main colours were blues that were raised and itchy, but it happened in the other colours too. Finally loads of calamine lotion slathered all over it for days on end helped. It also lasted weeks. And it was already fully healed so it wasn't infection or anything like that.
Makes me nervous for when I get my underwater sleeve tattoo, that I may be in for an itchy time with that too. :(

Day three.Healing nicely.Just Aquaphor.

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Horitoshi family has you pull your knees up to your chest to really get that stretch and get in there when the time comes. Cannonball style!

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