Tattoo Virgin?

When getting your first tattoo there are things that you should think about once you have decided to get one.

What to get?

This is obviously one of the most important decisions that you need to make.  We hope that the rest of the site has given you some ideas as to what to chose.  Although you can never be sure that you will like your design in 20 years; however, as long as you think about it long and hard then there is a good chance that you will not regret your choice.

When you go into the parlour of choice and see what is available. The boards there should only really give you an idea, as they often are not very personal. Having said this the boards can sometimes hold gems which can make beautiful tattoos. 

If on the other hand you would prefer something original and completely your own, you will need to ask the tattoo artist’s opinion.  It is often better to bring in ideas and research of what kind of thing that you want and let the tattoo artist have a fairly free reign.  Remember that they do this everyday and know what will look really good.  Often we will go to them will lots of ideas which would never work on the area of the body or the size that you thought.  Therefore, if you take in some ideas and a few pictures that you like and then let them make up a sketch for you that they think will work.  If you don’t like the design then either tell them to change it slightly or pay for their time and go somewhere else.  

Where to put it?

For men, the most popular places are arms, shoulders and back.  Some of the best larger pieces are ones that start on the back and go over the shoulder and onto the top of the arm, or visa versa.  Whole back tattoos are more popular for men than women, but do enable one complete piece rather than a lot of tattoos together, which can cause problems if the different styles do not work together and so can look mismatched.

For women, as women tend, but not always, to have smaller tattoos and not as many, the main places they have theirs is on the base of the spine, feet/ankles, just below the neck and the hip.  The thing that all women have to think about when thinking of the position is if you get pregnant.  If you have anything on the stomach then the tattoo will stretch and not look as good when you give birth.  

The same principles applies for if your body size and shape changes drastically, if you loose or gain a lot of weight your stomach, thighs and sometimes even your back.  Especially for men, if you do a lot of weights and get a tattoo when you’re very muscular, then after a few years, get a bit lax with your training, your change in body shape will effect the tattoo if it is on your arms, legs and stomach.  It does not affect your back as much, but that does depend on how hard you trained and if you put a lot of weight on after you stop body building.