Fixing that holiday ink error

Posted on 23 Jun, 2014

Fixing that holiday ink error

Summer holidays are responsible for all sorts of mistakes! We all let our guard down when we are abroad, enjoying the sun, sand and sea, but some decisions are more permanent than others.

One of the most lasting mistakes people make on holiday – and it’s not just young people who make this mistake – is to get a tattoo without necessarily thinking it through properly.

Rushing into things

When you’re having a good time, it’s easy to make decisions without thinking of the consequences. There’s nothing wrong with tattoos as a form of expression but people generally need more than a few days or a few hours to think about what they want and to consider the fact that the image will last forever.

Unfortunately, the exuberance of the holiday atmosphere makes people rush into things – tattoos included.

Acceptance, cover-ups and removal

So what should you do if the tattoo you had on holiday no longer meets with your approval? One strategy is to exercise a certain amount of acceptance. However, this is easier said than done. The permanence of regretful tattoos has a way of persistently haunting their wearers.

A better strategy might be to have cover-up work done. A lot of UK tattoo artists specialise in designs that cover tattoos with something else – perhaps something more tasteful or something without any particular context.

This is a good tactic but only if you are happy to have more body art. That’s arguably unlikely given the relationship you already have with the last tattoo you got!

Finally, there is the option of removal. This isn’t performed by abrasive techniques anymore – at least not in the cosmetic arena. These days, laser skin treatment is the preferred method of tattoo removal because it has a better track record in terms of success, comfort for the patient and convenience.