When Tattoos Age

Another thread prompted me to mention that given that so many of us seem to have tattoos i thought i would tell of my experience with my aging one now that it it nearly 20years old.

It is blurring

Just to describe: It is between my breasts, 7cm x 14cm celtic cross. I had it done in my early 20's and now I am 41. It still looks good enough but the detail is going fast. If you can imagine the cross is, well i should say "was" filled in with intricate lace work but now it just looks like a blue blur. The basic idea of the cross is still quite clear but if i had known about the loss of detail through blurring i would have drawn a simpler design (I designed it myself).

So this is just a warning I guess. Please don't expect your tattoo/s to last forever. Go easy on the detail. I suspect i could just end up with something that looks like a big blue blob between my breasts when i am about 60. I guess once it looks ugly I'll have to pay to have it removed

Yeah, the feathers on my wings are getting blurry now that they're about 15 years old and if I could be bothered I'd go for a colour touch-up too. I got the really expensive inks but the colour has still faded.

I had a friend who asked for a tattoo of a saggy old anchor so it looked like an old man's tattoo but the tattooist said the only way to get the aged saggy effect was to wit until you're aged and saggy lol.

Interesting thread, I've often pondered that about my tat's. Touch ups make me shiver, so I'll hope the lack of detail (which reflects my non existant creativity) will be my saving grace...

Thanks Bath :)

They always say you should get them touched up after 10 yrs...

and i just realised i need to get mine done..

I had my eyebrows tattooed on as they were so fair about 9 yrs ago, after being told they'd need touching up after 5.....So far touching up is still not required :D

i went plain jane with mine, my most detailed on is my Celtic K and triangle of lace work.
but i got it spread out and thick lol

my gecko however hasn't survived 2 kids lol

That's one of the reasons I don't have one. I like the idea of them, then I remember that lady on the Circulon saucepan add and think...mmmm perhaps not :lol:

I got my first tattoo 16 years ago and it still looks great. I have others that are younger and done by a different tattooist that look a little worse for wear though :(

my first one was almost 12 years ago, and it is starting to blur a little but it's a simple design so I think it will be fine for a while yet. I'll probably get it extended at some point and get it touched up then, but thanks for the warning re fine detail as I will probably steer clear of anything too intricate.

I recently had my 3 butterflies retouched.... It hurt worse the 2nd time :(

They were only 5 years old too

But i guess the sun faded them

LOL one of the big reasons I won't get a tat is because I don't want to be an old lady in a home with a faded celtic swirl on my lower back - I just have an image of the 20-something orderly cringing as he wipes my butt LOL!

Also, those celtic armbands that guys get - can you imagine how naff their gonna look when their arms get all saggy and baggy?

But I reckon it (tattoos) will end up defining our generation as we get older Rory LOL Just like Lavender and lace (for women) and cardigans and suspenders (for men) define the current senior generation. Tattoos will, i suspect, eventually lose their mystique. The next generations will want to define themselves differently and probably shun tats and piercings in favour of, possibly, something quite conservative by todays standards. It's going to be so strange seeing all my peers walking around in jeans and doc martens when i'm a pensioner! or maybe not!

I didn't get my tattoo for public viewing but to replace wearing a crucifix pendant (can't stand things around my neck) so maybe, I hope, it's kind of different.... but you're right, some nursing home orderly will probably role his eyes and mutter "oh these old girls and their tattoos..." LOL in a similar manner as we do with old ladies today and their blue hair rinses!

My mum was commenting about my most recent tattoo and how I would have to hide it in my 70's, I made the point Bathsheba did above. I will be 70 with a bunch of people who are currently 30, and none of them are likely to be phased by my tattoos. In fact most of them will have one, or have a close friend who does. Besides, I can't live my life worrying what my 70 year old self will think, I might not even make it that far.

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old ladies today and their blue hair rinses...

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On that topic - my hairdresser said that blue rinses happen because as you age and go grey your hair can eventually go yellow (eeek!) So to even out the yellow hairdressers put in a blue rinse to give the hair more a "grey" colour. The problem arises when old women try to do it at home and because their eyesight isn't very good and they do it in poorly lit bathrooms, they leave the rinse in too long or make it too dark so it goes "blue" instead of grey. So remember that when you're old, girls :D

Ahhh interesting about the blue! That makes sense. I'll keep it in mind... not long now ;) I am quite looking forward to being totally white... but not the 'salt and pepper' in between!

Hehehe - only time the blurring is ever a bonus is when you have a new nipple tattooed on your reconstructed breast. Blurring is da bomb! :rofl:

Do you think the quality of tattoo's is different now days though???

Good point MD! and even tattooed eyebrows... it would give that extra degree of naturalness to the look of it! :)

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But I reckon it (tattoos) will end up defining our generation as we get older Rory LOL

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You will all be the cool grandma's with tatts and blue rinses or whatever color rinses they will be when we get there :)

First tat done 20+ years ago - colour faded, black ok
Tatt 2 - done 14 years ago - black & shading - still ok
Tatt 3 - done 1 year ago - black needs recolouring but was told it would probably fade a bit because of where it is
Tatt 4 - currently in progress, they'll be retouching tatt 3 when they finish the colour on this one - when I get old this one will be an interesting one to see how it goes considering how big it is