Why are tattoos still so popular?

I go to my exercise club four or five days a week, and every time I go I see that over HALF the members have tattoos -- and some of these people have LOTS of them, all over their arms, shoulders, legs, necks, and probably a lot more of them that aren't even visible.

I understand fads and generational whims, but this "tat" thing has been 'big' for over ten years! Why?

Studies have been produced indicating that the risk of getting Hepatitis-C is considerably greater after a person has been injected with tattoo ink: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/01/24/hepatitis-c-linked-to-tattoo-ink.html

From the story link above: "The new study found that people with the virus were almost four times more likely to report having a tattoo, even when other major risk factors were taken into account, co-author Dr. Fritz Francois of New York University Langone Medical Center told Reuters Health."

Oh, you can be cured of Hep-C today, with new miracle-drugs... it only costs about $100,000. But what I'm wondering is WHY anybody would want to even blight their appearance with any of this sick crap.

Plus, the tattoo "artists" don't exactly put these engrave these things into a person's body for free! I've heard that full "panels" of tattoos can cost more than a thousand dollars! These people I see sporting loud tattoos at the exercise club don't exactly look like they're 'trust-fund babies', but maybe they're just 'rich-people-in-disguise'....

Next, I'll start another thread in which I ask your help in trying to figure out why the "backward-hat" fat is still so popular. The first time I noticed guys routinely wearing baseball caps backward was in the early 1980's! I'm not kidding! Is the 'backward hat' thing really that popular after all this time...?

. "Do you think I could go around looking like this if I WASN'T rich...?!"

 

Well, the backwards hat thing is because the bill can get in the way of doing things, and instead of taking the hat off (risking losing it or forgetting it), people just turn their hat around backwards temporarily.

In terms of tattoos, I think it will be interesting in about 20 years, when we get all these wrinkly old people with old faded tattoos. IMHO, it will slow down soon, maybe next 20 years or so. What is irritating to me about tattoos now, is that people don't necessarily get tattoos that match stylistically, just a hodgepodge of them.

 

I pretend to like them but I really don't. It always makes me a little sad when I see those on a beautiful woman. It is like putting graffiti on a work of art.

 

will wrinkly old people look any better without tattoos? nah they'll still be wrinkly old people...

tattoos are subjective, style, genre, cultural origin it's all up to the owner none wrong or right they tell the story the wearer wants to present...I question the judgement of some choices made but it's not my body so not my business...

the stigma against tattoos is largely gone and is dying with the boomer generation, as tattoos have been with us for thousands of years I don't see them disappearing...

 

done well tattoos when expertly applied by a good artist will enhance a beautiful woman...and it's only ink the original canvas is still there to admire...

 

I find old tatttoos to be ugly (as the ink starts to fade, and the lines get less distinct). Tattoos on wrinkly bodies do look worse than wrinkly bodies on their own.

Of course it's not my business what they do to themselves. I just find that aesthetically most people with multiple tattoos don't have tattoos that work well, artistically, with each other.

 

Blah blah blah blah blah

Nothing beats the natural beauty of a woman. It is just graffiti.

And, honestly, as women age, tattoos make them look older.

 

I you want a pretty picture. Get some paper and paint.

 

It's their bodies, it's their money.
I haven't gotten any tattoos personally, but I do appreciate a cool tattoo if I ever see one.
I mean, I see tattoos a lot, but if ever I see one I like, I think it's a cool tattoo.

 

Personally, I like one of my local/town's tattoo shop's tattoos a lot to a point of awe, aside from being friendly with the shop owner there and him being cool etc and me knowing him since, gosh, since I was 17 or 18 with all my friends and all the kids in town who liked rock music used to flow to this guy's shop; he started doing tattoos and piercings years later; and that's like 'whatever'/always interesting places/make a neighbourhood more arty, which is always a plus IMO - that tattoos I saw him promote from his artist, were really exquisite.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TIMEBOMBUK/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10153878038853175


Like fine art.

So seeing that quality in this guy's shop, is cool.

 

I've been tempted to get a tattoos.

 

^this. Nothing worse than seeing a beautiful girl covered in tats. Its like putting bumper stickers on a ferrari. Ill drive it and all but Ill eventually trade it in for one that has primo paint.

 

I can appreciate ink on a young hard body. Ink looks like sh** on old people.

 

blah blah blah? really?...do have any friends, is this normally how you conduct a civil discussion?

what's nice about the permanent ignore feature on this forum...I can make people who conduct themselves like jerks disappear forever...bye bye

 

old people look **** regardless, at least they'd have a bit of a personality with a tattoo and their grandkids would be impressed...

 

I do find the idea of a person's 'story' being told with tattoos to be intriguing -- especially tattoos that guys in Russian gangs have. I've read that a Russian gang member's entire personal history can be 'written' in such tattoos, and that they are highly respected (and feared) in Russia and other countries that used to be part of the old Soviet Union.

But what I see today at the exercise club is that 'hodge-podge' of nondescript, silly looking crap which has no real continuity or context... unless the person sporting such tattoos is mentally unbalanced, or some kind of over-the-top ego-centrist. It seems like a hell of big waste of money, too, especially considering that so many of these people are exercising at the club in the middle of normal work-days. But, maybe they're all have a six-figure incomes and work at night...?! Why would I have trouble believing that....



"Uh, I play the Asian stock markets when it's night over here in the States!" . -- "Gee, why didn't I think of that?!"

 

here you take the 57 chevy with the primo paint because we know old people look much better without tatts and clear skin...

I'll take the Ferrari with the bumper stickers

 

Nope I prefer ferraris as I said. Ill drive the above ferrari then trade it in for one without body damage. Im not interested in the leftie mom type.

 

Uh, I'll pass on both of them, but you can have the increased likelihood of Hepatitis-C with the blotched chickie in the bottom photo....
Note: Although not exclusively considered a sexually transmitted disease, the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has the potential to be spread through sexual contact. According to the Centers for Disease Control, HCV is the most common blood borne infection in the United States. Uh, and you already noticed that a person is four times more likely to get Hepatitis-C if he's had a tattoo... right?

. "Hey, it only costs $100,000 to get rid of Hep-C, so LET'S DO THIS, baby!"

 

I just figure it's their money and it's a free country so far. Ink's not for me, however.

I didn't know how expensive treatment for hep C is. A burden on others.

 

The 'wonder drugs' have only been around for about five years now, and they're still REAL expensive! Harvoni and Sovaldi are the two most-prescribed drugs to get rid of Hep-C, and they both have excellent 'track records'. OH, and good news -- the latest info I've found is that you can actually get the Harvoni treatment for a mere $84,000, which is evidently a big discount from just two years ago. Maybe there's nothing to be concerned about after all -- as long as an infected person has a SPARE $84,000 just laying around, or real good health insurance....

. "What the hell -- I think I'll go get a tattoo!"

 

hep c isn't an issue anymore with respectable tattoo shops...todays tattoo shops are clean sterile operations, a new needle for every client...most cities have health inspectors checking them regularly for health standards...

 

'Respectable' tattoo shops. OK. Gee, that's reassuring! Yah, sure... I'd bet my life on THAT....

 

Iove those tattoo fails. Some are epic.

 

nothing says respectable more than a guy with a nose ring and his face tatted. He made those right choices so Im sure he made the same ones to make sure your health is protected.