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If you’re looking to express yourself through some permanent artwork etched onto your skin, allow me to suggest that you first consider how you’ll feel about the piece in ten years. How will your parents feel about it? What might your colleagues think? Will your children appreciate it? While I’m usually an advocate for not caring what others think, when it comes to preventing awful and offensive tattoos, a second opinion just might be worth getting.
One Reddit user recently invited others to describe tattoos they’ve encountered that instantly repelled them, so you can find some of their most unfortunate responses down below. Be sure to upvote the ones you can’t believe are permanently on people’s bodies, and keep reading to also find an interview with tattoo artist Xamy of Tattoos Wizard!
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#1
I was at a party and saw a dude with 11-11-11 on his forearm.... asked him if it was a veterans thing, like Armistice Day. Nope....11 as in the 11th letter of the alphabet, KKK, the Klan). F*****g loser...Did a tight 180° and walked away.
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#2
My husband and I took our toddler (mixed race) to a food hall. She started playing with a little girl. That was cool until we noticed her dad, who had a tattoo of a black baby in a noose. That was more than 20 years ago and I still shudder when I think of it.
#3
Anything racist/fascist - worked with a guy that had the coat of arms of battalion with a terrible reputation in my country’s previous regime. Told my colleagues and they kind of excused it. That was a massive red flag and I knew it was time to start looking elsewhere.
No matter how “nice” you are, if you have s**t like that tattooed on you, you’re a c**t.
To gain more insight on the world of unfortunate tattoos, we reached out to the experts at Tattoos Wizard, and lucky for us, tattoo artist Xamy was kind enough to answer our questions. First, we were curious how common bad tattoos are. "I think it depends on the country or city, but personally I think they are quite common," Xamy shared. "In my country, people like minimalist style tattoos, which should be done with a fine and clean line, and most of the ones I see aren’t well done."
"It's also very common to see a couple's initials, especially when they have not been in a relationship for long, and it’s quite common for clients to ask for cover ups for the same reason," the artist added.
#4
My cousin has an 88 tattoo. The entire family has disowned the piece of s**t and I filled him in twice. His own parents hate him.
#5
Older woman had a whole back tiger tattoo. I asked her about it and she told me her and her sister were both Leo's. She had a full back tattoo of the wrong cat.
#6
I used to work at a pizza place when I was in high school as a 16 year old. Kind of weird to think back on it, but one of our delivery guys in his mid 40s or so told us about this crazy a*s tat he had. One day he took us out back behind the pizza shop and showed us. It was the seven dwarves from Snow White all walking into a cave, and the cave was his a**hole.
Thankfully, however, Xamy says she has not come across many particularly awful or offensive tattoos in her days. However, she says she's seen plenty on the internet. As far as what can be done about those tattoos, the expert says, "Many can be restored, but those that have thickened a lot are best covered or lasered. Cover ups should be done by specialized tattoo artists."
#7
I've been working in shops for the last twenty years. I only tattooed for two years but have been piercing all twenty. The one that's always stuck with me was a young lady getting her boyfriend's name tattooed across her lower back(I wasn't the one doing the tattoo). She leaves excited but comes back a little while later fuming. Turns out the boyfriend was caught in bed with her best friend when she got home. That's the quickest I've seen anyone ask for a cover-up.
PolymathNecromancer 1 year ago
At least she didn't have to go through the healing process and waste it... just kept rollin' along...
#8
Can't walk away exactly because she's my cousin, but this one's a classic.
She's half black, strongly identifies as black, and feels like she's supposed to be able to speak Spanish because she's black. (Why she thinks that I still don't understand.)
So to demonstrate her blackness, she got a tattoo at the base of her neck that says Atoño siete veces, levantate ocho.
... I do speak Spanish. I stared at it for a while, thinking there must be some double meaning for a word that I wasn't getting. I didn't understand what was wrong until she told me what she thought it said. Fall down seven times, get up eight. Cute, I guess, except what it actually says is Autumn seven times, get up eight.
People, please never get a tattoo in a language you're not fluent in. It's not going to end well.
Caroline Nagel 1 year ago
When I put the Spanish sentence through a translator it translates to 'Fall seven times, rise eight'.
#9
Old neighbor of mine has, on his chest, Papa Smurf shooting his load on Smurfette’s a*s. There is a phrase I never thought I’d write.
Xamy also shared a bit about what clients should consider before going through with a tattoo. "The most important thing is to be informed about the styles and techniques of tattooing, to know which is the one that the person wants and to look for a tattoo artist specialized in that technique," she noted. "Therefore, the most important thing to take into consideration is the portfolio of the tattoo artist you choose."
#10
A coworker who went through a bad breakup then came back to work with a tattoo of a topless woman with a noose around her neck. He was ordered to keep it covered at work. It was that offensive.
#11
I was visiting a farm in Florida about 15 years ago in a work exchange/farm kinda thing. I was camping on the property (in the middle of nowhere, mind you) and locals would stop by to chat up the travelers, have a beer, and shoot some guns. Guy pulls up in his truck. The bed of the truck is about a foot deep with empty beer cans. He brought his shotgun and wants to shoot some clay pigeons with me. Dude takes off his shirt and he has a full-chest mural of Abraham Lincoln's assassination at fords theater. The whole situation kinda dawned on me like oh s**t I could easily disappear out here. I packed my bags and left the state soon after
#12
Dual lightning bolts on side of neck.
Good ol' SS tat. No thanks bud, not interested in palling around.
StrangePenguin 1 year ago (edited)
ohh that’s what that is… i’ve seen those on neo nazis ( not in person )
"Regarding 'awful tattoos', I think it’s up to each person to decide, as long as they know that it’s a possibility that at some point in their life they may want to cover them up," Xamy added. "So I would suggest areas of the body where they’re not so visible."
The artist can also bear a bit of responsibility when it comes to preventing offensive tattoos. "I personally, as a tattoo artist, would not accept to tattoo serial killers, nor dictators or Nazi symbols or similar, but it's also up to each tattoo artist to decide," the expert shared.
If you'd like to learn more about Xamy or check out her amazing work, be sure to visit her Instagram. And if you're looking for a tattoo expert in your area, be sure to visit Tattoos Wizard!
#14
Finally, my “tinder time” pays dividends:
One night stand, mediocre date, the kind that moved to her place through happenstance/alcohol vs any real attraction. It isn’t until we’re both naked and I’m in a position to examine her lower back without interruption that I notice wall-to-wall, 90’s bubble style graffiti text reading:
“Live every week like it’s shark week”
That was something like eight years ago and I still haven’t stopped thinking about it.
#16
New AP guy at work. He was really friendly and attractive. We had some good conversations. He would always find me and follow me around the first 10 or 20 minutes of his shift. Even some flirting going on. ..... until I noticed he had a Confederate flag tattoo on his upper bicep. I was completely bummed. I steered clear after that.
He ended up leaving 6 months later for another job.
#17
My ex had a full arm sleeve of Jesus on the cross holding machine guns, surrounded by skulls.
I'm still wierded out by it.
#18
"Fight for your faith" with AR-15s in a cross shape and some bible verses one was leviticus 20-13. He was an ex marine and is currently a cop in my town. I normally don't do politics in person, but I've never been more revolted in my life.
Nathan Pogorzala 1 year ago
ahh the old insecure little man latching on to aggressive and intimidating things in order to feel and impose like a big man. The source of all strife in our world.
#19
"Bros before h*es" all across the chest on a guy on Tinder.
#20
My current boss has a tattoo in Chinese that she got when she was 18. What’s it say? “Italian”
Petra Schaap 1 year ago
why is this on a list with actual hateful c**p and everything? this is just silly.
#21
I have an a*s tatt of a jack daniels whiskey bottle (i was young and dumb) and a guy left me immediately after seeing it.
Yes, it is crooked. Yes, it is s****y. The tattoo artist was also drunk.
#22
My step brother is full on m'lady neck beard incel, or at least he was, somehow he managed to get a girlfriend, 2 weeks later he has a tattoo on his wrist, it's a date, it's not the date they got together, so I asked "what's the date for?" He tells me "it's the day I became a man" I called him a f*****g idiot, they broke up a week later and he's since had it covered up.
Nay Wilson 1 year ago
The day he became a man? What does that mean? The day he lost his virginity?
#23
When I came home from work one day and my bf surprised me by getting a tatt of my name. As soon as I saw it I knew our relationship was over. We broke up a couple months later.
#24
He was proud of his Irish ancestry but didn't realise his Irish flag was the wrong way round and was therefore actually the flag of the Ivory Coast.
#25
My evil a*s neighbor has two eyes tattooed on the back of his bald head. No, he doesn’t look cool. He’s a huge dbag.
#26
Dated a guy in high school who went into the military. A few months before I was supposed to see him again, he got MAMAS BOY (no apostrophe) tattooed on his arms…one word covering his entire bicep. kinda killed the attraction after that. also i’m gay now (unrelated to this incident)
#27
My deceased uncle's prison-looking tat of a nude woman with his nipple as one of her nipples. He was a classy guy like that.
#28
A guy I worked with showed me his monster energy tattoo on his back and he was proud of it.
#29
I knew someone who had his own name tattooed on his upper arm. I don’t know what would possess someone to do that.
#30
I have a winner! Was at a small rural dive bar in the Midwest years ago & this woman in her 40’s was chatting me up. She was friendly enough & was much more welcome company than the man 3x my age who had hit on me while I ordered a drink. After an hour or two, we started talking about our favorite bands. She, without warning, jumps off the bar stool, bends over, pulls her shirt up halfway in the back, and reveals a large tramp stamp bearing all of the signatures of the members of the boy band Hanson (you know, the guys who sang “Mmm Bop”)… she was absolutely GLOWING with pride & went on to tell me about how she saw them in concert a few years prior, paid an exorbitant amount for backstage passes, managed to get all of their signatures, went to a 24hr tattoo shop afterwards, & got them all tattooed on that night. She was in her THIRTIES when she did this btw.
I just sat there kinda shocked, finished my drink, and quickly left.
What do you think ?
Brocken Blue 1 year ago
This reminds me of my happily misspent youth, when I followed a charming red headed fellow home only to discover his body was covered in clown tattoos. Like… covered. I froze in horror when he took his shirt off, like a deer in the headlights of a very full clown car. In retrospect, my favorite tattoo was the line of clown shoe tracks encircling his bicep. I try not to remember the others when I close my eyes to go to sleep *shudders*
DarkGlassSphere 1 year ago
I met one covered with clown tattoos all over too. Guy said, he had the car exident, burned badly, so he made this clowns to remind himself to stay happy. O_o But I didn't followed him home, thankfully.
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Brocken Blue 1 year ago
This reminds me of my happily misspent youth, when I followed a charming red headed fellow home only to discover his body was covered in clown tattoos. Like… covered. I froze in horror when he took his shirt off, like a deer in the headlights of a very full clown car. In retrospect, my favorite tattoo was the line of clown shoe tracks encircling his bicep. I try not to remember the others when I close my eyes to go to sleep *shudders*
DarkGlassSphere 1 year ago
I met one covered with clown tattoos all over too. Guy said, he had the car exident, burned badly, so he made this clowns to remind himself to stay happy. O_o But I didn't followed him home, thankfully.
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