More and more girls are regretting their tattoos

Tattoos have always been normal in my household simply because my father had quite a few. Not that it was well-regarded by his peers, mind you. Just 20 years ago, a visibly tattooed person was still a rarity, at least where I lived. It's incredible how quickly things have changed, especially among the younger generation. Talking with tattoo artists, we already noticed how Gen Z approaches the idea of permanence (or until the laser do us part) with more ease. However, this ease has a downside.

Girls Regret Their Tattoos

Scrolling casually on TikTok, there are more and more posts about removing tattoos done in youth that no longer fit the current aesthetic and need to be removed or covered up. There's also a distinctly feminine perspective. Girls anxiously wonder if their tattoos are suitable for their wedding day, if they are elegant enough. The answer, in most cases, seems to be no. At a time when tattoos have never been so normalized, it seems that many people regret their tattoos, seeing them as not elegant, not feminine, not "clean," not fitting for adult women, wives, and mothers. Have you ever seen a tattooed trad wife? It's possible to draw a connection between trends and their social impact, between a return to order and femininity and the image of a woman going back to being the angel of the hearth, even in her appearance.

A Matter of Trends

The problem with tying tattoos to aesthetics, cores, and trends of the period is that tattoos are not hairstyles we can change, accessories we can give to our friends, or clothes we can hope to sell on Vinted. Tattoos—which had taken the form of playful, colorful rebellion, a way of claiming one's body and autonomy perhaps too hastily—are forever, more or less. And so regret stems from trends we desperately want to follow, which change quickly and are hard to keep up with. If we tattoo a bow to follow the coquette dream, what tells us we won’t soon want something green for Brat Summer? And in a month? In six months? In two years? Maybe we should think about it a bit more, exclude tattoos from the trend cycle that pushes us towards overconsumption.

How Much Does It Cost to Remove a Tattoo?

As if that wasn't enough, the costs are anything but cheap. In Italy, prices vary from center to center, and region to region. The size and colors of the tattoo also affect the cost (and the number of sessions required). On average, the price ranges from 150 to 350 euros per session, not to mention the pain, discomfort, and time involved. So, getting an impulsive tattoo only to regret it later is definitely a tricky situation. The choices are two: think more carefully before calling the tattoo artist or accept that every tattoo represents a choice, a period, something that cannot be erased from our lives and is beautiful to carry as a memory on our skin, even if it no longer fits the core of the moment.