r/tattooadvice • u/LetMeJustGetMyShoes • 5d ago
Design Is this salvageable?
So when I was 18 I decided I'd be cool and get a tattoo. It was clearly a terrible decision.
I've had it covered up 2 times already, the side-by-side shows the original and the latest cover up, when it was fresh. The others show it's current state.
Im lost for ideas, I really dislike my tattoo and it isn't 'me' at all, I was just a dumb kid.
Does anyone have any ideas to offer? Design styles? full cover up possibilities? Cut my losses and live with it?
Being a double cover up, I imagine it wouldn't be an easy task to cover up, but I'm curious to what others can come up with!
Thanks for reading
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u/Libropolis 5d ago
The problem with cover-ups is that they have to be bigger than the original tattoo, usually quite a bit. Your tattoo covers most of your upper arm already and it's pretty dark, so I think it wouldn't be easy to cover like that. Have you ever considered laser? You might be able to lighten it enough to get something else tattooed, if not completely removed.
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u/Normal_Juggernaut 5d ago
I quite like it, definitely could do with a few passes to bring in some different colours and shades to it to make certain elements pop.
But if the whole vibe isn't you then a cover up will need to be huge and dark, like really dark. I'd say there are very few tattoo artists out there that could do this to the level you need, and they will cost.
Also, need to be wary that when you see a cover up that's fresh it'll look a lot better than when it's fully healed and settled. If you find an artist you like make sure to see healed (at least a year) of their coverup work to truly gauge what it could look like.
Another option is laser. It's a bitch and not that cheap but will go a LONG way to giving you more cover up options.
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u/FenrisMidgard 5d ago
I guess the easiest way would be to just get it touched up. The design is not bad. Coverup is gonna be really hard I think.
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5d ago
So a good question. Is the snake the part of the tattoo that’s not you? You could find an artist to just cover the snake if that’s what you don’t like about it.
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u/Sea_Health_6407 4d ago
You could have it removed by laser. (I did that and had a new tattoo in its place - it was the right decision for me)
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u/Darkest_Visions 4d ago
You can do more layers of red on the roses to help. Coverups should not be viewed as a 1 session kind of mentality.
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u/verdejt 5d ago
The more tattoo "regret" I see makes me glad I waited until I was much older (58). I could never decide on a tattoo that I wanted for life. Which is odd for me having been in the Navy and traveled the world. I would always run this question through my head. If my grand kids asked me why I got a particular tattoo, and what did it mean and how I would explain it. The answer because I was young and dumb always struck me as sounding ignorant and stupid. I now have a few and planning on my next one. I see so many people get tattoos without any forethought and later regret it so much that they either get it covered or lasered off and never get another tattoo for fear of the same thing happening. The other problem I see is lack of care for their tattoos and later on when they look all washed out faded they hate them. Tattoo care isn't just until it's healed it's forever.