In my first year of university, I got my first tattoo. Not a small one, either. A tattoo that runs down the majority of my spine. I’ll be honest with you, it was a bit of an impulsive decision. I mean, I always knew that I wanted to get one, and I liked the back placement, but I figured that I would wait until I got a bit older, like my family always suggested. However, I made the impulse decision in my second semester to find the nearest place and get it done. Let me walk you through the process and see whether I regret it or not.
I have many piercings, so I wasn’t too scared about the pain, but I heard that the spine is one of the most painful places to get a tattoo — especially for the first time. My adrenaline was running and some of my friends came with me for support. My tattoo artist didn’t really talk much, so this made me even more nervous as I didn’t have someone to talk me through the process or the pain. Also, no numbing cream was provided, which I feel should’ve been an option since it was my first tattoo. Overall, the experience was fine. It only took about 45 minutes and I survived the pain, although it did hurt a lot. Looking back, I wish I had done more research into finding an artist who made me feel comfortable and did a little more planning for the design. So, would I choose a different location or artist? Maybe. However, it wasn’t an awful experience altogether.
Even though one of my parents has a tattoo, they weren’t too fond of the idea of me having one, so I was nervous to tell them. I tried to keep it from them for as long as possible, which was easy because it wasn’t very visible. However, I’m a bad liar and one night my parents straight up asked me if I had gotten one, kind of as a joke. I said that yeah, I had gotten one. Safe to say I wasn’t talked to for the rest of the night. But over time, they got over it and I explained to them that it’s my body and it had already been done, so there was no point in being angry about it.
So, the answer is no, I don’t regret it, at least not yet. I like the placement that I chose, and the design is nice. I’m happy even knowing it’s there since I can’t see it unless I’m looking in a mirror. I don’t know how to explain it besides saying it gives me some confidence that I did it. Would I get another one? Possibly. It’s hard to say, some days I want more and some days I’m content with one. If I were to get more, it would most likely be something subtle, small and concealed. All I can say is that the next time, I would go somewhere else, give it some thought for at least a few months beforehand and make sure I truly wanted it.