If you are reading this article it could mean you are already curious in getting a tattoo put on your body, or that you might know somebody who is. In a survey of over one hundred sixty tattooed men and women, well over thirty percent of them had regretted their tattoos! Although most of this article talks about the procedure once you have decided to get one, let's pause for a minute.

Aks yourself this question, "Why do I want one?"

People get themselves tattooed for a lot of different reasons. Is it to please your partner or significant other? Is it because you want to belong to a certian group of people that has tattoos? Do you identify yourself with a particular sub-culture notable for their tattoos? Do you want to display your independence, individuality or singularity?

These are all legitimate reasons and speak to why many people get tattooed. Nevertheless, because of the permanence of your tattoo, attempt to look at yourself in 5, 10, or even 20 years from now. What do you think will you be doing at that time? You may be a free-spirited college student now, and you may think that a web of vines on your wrist would look really cool. However, are you planning to seek employment in a very conservative field after you graduate? Will other people look at your tattoo in a bad way? Will you have to conceal it with long sleeve shirts? Are you willing to wear long sleeve shirts if the environment is too negative?

Do you want a tattoo of a tiger just because your better half's nickname is "Tiger", and you love the way she scratches your skin? Do you believe you'll be with this person in 5 years? If not, how will you look at that tattoo? With affectionate memories, symbolizing a special time period in your life? Or a disgraceful or painful reminder of someone who hurt you and didn't care for you?

Maybe you're a headbanger (or a nose-smasher, ear-bopper or whatever you want to call yourself) and you really want a tattoo all over your arms just like Tommy Lee, but you can't afford to pay a professional tattoo artist, so you get your friend with the mail-order tattooing machine to do those designs for you? Or maybe you get spider webs tattooed all over your hands (or even on your face, which has happened) because you would like to be different from everyone else in school. What if you decide to "clean up" and get a real job; train as a chef or something, and then no restaurant hires you?

Getting a tattoo removed is not easy, and is NOT cheap. You can expect to pay $1,000 to remove even a fairly small-sized tattoo if you're considering laser surgery. Anticipate having a noticeable ugly scar if you go with a non-laser technique. You can also expect to pay for every penny of the procedure out of your own pocket because health insurance companies will not pay for tattoo removal. There may not even be a laser surgery specialist in your area. Then, think of all those laser-surgery doctors who are going to get rich off of a person's folly or lack of deliberate thinking.

A tattoo is honestly in all reality, a permanent decision so you need to think long and hard about whether to get a tattoo at all and if you do decide that you absolutely must have one at least spend the time and money to get something that matters and get it done by a professional tattoo artist.