All of the pro’s, none of the con’s.

By Jamie Shapiro.

People have been getting tattoos since the dawn of civilisation but when I got my first one, I felt like I was going where no man had ever gone before.

I still remember the feeling.

It was a combination of feelings actually.

Doubt. Was I going to regret this?

Fear. What was my mum going to say?

Pride. I have chosen to do this, and no one can take it away from me.

My mum is quite conservative and saw tattoos as something that the hippies or the mods or the rockers of her day would get, not her ‘good Jewish son.’ No one in my family had ever got a tattoo. I was always the dark sheep of the family, the ‘rebellious’ one.

Whilst my brothers grew up in the football crowd, I grew up more in the ‘emo’ crowd. Art, music, and trying to skate. It seemed a tattoo was waiting for me all along.

I chose to get the title of the first book I wrote on my chest. Just three small words a few inches across, but I saw it as if I had just tattooed the union jack across my forehead.

The second I walked out the tattoo parlour, I wanted to take my shirt off so everybody could see. I had always been confident on the outside, but deep down I lacked self-esteem. I was insecure. It sounds ridiculous, but this one thing that literally was skin deep, was the one thing that made me feel stronger inside. I had something I wanted people to see.

I ended up getting thirteen more.

I wanted to compile a list of the pro’s of getting a tattoo, leaving out all the con’s that people often talk about. So here it is.

Confidence. Both the act of getting a tattoo and the tattoo itself gives you a feeling of self-assurance. You chose to change your body, and everyone will have to like it or lump it.

Commitment. You spend your life thinking maybe you should do this maybe you should do that. When you get a tattoo, you realise straight away that this is something you cannot change your mind about. This certainty echoes out into the other decisions you must make. And if you get a tattoo of something you are committed to, then committed you must be.

Looks. This one doesn’t require any explanation. You have the power to precisely choose what your body becomes. Also, David Beckham.       

Individuality. For a start, no one will have the exact same tattoo as you, but that is the same as everything else on your body. The real thing that makes tattoos such a great tool for expressing your individuality is that if you design something unique, something straight from the depths of your creative mind, then no one else will even have anything remotely similar. You can express what makes you individual through what you have tattooed.

Self-development. You can use your body as a record of achievements. Ed Sheeran gets an inking whenever he achieves a major career goal. When you reach an important milestone, you can add it to your body. And once its on, its not going anywhere. Over the years you build your records, and it lets you remember how far you’ve come, and gives you the belief that you can go much further still.

I spoke to Kamila, 22, about what tattoos mean to her.

Jamie. So, what is your tattoo?

Kamila. It’s Lady Justice.

Jamie. The blindfolded lady from the courts?

Kamila. Yes, her.

Jamie. And why did you choose to get that?

Kamila. It tells my story for me. It’s very detailed. For me it’s about the balance between beauty and ugliness in life.

Jamie. What made you want to get a tattoo?

Kamila. I think tattoos are a personality trait. Mine reflects me. That’s why I wanted one. I also love the idea that the same tattoo can have a different meaning to whoever looks at it. Just like a personality trait I suppose.

There has never been a more important time to get a tattoo. In my opinion the biggest threat to freedom is conformity. We are living in an increasingly smothered society. We can’t choose what we say anymore, we can’t choose how we act, jeeze, we are on the cusps of not even being allowed to protest. Let’s all individualise ourselves in the one way we still can and get tattooed. At least that way when we are marched into the booths to turn our names into numbers, we march in with flaming red dragons on our backs.

With hundreds upon hundreds of tattoo parlours in London, it is easy to get that first inking.

Finally, let me end with a few words of advice.

1. The more medical a tattoo parlour looks, the better they are.
2. Never get a tattoo drunk.
3. Only get a face tattoo if you are prepared to never find a real job.
4. The tattoo artist’s credentials are more important than the tattoo parlour’s reputation.
5. And NEVER, under any circumstances, get a girlfriends name tattooed on your forearm.