Does Anyone Not Have Tattoos?

So this evening I was thinking of how I don't have any tattoos. I've also been thinking lately of not getting any tattoos and pondering the various kinds of tattoos I won't be getting. This got me wondering who else on here doesn't have tattoos and is thinking about not getting any?

EDIT *This is not a thread intended to make negative comments about the choice of others to not not have tattoos.

It's OK to rant about how tired you are of walking into a dive bar or attending a rockabilly show or lowbrow art event and getting weird looks or being treated like normal people just because you've left your skin bare.***** But it shouldn't be turned into a rant against the choices of others.*

*****I can't count the number of times I've had to answer "No." to a pierced and tattooed bartender who, after giving my bare arms a once over, has asked me "White wine spritzer with a lemon twist?"

[ Edited by: woofmutt 2010-09-26 10:44 ]

I'm a tattoo virgin. And proud of it. No perforations either. No paint in my hair. Not even that thing they put on top of cavities. Somehow, It's a statement of something, not sure of what... The "no statement" statement. Maybe I will (not) get a tattoo that reads "NO COMMENT" or the Magritte version, "This is not a tattoo"
Must confess I been very tempted to start a tiki shrine on my flesh! definitely the best possible theme for a tattoo! The really stupid random tattoos are cool too, just not in my flesh... In this aspect I am kind of an aesthetic fascist.
Still, not enough for me to take to my grave. Maybe I'll get a tattoo of my children, except I don't have any...
Tattoos are forever!
Thanks for reading my ramblings
Viva bilge!

No tattoos for me. For the first 40 years of my life I was afraid of needles. At age 40 I decided "This is ridiculous!" So I got my hepatitis vaccine series, my tetanus shot, gave blood, had my cholesterol checked, and pierced my own belly button (that came out a few hours later when my wife saw it and said "You get that thing out before the children see it!") Pretty much cured myself of needlephobia.

In the 12 years since I have had plenty of opportunity to get a tattoo but have not for 2 reasons;

1. I have plenty of long term interests, but nothing that I can think of I want on my body FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! Case in point, I know a gal who has a SMURF on her ass!
2. I work in a hospital and see lots of naked old people. I know what those tattoos are going to look like in 40 years. That nice heitiki on your chest is going to look like PacMan is about to devour your manjunk IF you live to be 80. :D

No tatts. Never had them, never will. My mom would kill me!

On 2010-09-26 07:55, MadDogMike wrote:
Case in point, I know a gal who has a SMURF on her ass!

My coffee just came out my nose!

proudly tat-less
despite a 4-year stint in the Marine Corps.....

Most Tikiphiles are at least 10 years older than the current "Tattoo generation".

But their livers are probably 20 years older. Ha !!

No ink, big fear of pain from needles. Plus in Florida at the hotel pool there was a woman with a giant Houston Oilers oil derrick tattoed on her leg. Nothin' like rootin' for a defunct sports team. I also work w/ a nasty fat old witch who announced one day that she got a tattoo but couldnt tell anyone where it was or show anyone. Somewhere a tattoo artist is still throwing up.
However, I am not anti-ink. I find it fascinating and I do like the art aspect, Sailor Jerry etc. I just dont want any on myself. On others, with the exception of the 2 mentioned above, Im fine w/ it.

Make mine a mai tai!

[ Edited by: Tikigoddess 2010-09-26 09:21 ]

"Somehow it's a statement of something, not sure of what..." -Zeta- (slightly modified)

That's a great line. I want to remeber to use it when having to comment on art/music/writing I don't think all that much of but can't be bluntly honest cuz I'm afraid to get kicked out of the party and they won't give me drinks any more. (To slightly modify another quote.)

"proudly tat-less despite a 4-year stint in the Marine Corps..."

LiLoTi's comment made me wonder: If you want tattoos but you're tattoo free for security reasons should it count? (This pondering is not particularly related to the Marines.)

I do think any marks (or implants) left on you from aliens after abduction and probing shouldn't count. (Unless you brought it on yourself by walking around remote areas at night while shining a high powered flashlight into the sky.)

It used to be that people got tattoos to set themselves apart.

Now days I wonder if it's more to fit in, especially when I keep seeing the same tribal-style tattoo over and over.

What ever happened to the classics like anchors and "Mom" ??

I admire the old-school Mexican-style tattoos like Pancho Villa, Aztec warriors, and busty cholas. The problem is if you're not a "homeboy" you're just gonna look like a poseur.

On 2010-09-26 09:24, JOHN-O wrote:
It used to be that people got tattoos to set themselves apart.

Now days I wonder if it's more to fit in, especially when I keep seeing the same tribal-style tattoo over and over.

What ever happened to the classics like anchors and "Mom" ??

I admire the old-school Mexican-style tattoos like Pancho Villa, Aztec warriors, and busty cholas. The problem is if you're not a "homeboy" you're just gonna look like a poseur.

"Busty Cholas" would be a GREAT name for a band!

The yakuza tattoos are killer too, but same thing as JUAN-O said, only look cool (in a threatening way) if you are Asian...
The mara salvatrucha aesthetic looks cool too, although getting a big 18 in your face is a bit hardcore for me. also, I haven't killed anyone so I can't get that stupid tear drop they get...
I guess I'm just old fashioned...

Open question: Do you like girls with tattoos better than without them?
I like no tattoos on my women.

Open question: Do you like girls with tattoos better than without them?
I like no tattoos on my women.

Let's change this to "do you like members of the opposite sex better without them?"

On 2010-09-26 09:07, TikiGoddess wrote:
...I am not anti-ink. I find it fascinating...

Good point Goddess - I'm not bashing tattoos, I just don't want one.

Zeta, I have seen many attractive women with many attractive tattoos. But I mate for life and I would have to live with those tattoos aging for 60 years

"Busty Cholas" would be a GREAT name for a band! -lucas vigor-

There's a thread for that.

On 2010-09-26 10:47, woofmutt wrote:
"Busty Cholas" would be a GREAT name for a band! -lucas vigor-

There's a thread for that.

I would change it to "Cholas Tetonas" now, THAT'S a cool name! Vato loco forever...

On 2010-09-26 09:28, lucas vigor wrote:
"Busty Cholas" would be a GREAT name for a band!

As if you need another band Lucas :lol: Although it would go good with the south of the border Oasis 11 theme. It would also be a fun official band mug to sculpt!

Soviet Prison Tattoos are pretty hardcore!
i seen one of two midgets stacked atop each other
and servicing a normal-sized fetchin lady!
lots of member severing tats in the Russian girl prisons....
check em out!

http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Criminal-Tattoo-Encyclopaedia-I/dp/0955862078%3FSubscriptionId%3D14H876SFAKFS0EHBYQ02%26tag%3Dhubpages-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0955862078

I didn't know Erik the Red spent time in a Russian prison!

I'm pretty sure there are already several threads discussing how cool tattoos are. You might want to post any comments about cool tattoos and pictures of guys with tattoos in a thread about tattoos. This is a thread about not having tattoos.

And if you feel the need to post a picture of a man showing a little skin here's the sorta picture appropriate to this thread:

Note the absence of tattoos and presence of awesome manliness.

WooHoo! No Tattoos on me :)

i saw a nat geo or discovery documentry on the making of that book about soviet prison tats. scary peeps there.

Tattoos hurt, 99.99% of them look stupid, and they all turn blue after a year. You end up looking like a bad mimeograph copy of a 7 year old's schoolbook scrawls.

Otherwise, there are exactly three tattoos I've seen that are really cool.

1. Bong's native Samoan sworls on his upper arms. The real deal.

2. Our local lifeguard's tattoos of swallows flying cross his back and arms, they were done in Japan by a master grand-artist and they look totally realistic.

3. Another lifeguard I met had little footprints, like the Hang Ten ones, that circle his arm. It was really interesting graphically and kind of funny, exactly the effect the guy wanted.

Oh, did I add that they're generally a waste of good cash?

On 2010-09-26 08:03, little lost tiki wrote:
proudly tat-less
despite a 4-year stint in the Marine Corps.....

ARMY for me, and the peer pressure was pretty intense to get the unit patch on the arm!

Hanford's "No Tattoos" policy for Moderators on this board is pretty strict and the reason my body is still ink-free.

To help relieve the pressure, I tattoo sad clowns on baby fur seals in my free time.

What about those who get their tattoos removed?

I haven't done a full inspection lately, but last time I looked I have no tattoos. However, I plan to not get a whole bunch of tattoos in the future. Can't think of a single thing I want to be branded with for eternity.

As a person with his fair share of tattoos I realized that I've never noticed when people DON'T have them. I still do notice when people do have them. It used to be the kind of thing when you saw someone with tattoos you would either know them of know someone who did. Cammo, of course, made a terrible sweeping generalization that I disagree with. I guess it was inevitable culturally that everything that many people wanted to have acceptable socially finally became so, and now many are bitter. I used to be like that about Punk and then tattoos. Not anymore! I'm just waiting to get bitter about Tiki. As far as all of the people without tattoos... is it weird? Do some feel like they're missing out? Are people still repelled? Is there a certain pride in not having them? I have no judgement... I'm just trying to increase conversation.
Peace with every step.

Ink free since 1962!

"As far as all of the people without tattoos... is it weird? Do some feel like they're missing out? Are people still repelled? Is there a certain pride in not having them? I have no judgment... I'm just trying to increase conversation."

Is it Weird?

It does sometimes freak me out to look and see my bare arms, but after a while you get used to the lack of tattoos being there and don't even notice.

Do some feel like they're missing out?

Oh crap...Is there some sorta benefits that come with tattoos that I don't know about? What am I missing out on?

Are people still repelled?

Yes, but to be honest I doubt it's my lack of tattoos that repels them.

Is there a certain pride in not having them?

Not really. I personally don't care for tattoos, byt it's not a point of pride that I don't have any, no more than the fact that I don't wear the latest trendy shoes.

In certain circles (rockabilly) I just expect that pert near everyone is gonna have at least a half dozen tattoos. So I do notice when rockabilly people (and to a lesser extent Tiki peoples) don't have tattoos. In fact this lil thread was dreamed up at a party Saturday night where a small group of Tiki peoples were talking about lofty subjects (such as burlesque tassels for men) and I noticed bare arms and asked if any of them had tattoos. After an unexpected rising of a full moon upon which could be seen Mickey Mouse sporting a fez, smoking a cigar, and saying "Ya sure ya betcha!" we concluded that everyone in attendance (except Mr Moon-in-his-pants) didn't have tattoos.*****

*****Some details of this story may be entirely untrue.

None here. None wanted. No understanding thereof.

No tattoos or body modifications here. If I did get a tattoo, it would probably some classic Sailor Jerry design like an anchor or a mermaid. But highly unlikely. If ya got 'em, that's cool too, they're just not for me.

On 2010-09-28 21:11, Matt Reese wrote:
I'm just waiting to get bitter about Tiki.

Some of us are already there! :wink:

No stamps here.

Norm and Cliff (of Cheers)realize they got tattoos during their drunken' bar crawl, the night before,

No tats here...have thought of a flower on the ankle, but too concerned about contracting a disease (shades of Monk). :wink:

On 2010-09-26 07:55, MadDogMike wrote:

1. I have plenty of long term interests, but nothing that I can think of I want on my body FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! Case in point, I know a gal who has a SMURF on her ass!
2. I work in a hospital and see lots of naked old people. I know what those tattoos are going to look like in 40 years. That nice heitiki on your chest is going to look like PacMan is about to devour your manjunk IF you live to be 80. :D

Truuuuuue dat!

Although if you intend to live out your final years as a proper Cougar, now might be the time to get a nice little tramp-stamp on the small of your back. You know, that butterfly you always wanted, or maybe a celtic knot. Those tats just won't look right if you get them when you're 60.

No tattoos or piercings and was never tempted to get one.

Well, not entirely true. When I was on Easter Island I saw a tattoo "parlor" (for lack of a better word) there and I thought that if I ever were to get a tattoo, this is the place. But, after a few moments of "wouldn't that be cool" thoughts I came back to my senses.

Your skin looks best when not treated as a scribble pad..... Besides, it looks like mildew.

I'm tat-free, and so is my entire family, although our cat has a tattoo of a starfish on his ass.

Normally, I don't care how other people choose to decorate their bodies, but I have to confess that seeing senior citizens in the supermarket flashing their saggy ink grosses me out a bit.

Ok beat this, no Tattoos or cell phone, cats, dogs, kids, none.

Find a person that can say that.

On the tattoos I just can't think of what I would want on me forever.

Plus, I hate needles.

Allergic to pets.

Damn everybody who moves into our area has 2.5 pets and 1 or 2 kids. They must love the dogs because they leave them outside to bark all day long.

And their "outdoor" cats eat our fish.

GROG in same boat Skipster. No kids, animals, tattoos, cell phone, or wife. Not allergic to needles, or pets. Might be to allergic to kids, though.

"Might be to allergic to kids, though."

So I almost put that here too.

If I got a Tattoo it would have to document a huge event or thing I did, plus it would need to be done by someone very good at Tattoos (like some old Asian guy with a long white beard and has a crazy high-pitched laugh) have seen some really crappy Tattoos out there.

AND no phone Grog, Wow I thought you would have one for sure.

Man, just look at the people that are slaves to that phone that thing goes off and they can't look at it fast enough.

Then they tell you that they must have missed your call, right my call was the only one you did not jump to look at.

It is getting to a point where you need a phone to go to doctor, sign in for things. During Covid my doc had you call from the parking lot, my wife had a burner flip phone at that time.

I do like dogs, small ones are best to me big ones can mess up some stuff, big poop too.

Do have a wife and am lucky for that, she has small poop, and no Tattoos.

“I like children…if their properly prepared” W.C. Fields

W.C. Fields was a genius. He had some the BEST quotes.

"If I got a Tattoo it would have to document a huge event or thing I did,"

I had this idea about an ancient race of people who were tattooed throughout their lives starting at a certain age, and the tattoos showed significant events that happened to them thoughout their lives starting with them being born. Then when they die, they get their last tattoo showing their death. They are skinned and the tattood skin is displayed on their coffin, or hung up at their funeral to display the story of their life.

GROG did finally get a flip phone for a little while, but GROG rarely use it because GROG no get cel phone reception where GROG live. Then GROG' carrier switch to 5G and GROG cell phone is 3G and no longer works with carrier. GROG no get new phone yet.

You know way back when the 1920s?

People used to go on safari and they would buy shrunken heads well the heads with Tatoos on them were the ones people really wanted so the headhunters started getting the heads of guy with Tattoo as they sold faster.

It is also thought that if you kill and keep the head of a strong or great warrior you would get the strength of that person.

Back then be damned cultural appropriation we are taking your head to our home bar.

Drew Barrymore's family had a shrunken head in their home.

What self-respecting Tiki Bar doesn't have at least one shrunken head....?

Here's a tattoed head that would be considered valuable..

And a bloke with a very impressive collection....although they don't look all that "shrunken"...

Back in the day, you could make your own shrunken "heads" out of apples, but sadly it did not include a Vincent Price Tattoo kit.

You can still do this using your home oven. Instructions on the net, but they call the result "witches". Gotta love Vincent Price! He really knew how to camp up the horror genre.