Minors and tattoos, frankly, are not a good idea. It’s a pretty big and permanent decision. Many believe that everybody should wait until they are at least eighteen years old to make the decision to get a tattoo. You may think you’re “cool” because you’re one of the few in high school with a tattoo, but it won’t be so cool, down the road, when you realize that your choice of tattoo was a big mistake.
Like other big decisions any teen can make, getting a tattoo is right up there with them. However, let’s go over the Pros and Cons.
PRO:
- You are expressing yourself in a creative way.
- You are demonstrating that you have the patience and pain tolerance of getting a tattoo.
- You’re checking something off your “to do” list.
- You are getting attention that you feel you may need.
CON:
- You are getting something permanently on your skin you may regret in adulthood.
- Public perception.
- You are getting unwanted attention, becoming a target.
- Judgement from your friends parents, becoming a pariah.
- Cost: Unless you got lucky with a good paying job at 16, a tattoo could take multiple full paychecks.
It’s recommended a person to put some real thought into their tattoos, and definitely wait until they are at least eighteen to make the decision. You may, and most likely will, regret the tattoo you got at such a young age. If you thought tattoos could be expensive, just wait until you find out how expense tattoo removal is! Most people require 5-8 sessions to completely remove a tattoo, and each session is on average $200-$500. That means, on average, the lowest would be around $1,000 to remove a tattoo you may have spent less than $200 to get.
An expensive lesson, indeed.