-132 Why do you have to be 18 to get a tatoo? It's not like you're messing up anyone else's life or anything- it's your life, your body, so it should be,essencially,your decision, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's probably about liability

by Anonymous 13 years ago

1. Because stupid kids will get something meaningless and will regret it later in life. 2. Because they won’t take care of it and it will get infected. 3. Because they’d screw up somehow and the tattoo artist would be sued. Your pick.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

yes just because someone is a teenager they can't take care of things. Your ignorant. Btw the have ways to remove tattoos now that don't even involve surgery.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No one ever said it was just teenagers, it’s just likely. There are a lot of extremely irresponsible adults too, but seriously, the responsible to irresponsible ratio in teenagers doesn’t look very good.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

TL;DR During the teenage years, the part of the brains that regulates plans and future insight is still developing. Scientifically speaking, teenagers cannot think of the consequences of their actions until their brains (the frontal lobe area? Not sure) have developed up to a certain extent. Therefore it is best to postpone such skin decorations until they are 'wise' enough. I admit that there are enough teens out there who are responsible enough and adults who are not, but rules can't consider individual situations. As a biased person, I can image lots of teenage lovers saying 'I love my boy-/girlfriend forever and ever!!1! I want to tattoo his/her name on my chest!', only to break up with them 2 weeks later. And just because it is easy nowadays to remove tattoos, does not mean you should. It's still your body, your money, your health and the effort that the tattooist put in and you should not waste any of it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There just as many responsible as there is irresponsible everyone is just to busy criticizing the irresponsible ones to notice the other. @857910 (Asa_Hime): Yeah that 1st half was a huge load of crap. Your basically saying teenagers can't distinguish the difference between right and wrong. Theyre not 5. As for the bottom half yeah that would happen but do you know how many ADULTS do that? So you can't use that as an excuse. Also the "you shouldn't waste" stuff its on your body and as long as your paying for it I'm sure the tattoo artist could careless if you remove it later.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, I did, in fact, NOT say that they can't distinguish right from wrong, I said that they have trouble considering the future! PLANNING is NOT distinguishing right from wrong. Better grab a dictionary. And if you don't believe the brain part, I DARE you to do research on it. It's part of cognitive psychology and if you don't even attempt to look into things, you have no right to call others ignorant. Do some research, kid. Your childishness shows. Furthermore, I already addressed the immaturity of adults and I do not use it as an excuse. Also "knowing people who do or do not certain things" is not given as a proof, it's a bias. "How many adults do this or that?" is a teenaged, worn-out, biased argument. However, I am pretty sure that teenagers IN GENERAL are more impulsive than adults, again basing this on basic psychology and sociology.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Considering the only thing you can do is insult my argument and the fact that I'm a teenager just shows that you are no where near as smart as you pretend to be.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The pot is calling the kettle black. How is making my comment out to 'crap' any different from 'insulting my argument'? If you call my comment crap, I have the right to defend myself and if I come off as someone who is pretending to be smart... Maybe I am, maybe I am not. I really don't care. Also, I am still a teenager, but I prefer research as base for my arguments, rather than presumption.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I actually added other things to my argument. You supplied nothing but insults.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And *I* defended why my arguments weren't "crap". Yes, perhaps my words were crude, but honestly, there is a difference between insult and defence by elaboration. It is not as if you did not insult me.If you disagree with that, then there's no helping it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

This argument is completely pointless and coming down to absolutely nothing. Nice chat bye bye.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Can't piercings get infected if they don't take care of it? That entire thing could be applied to piercings,too. XD But I do agree with you. On levels one and three.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

What about all these scene teenage girls and people who are obsessed with anger and Harry Potter and Twilight? The main thing is that anybody under 18 (still in the middle of puberty) can't maintain a stable mood, and will USUALLY get a tattoo out of anger or just the feeling of being set apart from the other kids, not thinking if they will or will not regret it when they are 45. I mean, if they didn't have that rule, than in 30 years there would be so many Twilight, Harry Potter, Eminem, etc. tattoos, that you could distinctly tell who was born when. When people are done with puberty, and maintain a MOSTLY stable mood (outside of a female's period and menopause), that is usually when they get a choice to make BIG decisions that COULD affect your life. I mean, come on, bosses can check your FACEBOOK to see if you are fit for a job or not. Do you think they will overlook an Edward Cullen or Jacob Black tattoo on your upper back? (Sorry for the over-explanation and taking this seriously)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

that was a heck of a lot to read. Haha

by Anonymous 13 years ago

so that when you're 50 and your skin is wrinkly, saggy, and gross, no one will have to see your stupid decision in picasso form.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

By the age of eighteen, people are normally mature enough to decide what's right for them. I however, do not and will not ever have a tattoo or any piercings. I have severe trypanophobia.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I disagreed because you spelt 'tattoo' and 'essentially' wrongly. Thus, I have lost my respect for you.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Plus, you should be able to spell before you get a tattoo.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

if you can't spell tattoo or essentially, you clearly shouldn't be getting a tattoo. good try though :)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Isn't the age to get a tattoo 16 in the UK? Or am I just getting confused with the age where you can get piercings without parental consent?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It is 18 in the UK. 16 with consent for piercings though some places will accept you for a piercing alone at 16. It is against the law to tattoo an underage person, you also cannot go below belt for piercings even with consent at 16.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Essentially* clearly there needs to be an age limit on words above a certain length as well

by Anonymous 13 years ago

says the person you can't spell essentially.... you probably shouldn't be making any government decisions soon

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I love body modifications and I am covered in piercings and tattoo's. It has always been part of me BUT I respect them. Most people do not look beyond the cool factor of body mods. I know people who got underage tattoos and they are pathetic, spur of the moment ideas. Even people over the age I know have shite tattoos. You shouldn't think 'oh i can get it removed' when deciding a tattoo, you still have marks from it and that is a stupid way to look at it. The body is still developing too so your thin arm may get thicker and ruin it anyway. Someone raised the issue of piercings, where I live you can get pierced with consent at 16 but it is still 18 alone usually. More often then not the youth have bad ideas that they look back on and think 'why' so why let them ruin a good artists reputation.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because, when they're 30 they'll regret putting "niqq@ sm0k3 d@t r33f3rrr"

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I got my first tattoo at well before I was 18. I'd thought about it for two or three years and I was completely sure about what I wanted. I've had it for around three years and I don't regret it whatsoever. It's something that means a lot and is important to me. If it's something like that then I think it's ok. It depends on the person imo, some people would go out and get completely ridiculous tattoos but others wouldn't...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because before you are 18 you are not old enough to make a decision about whether something permanent goes on your body.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I'm a fresh 18, and I completely agree with the law that says you can't get tattoos until you're 18. Even then, I think you should really be older in most cases. But there has to be a cutoff for everything. The majority of teenagers AREN'T mature enough to make a life long decision. Some are, but most aren't. The arguement that occurred above shows that perfectly. Teenagers are hot-headed and impulsive. I never intend to get a tattoo. I know too many people who got them and later regretted the decision.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not that big of a deal. It just adds to the goodness of turning 18

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't know where you guys live, but I know several teens under 18 with tattoos.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You guys are trippin and overthinking. Its for liability, you're still growing (stretching), and aren't old enough to do medical procedures without parental consent (needles in and out your body). Also, having an age limit kind of sets a "standard" you might say as to when its okay for young ones to get one, imagine trashy parents allowing 7-10 year olds getting tattoos.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I got my first tattoo at 12. I know it sounds like im lying, but we went on this cruise to mexico a few years back and my mom just kinda took me to a tattoo parlor and...well...anyways i got a tiny strawberry the size of my pinky nail on my calf. I don't regret it and i never will. Nor will i regret the skeleton key on my foot that i got in the summer before 9th grade.

by Anonymous 13 years ago