Something I've heard people should do before getting a tattoo is to have their desired design somehow placed on the spot they would like it to be for a good amount of time and seeing if they get sick of it after six months. Admittedly, it's not something that I did before getting my own tattoo last year, but it's not at all a bad idea. There are many things to keep in mind if you want any kind of tattoo, including pricing, color, and the tattoo artist and place you want to go to.

There are still some negative stereotypes surrounding people who get tattoos, and some people who think that women especially shouldn't get tattoos, but in this day and age, they are slowly becoming more acceptable even among some places of employment. People get tattoos to represent all kinds of meaningful aspects of their life, including lost loved ones, relationships, hobbies, etc.

Sometimes tattoos have a story, though sometimes they can just be a design or idea someone's passionate about.

My own tattoo is a design of a stack of books with birds taking flight above. As a child and even now, reading is a huge part of my life, which inspired my desire to write and create stories of my own. Books are like birds; ideas which take flight. My tattoo represents something which has been a passion of mine for almost my whole life.

Before getting a tattoo, if you're ever considering getting one, you should consider the design you want, and what the dsign means to you.

Is it something you think you will still want on your body when you're older? Take some time to look up tattoo artists in your area and check out the designs they have advertised. Where are you going to get the tattoo? Anywhere on bone (such as your hip) is probably going to hurt considerably more than something on your shoulder, so you should be prepared for a certain level of pain as well, depending on how good you are at managing pain.

Tattoos are a permanent decision, and lots of thought should be put into one before getting it.

In the end, however, tattoos hold a good amount of historical importance of human society, and are a growing trend of self-expression in society.