Australian woman calls to raise the legal age of getting tattoos

A young Australian woman has urged Gen Z to think twice before getting tattooed - because they may grow up to regret it just like she did. TikTok user @clandestine_dncr (pictured left) shared her story of tattoo regret in a viral video simply titled 'Should have listened to mum'.

She explained how she began getting inked at the age of 19 as a 'coping mechanism' to deal with her mood swings and depression . But fast-forward 10 years and she 'absolutely hates' her tattoos.

'When I was 19, I stupidly started getting tattooed every time I had a mood swing,' she told her 31,000 followers. 'So I ended up getting really heavily tattooed, really quickly. It became such a coping mechanism for me. Whenever I had a depressive thought or feeling, I was like, "I'll get a tattoo." 'And at the time, I loved them. Ten years later, I absolutely hate the things. 'I love them on other people; I think they're beautiful. On myself? They make me physically recoil. They are by far my biggest regret.'

When she was a teenager, the young Aussie naively believed tattoo removal was a simple process. But having them lasered off has proved to be lengthy and painful. She has even become a professional tattoo remover in part so she can laser herself and save money. 'I was one of those ignorant people that was just like, "Oh, well, if I stop liking them I'll just get them removed. I'll just get laser,"' she said. 'No! It's not that simple!'

She went on to explain she has been getting the tattoos on her neck, hands and legs removed for the last eight years. So far, she has been able to completely remove about eight tattoos, but many more remain visible on her body.

The process of laser removal involves 12 to 20 sessions for each tattoo, she claims. 'It feels like you're being burned by a blowtorch,' she said of the agonising process. 'Half of the reason I do it [tattoo removal] for a living is because it's so damn expensive that if I have the laser [equipment] and I do the laser, I can just do it myself,' she added.

She concluded the video by saying she believes the legal age to get tattooed in Australia should be raised from 18 to 21. 'I'm such an advocate for the legal age... to go up to 21. Because I did not know what I was thinking [at 19]. I got my knuckles tattooed, I got my neck tattooed...' she said. 'I just want clean skin. It's all that I want.' Read the full story: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12804217/Tattoo-regret-Australian-woman-calls-raise-legal-age.html?ito=msngallery

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