To ink or not to ink, that is the questions!

I am not too sure when tattoos became fashionable. I suppose when I had my first one done when I was 18 (god that was 16 years ago...a good way to feel old!) tattooing hadnt really hit the zeitgeist yet. However over the last decade or so more and more people from all walks of life have decided to go under the needle and get 'inked' and I for one would like to know why.

I am sure the popularity of reality television has led to an increase in body art, particularly the "miami ink" series. I am a huge fan of this program and if you havent already seen it I implore you to tune in when you have the opportunity. The series has all the common ingredients for a successful show including human interest stories, not unattractive tattooists (Kat Von D rocks my world!) and psuedo intellectual spiritual bullshit being uttered by the owners of the parlour. Oh and there are also lots of shots of scantily clad women walking along miami beach! I had my most recent tattoo done this week and the tattooist that was doing it said that although she cant stand the actual program, the likes of Miami Ink have done wonders for her career and more and more people are coming into her parlour to get tattooed on the back of it.

It is this explosion of celebrity which has probably had the biggest influence on the increase in tattooing over the last 10 years. Every time you pick up a copy of Heat magazine or flick through the pages of the daily red-tops you are inundated with pictures of celebrities sporting their newest art work. David Beckham, PDiddly (or whatever he is calling himself these days!) Angelina Jolie to name but three are all conessieurs of body art and like it or not most of us are influenced by the media.

I am not saying that tattoo's are for everyone, it is your personal choice but if you are going to have one done please please please go into it with your eyes open. It is a cliche but tattoos stay with you for life so if you are going to have one make sure that you are having it done because you want to and not because you saw some z-list celebrity staggering out of chinawhite's wearing one! I have 12 tattoos now and I know that it hasnt stopped there but the difference is that I do not regret having any of them done.

Remember tattoos are not just for Christmas, they are for life.

Until next time, take care

P.S. And women with tattoos are soooooo bloody sexy