Where on my body should I get a tattoo?

The main concern when thinking about getting a tattoo should be finding something that you really like as well as the location on your body.

Interestingly, women and men tend to get tattoos in different locations. This is because men and women get tattoos for different reasons. Men get them to show others, while women get them for the sake of decorating their body -and often place them where they can’t normally be seen, so that it doesn’t prompt comments about her “reputation.”

For men the choices tend to vary from small tattoo designs to big ones and are located on the portions easily visible to others like the bicep, shoulder, hands neck or whole back.

Women prefer small tattoo designs and chooses it to be on their lower back, tummy, shoulder, ankle, calf, neck, chest or hip. Maximum of these portions are not clearly visible, which shows that they want their tattoo to be their own.

Skin being the largest organ therefore it provides you ample space to tattoo. Several things have to be considered in deciding where to place your tattoo:

1. Tattoo shape

What is the general shape of your new tattoo ? Is it more circular or square? Maybe its longer than it is wide. For example round tattoos looks great on shoulders, upper backs, thighs etc. A round tattoo on a forearm might be distorted since it will wrap around preventing it from being seen easily. A longer tattoo such as a dagger or prowling tiger would fit much better going down a forearm or calf. Such a tattoo might waste a lot of skin in other areas where you might want a tattoo at a later date.

2. Tattoo size

Back, chest and stomach areas allow lots of flat area in which to get a fairly large piece of tattoo.If you want to have several tattoos together than these places are ideal.

3. Visibility to others

Tattoos on hands, face and neck are seen by everyone. When getting a personal or controversial tattoo you might not want it on an area where it is not easily covered for work or going out.

Hip and thighs are popular area for women to get larger pieces of tattoo – often extending from the hip area. It shows well with a bathing suit but easily concealable in modest shorts.

Some employers do not allow tattoos to be seen. Better check first if your tattoo can cause problems in the kind of profession you work in. For instance the U.S. army and police have special guidelines where tattoos and what kind of tattoos are allowed.

4. Skin movement

A tattoo on your belly isn’t a great idea if you are a girl who wants to have children in the future. A tattoo can look silly when it starts to stretch, like a round smiley face that’ll turn into an oblong frown. Girls are you considering breast enhancement or reduction in the future? If so maybe the breast is the wrong area for now for a new tattoo.

5. Skin sagging

Skin in certain parts of the body tends to sag more with aging. A tattoo that looks great now, might look a lot less attractive in 15-20 years. Buttocks and breast tend to sag more than other parts of the body. Ask your tattoo artist for advice.

6. Pain in getting tattooed

You should know that different parts of the body have different levels of pain in the process of getting tattooed. Generally the areas where the skin is thin and close to the bone hurt the most. These areas include ankles, head, neck and the lower back. Less painful are the chest, upper arm, shoulders and upper back. You can always seek the advice of the tattoo artist about a less painful location for the tattoo.

7. Future tattoo location

If you have plans for more tattoos in the future where will you want them? Could the design and location conflict with something else your going to get? These are important questions as having random type of tattoos in one area can sometimes look terrible.

The choice of the tattoo design and the choice of the suitable location for it go hand in hand.You should firmly make your mind up about the final location for the tattoo on your own and not on the recommendation of others. Keep in mind that this will be with you for the rest of your life, so you must be comfortable with this decision.The worse thing is to ruin a good tattoo by placing it somewhere on your body that doesn’t display it properly or distorts the shape.

Where on my body should I get a tattoo?

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