An accountant with 25 tattoos including three inspired by Harry Potter says she regrets every single one. Rose Nicholson, 32, first went under the needle when she was 19.
On that occasion she had an 8in heart design across her chest. And over the next eight years she added a half sleeve of colourful characters from Neverhood - a 90s computer game - on her arm, along with lyrics to song 'Smile' by Eyedea and Abilities.
On the same arm, she had four pre-designed 'flash' tattoos - where you turn up on the day - and three Harry Potter tattoos.
She continued adding tattoos all over her body. Her final one - the Deftones White Pony on the back of her thigh - was at the age of 27.
READ: Tattoo addict mum who can't get a job banned from pub, school and parties Melissa Sloan, formerly of Hanley, has more than 800 tattoos and her face has been inked three times
READ: Woman's 'revenge p*rn hell' at hands of Stoke-on-Trent stalker Mark Harrison, of Weston Coyney, has been jailed after sharing the intimate photos online
But since hitting her 30s, Rose now 'hates them all'. She is even considering getting them removed - but it's too expensive.
She said: "I still love Harry Potter but I don’t want it on my skin. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea.
“I don’t like the way it looks on me anymore. They don't look right with the clothes I want to wear.
“There was no attempt at design. There is no uniformity. The work isn’t bad, but it’s cartoon characters. By the time I was 30 I realised I hated my tattoos and wished I could take them all back.”
Rose says that she nearly always wears long sleeves to work prevent people from seeing her tattoos.
“The first time everyone saw them at work was during a 40 degree heatwave and people were surprised," she said. She no longer wears low cut shirts due to her heart tattoo.
“It was my first tattoo," she said. "I didn’t really want it that big but the tattoo artist talked me into it by saying to go ‘all out’. It’s 8 inches wide and two to three inches tall and it’s really hard to cover up.
"I can’t wear most dresses,” she said, before adding the same tattoo artist later apologised to her after she told him it was her least favourite tattoo.
Rose says that the tattoos she chose when she was younger give the wrong impression of her lifestyle.
“People look at tattoos and assume I am a certain way; interested in going to metal shows, or going out and getting sloshed with friends," she said.
She said she doesn’t want to talk about the tattoos she chose to get and that people often ask her about them unsolicited.
“There was once a guy who came up to me and asked me if he could touch them," she said. “That might have been part of what led to me to wishing I had never got them. I didn’t want to talk about my tattoos all the time.
“I thought it was cool to have tattoos and here I am now and I just hate them all and wish I could take them all back."
Rose said she considered having them removed but added: "I know it’s possible but the process is long-winded, expensive and painful.
“I don’t really have the disposable income as an adult as I did when I was younger, I was living at home and my cash from my job went to buying tattoos. When you’re young you don’t care about what everyone else thinks and you don’t want to listen.”
She said that if she was speaking to her younger self, her advice would have been to “consult with the tattooer about your ideas, and think about uniformity and at least making them look good together".
“My advice would be to wait until you are 30 to know who you are as an adult because there is no rush if you still want a tattoo," she added.
Story Saved
You can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.
