I'm just saying....

[plumtreeblossom]

As a tattooed person who enjoys looking at other people's tattoos, I do have to say that I think a time will come when this girl will regret having done this. That's the lead singer for the local band Humanwine.

She's very young and very pretty now, and can pull off the look for the time being. But life is long, and it changes. The body changes, too. We live in a multiplistic society where everyone, no matter how famous or eccentric, must sometimes switch looks if we are to survive, as we encounter situations requiring the ability to slip from one look to another as needed. Clothes and hairstyles are definitely great in that regard. Everyone has the right to look the way he or she wishes, and I love having tattoos and piercings, but a tattoo on the face will most definitely alter one's life forever, in ways a young person might not take full time to ponder.

I will probably get more tattoos during my lifetime, but they won't be on my face. Many years ago I considered getting designs tattooed on my earlobes. But ultimately I rejected the idea, thinking ahead to times in my life when a modification like that could work against me. I have many ear piercings and can wear up to 8 earrings at a time. But I can also not wear them.

Faces change shape as we age. Skin wrinkles, distorting tattoos, and the face changes faster than most other body areas. Will she still be in a band at 50? I don't know. Will she still have a lifestyle that supports having a goatee-like tat on her chin? I don't know that either. But the magic 8-ball says "not very likely." Tattoo removal costs 10 times what a tattoo does, and leaves the skin with an orange peel texture that is just as noticible as the tattoo was. So it really is a lifetime committment.

I'm not saying she doesn't have the right to do as she wishes to her face. She does have that right. But 20 years from now, I think it probable that she'll wish she'd left her face alone. I'm glad I did.

Comments

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I thought much the same thing the first time I saw them.

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

Her tattoos are as stunning as her music, and I hope that her life continues to encourage all the ways that she expresses herself. Her body art doesn't seem to simply be about beauty, but about forcing the world to deal with her on her terms. Easy for me to say; I have no permanent body art. But my hair coloring does mark me as being outside the societal norm, and in fact it's feeling easier to consider tattoos as I get older.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

but about forcing the world to deal with her on her terms.

But you can't. Acceptance can't be taken by force. Obedience, yes. But not acceptance. The closest one can come would be to insulate oneself within a self-made society of people who accept the modification of their own free will. Some people have the fortunate circumstances of being able to do exactly that. But sometimes that insularity can't be sustained permanently. Bands disband, fans get older and move out of the subculture, social circles grow apart, leaving the person alone at midlife in a multiplistic society, and the discriminations that come with seeking work, seeking a mate, etc.

Life circumstances change for people as they get older. As cool as her tat looks now, how will affect her life when she's 48? Again, I don't know. But she may change and decide she wants something different for her lifepath than music or the arts. Would the tattooed face provide employment/social hurdles for a middle-aged woman in any other field? I think it would in many. She's free not to choose those fields, but what if she wants to but is alienated because of an extreme body modification made electively in her youth?

I met a man from MIT who has a stainless steel peg-leg. I think it's one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and downright sexy. But he didn't cut off his leg to get a peg-leg. He made the best of a loss that was not of his choosing. Elective body modification is completely different. People know the difference and treat it differently.

I loved getting my two tattoos, and found the committment empowering and beautifying. I got them in a place that I can display or cover at will (my foot) and it has never presented an obstacle, even now in my 40s. I'll probably get more. But the face is different than all other body parts. It's a tool we'll need for a million and one uses throughout life, and an elective marking as extreme as hers may cause future problems should she no longer be able to support herself financially within a group of similarly minded people.

[androidqueen.livejournal.com]

eh, i wouldn't want it, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. or perhaps she really doesn't want to be beautiful.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

My take is that it looks like a goatee, whether or not that was the intent. It's still going to look like a goatee in years ahead. Could be just what she wanted, but I agree, I wouldn't want it myself.

[kalisti23.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you posted this because now I'm really interested in the band.
But stop worrying so much about someone else's future. I'm pretty sure that someone who goes to such extremes (and really she's pretty tame compared to a lot of body-mods out there) has extremely strong convictions about her lifestyle, identity, appearance, etc.. I'm sure if she ever stops performing for a living she'll have no problem finding a conventional job in, say, San Francisco.
Plus, there are a number of cultures outside the US (Maori of New Zealand, some nomads in North Africa,) for whom facial tattooing is a regular practice. Perhaps she identifies with their standards of beauty more than the American main stream.
I think the people who will end up regretting their fashion choices are the women who wear the super low jeans with their g strings showing. Sure, they can change their clothes ten years from now, but they'll never be able to forget that they once went out in public like that! :)

[muffyjo]

How Mauori of her. That's a common kind of tribal tatoo among the natives of New Zealand and Hawaii. I think by the time she gets to the age where it will not look attractive to a select group of people, she will have already found the people who no longer care about the superficial.