Some People Who Get Face Tattoos Want Them Removed. Who Could've Seen This Coming

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Source – Face tattoos are making a comeback [but] for some people, erasing their ink, and the bad memories associated with it, can be the final, “liberating” step of turning their lives around, says Jeff Garnett. He is the co-owner of the tattoo-removal company Clean Slate Laser, which has locations in New York and New Jersey.

“We’ve all made mistakes, but our mistakes aren’t always the first thing people see and judge us by,” says Garnett, who is donating six sessions of tattoo removal to Arias. (They usually cost around $400 per session.)

Although clients with face tattoos account for only about 5 percent of his business, “We are seeing more and more of it,” Garnett says. “Face tattoos have become a bigger part of pop culture — they’re a little more mainstream now.”

Clients run the gamut: teens who regret their ink decisions, women with botched microbladed eyebrows and recently released prisoners hoping to find work.

A lot of times, [clients] have prison-gang tattoos, and those are going to get in the way of getting legitimate work,” Garnett says. “And if they can’t get a legit job, they might end up back on the wrong track again.”

This is shocking news. Just shocking. Who could’ve ever seen a day coming when people who have ink permanently burned into the skin on their faces would someday regret the decision? How could you ever predict that there’d be a day when having a tat on your face would be anything more than an interesting conversation piece? I mean, sure, anyone with a scintilla of life experience has looked at old photos where we had regrettable hair or clothes that are embarrassing now. That shouldn’t lead one to conclude that scribbling on your face with the indelible Sharpie that is a tat would ever come back to haunt you, right?

I’m not a tattoo guy and have zero desire to ever have one. But that doesn’t mean I’m against them. It’s not like I’m trying to get buried in a Jewish cemetery. It’s probably more due to the fact I lack the commitment to ever have anything permanently embedded into my flesh. My prom tux went out of style by the time the photographer mailed me my photos. I’ve been burned too many times by buying an athlete’s jersey only to see him get traded, leave as a free agent or suck. But my kid went off to the military and came back with a half a dozen of the things. I know plenty of moms who went and got them with their adult daughters. And I’m no stranger to the female friend with the tramp stamp. So I’m no absolutist by any stretch.

It’s just here, in five short paragraphs, is the perfect illustration of something I’ve been saying my whole adult life. It’s free advice from your Life Coach Jerry: Don’t get any ink that can’t be covered up with business casual clothing. My rule of thumb has always been that no matter what your neck tat is supposed to say, all it reads to anyone looking at it is “Don’t Hire Me.” I learned this in 17 years of looking around a courtroom and seeing thousands of neck and face tattoos on defendants, and never one on a judge, attorney, clerk or probation officer. Not one. That is not a coincidence.

I used to say all the time that I was going to invest in the next great American industry: Tattoo removal. I think the time to start is now.