Have the name of your ex forever on your arm or in a drunken mood on vacation put a jolly picture on your buttock. Nice for a moment, but many young people who were under twenty when they had a tattoo put, now regret it and have it removed. Similarly the 25-year-old Jinte from Bakel. “I was eighteen and thought less about the consequences. I now regret that.”
Jinte lets her tattoos laser away in the laser clinic of Greg Van den Berkmortel in Deurne and is already in his chair for the sixth time. She shows two tattoos on her forearms. One of them is now almost impossible to see.
“Here I had Enjoy Life standing, “she says.” Behind that tattoo is a less pleasant story, which I no longer want to be reminded of every day. ” Hakuna Matata is on her other arm, which is also known and it is also known from the movie The Lion King.
“Many tattoos are put out of emotion and that is a pity.”
Greg sees many young people with these kinds of stories come by. About 15 percent of his clients are between 18 and 25 years old. “Most of which I see are women who have children and no longer find a tattoo fit with them. Of those ass sews on the lower back, for example. And tattoos that also pass a lot are texts and names. They have been put out of emotion and that is a pity.”
Out of one RTL News poll It turns out that the younger people were in putting their first tattoo, the greater the number that wants him to remove. Of the people who were under the age of 18 with their first tattoo, 12 percent had one lasered and another 11 percent are considering to do that.
In the meantime, more and more laser clinics are being added in Brabant. Jinte understands that. “At that age you often have an adolescent brain and cause-effect then it is harder to oversee. I now definitely think more about the consequences than I used to do.”
When Greg de Laser puts on Jinte’s arm, it seems like the tattoo fades immediately, but appears to be a appearance. “That is a reaction of the skin, but in half an hour that tattoo will look almost the same again,” he explains. According to Greg, an average of six to twelve treatments are needed. “And there are always eight weeks in between, because your skin has to renew itself. So it is a whole process that you have to go through.”
“If I were to take one, I would at least think about it a lot longer.”
Some tattoos never go completely away, Greg knows. “If the tattoo is set too deep and there is scar tissue underneath, you keep seeing that. That happens about thirty percent of the cases.” Jinte that will be completely disappeared after this session, he promises. How much money she has lost? “Hundreds of euros,” she admits. “While those tattoos were less than a hundred euros each at the time. If I were to take one, I would at least think about it a lot longer.”
Can you decide in informal about a tattoo at the age of sixteen?
According to neuropsychologist Erik Matser, you are less able to oversee the consequences of choices at a young age. “Your brain is only fully grown at the age of 21 and you are still building your identity at that age.”
“If you are fully identified with a football club or a band at the age of sixteen, that does not mean that this is also the case at the age of 30. You often grow. So know that you live in phases. And therefore look at what you put on your body and whether that is especially meaning for you at the time or that that is forever.”
Adjusting legislation for the age at which you have to put a tattoo does not think Matser is necessary. “I think you should think carefully about it in advance. Talk about it with people who are older or who have had a tattoo removed. And do it especially before you put one.”
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