I was strongly advised by lots of people not to have a heartagram tattoo, they all said that I'd regret it. The first time I decided I was going to get one done I listened to all my friends and changed my mind. They said at 35 years old I should know better than to follow popular trends and do the same as teenage HIM fans would do. Yes the heartagram is the logo for the band HIM, also used by Bam Margera and also seen tattooed on millions of teenagers who will no doubt regret it when they are older. I suppose in some way it would be like me having had a Motley Crue tattoo done when I was 18 years old, god I'm glad I didn't. So maybe I am mad!
At A Glance Author Sugar Contact sugarpinkmice@hotmail.com IAM SugarPinkMice When A month ago Artist Nigel Kurt Location South Yorkshire, England Yes I do listen to HIM but the decision for the tattoo wasn't about being a fan of the band; it's more about marking a stage in my life. I see tattoos as being like chapters in the book of my life so it made sense to me, besides which I do like the heartagram; it seems less Goth-like than a pentagram.
I took the picture from the front of HIM's Love Metal cd, the photocopy of it remained stuck to my fridge for several weeks before I finally decided to take it into the tattooist's and make an appointment. When I finally did make an appointment I was laughed at by several friends.
I decided I wanted the tattoo on the inside of my lower arm, I already have two small paw prints on the inside of my wrist and they were quite painful so I wasn't looking forward to it. To my surprise the tattooist told me he had only done one other heartagram on a teenage boy who was a big fan of the band, although he did recognize what it was having listened to the Love Metal cd himself.
The tattoo didn't actually hurt as much as I had expected and was completed in about half an hour. It occurred to me while I was there that I was lacking in colour on my left arm so I had the middle bit coloured in red, the rest is just a thick outline. The tattooist put some cling film over the finished tattoo and I left the studio feeling quite pleased.
On my way into town I bumped into my friend who asked to have a look and laughed at me again, I wasn't bothered I was happy with my new tattoo.
I managed to leave the cling film on until later that night, in the hope that the tattoo would heal quickly, usually I take it off after a couple of hours but I wanted my tattoo to begin healing so that I could go out and show it off at the weekend.
By Saturday night several people had noticed the tattoo, surprisingly some of them didn't know what it was. I have also been keeping an eye open for other people with heartagrams and I have spotted quite a few, though none that are identical to mine, which is a good thing.
For some reason this tattoo has taken ages to heal. When it scabbed over the surrounding area was very red and the shape of the tattoo looked distorted, perhaps because it was in quite a tender place. Once the scab had come off the skin underneath was very dry. I have never had a tattoo that has taken more than 2 weeks to heal, it became very itchy but I managed to resist the temptation to scratch it as I didn't want to ruin it. I used Savlon cream to help the healing process and after the scab had come off I used a mild moisturiser to help take away some of the dryness.
Perhaps I should have chosen a different place to have the tattoo, because it's circular the shape changes when I stretch my arm outwards. I never realized that until I studied it through the mirror. When I look down at it I can see a perfect circle, so I know it's done properly. I think people sometimes don't realize that tattoos can alter their shape depending on posture and movement. Overall I'm very happy with it though and I don't care if others think I'm silly for getting it done.
I've had to put up with a lot of sarcasm from people over it but the worst thing was when a friend of mine recently asked if I liked the band HIM, I said yes and showed him my arm "That is very un-professionally done if you don't mind me saying so" he said, thanks for that, what are friends for! Despite that I don't regret it, its something that I will always be able to look back on to remind me of this particular part of my life.