Tattos and body modification

[Sarah V]

Once I retire from my current postition/emplyer, I plan to treat myself and get a few tattoo's. All will be personal and not really for show unless I want to show them off. None will be big, but I want to do a permanent anket on my left ankel, and then (o.k., maybe a bit too girly) but a tramp stamp of a ballerina (what pose is still TBD) on my lower backside. Piercings for my ears are a definate, and I am now starting to think of a navel piercing too. This is not just a whim, but somehting I have been thinking about getting for a few years now. Now that I see all over the place with older, mature, professional / & soccer mom GG ladies getting them, then I know it is time tattoo's and piercings have gone main-stream, and their is nothing to be so uptight about not having one anylonger if I really want one or two, which I certainly do.

[Lynn Marie]

[SIZE="4"]I had the pleasure of attending the US Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, GA in the spring of 1963. One young misguided soul appeared there at the same time with a tatoo of airborne jump wings on his arm before he had actually earned them. He didin't, the school cadre saw to it that there was going to be no possible way for him to graduate from the Airborne School for being so presumptive.

Happily I never did drink that much and have avoided any misguided attempts at body decorations. There's nothing that turns me off more than a tatoo. I guess I'm just old school.[/SIZE]

[Luna Nyx]

I have 5 so far. One on each upper arm, one on my shoulder, one on my chest and one on the back of my neck. I want to get one of the arm and the neck tattoo covered up. Up until a year ago i had my ears gauged out to 1 1/2 inch. I had to get the surgically sewn up. There are days I miss them and days I do not.

[DanielleT]

I like to wear "temporary tatooes", usually on my upper thigh, that way, if I decide to give some cute guy (or girl) an upskirt, it adds to the excitement. I don't have any permanent body piercings, but I do wear a lot of body jewelry when I am dressed. I really like wearing nipple rings and ornaments, under the right kind of dress, those look soo very good.

[Jackiefl]

after waiting forever i just got my lower back (tramp stamp)yesterday 12/30 with my wifes support. I'm so happy it's pretty and fem, can't wait to show it off, will post pic after it heals.

[Tara D. Rose]

I never have gotten any tattoos, and I never will.

[Andinera]

I've yet to get any tattoos because I couldn't decide but to get but I've been contemplating getting a large set of butterfly or fairy wings on my back, very colorful.

[Keri L]

For those contemplating a tattoo my suggestion is to work up the design and refine it to exactly what you want. Put it in a drawer. A year later, take it out and look it over. If you still feel the same way about getting it done then perhaps you should go ahead and do it.

I'm doing electrolysis, another form of permanent body modification. I thought long and hard before I decided to proceed.

Dear Eryn,

Did you consider laser hair removal on your face, supplemented by electrolysis? I have been researching laser hair removal for my face but am finding mixed reviews.

Also, once you get a completely hair free face, do you know if it immediately "outs" you to others, i.e. Is it obvious you are transitioning?

Xxoo,
Cate

[Raquel June]

Dear Eryn,

Did you consider laser hair removal on your face, supplemented by electrolysis? I have been researching laser hair removal for my face but am finding mixed reviews.

Also, once you get a completely hair free face, do you know if it immediately "outs" you to others, i.e. Is it obvious you are transitioning?

Xxoo,
Cate

There have been a lot of threads on this in the Beauty Club forum. Usually someone starts arguing that laser doesn't work. Like this one:
http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/...r-during-laser

Eryn also has a big thread on all her progress with laser/electro.

By far the fastest and most cost-effective thing to do is to do everything you can with electrolysis then get grey/blonde hairs with laser. Electrolysis alone is usually estimated at about 250 hours, or about 3 years doing 90-min to 2-hour sessions every week. With laser you have sessions 4 to 6 weeks apart and you're in touch-up mode after about 8.

Without derailing this thread too much, the most important advice I can give is to get references. Try to find local TS people who have seen the tech and are satisfied with their results more than a year later. A bad electro tech can leave tons of little scars on you. A bad laser tech can set the power too high and kill all your skin pigment, or set the power too low and the hair will grow back in a year. Experience with trans women is important, because zapping a genetic female's faint mustache away is much different than getting rid of the beard of someone born male.

One major inconvenience is that laser places tend to just sell sessions or packages of sessions instead of billing by the hour like electrolysis. So, your first few sessions might take 45 min. to clear your whole face, but after a couple sessions it might just take 20 min. to clear the new growth, and after 7 or 8 sessions you'll probably just need a 5-min touch-up. But you can't just book a 5-min laser session, so you have to just switch to electrolysis. But if you find a good place that does both laser and electrolysis, you might be able to book an electrolysis session, but if any dark hairs popped up they'll pull out the laser to zap them real fast first.

Slowly losing your beard shadow isn't going to out you to anybody unless you clearly had a perpetual 5-o'clock shadow. If your mom is used to kissing you on the cheek and feeling something scratchy, that's pretty obvious. But moms are good at denial.

[whowhatwhen]

I want to add 2 more holes to each of my ears at some point, but I still haven't thought of any tattoo design I'd like to wear forever though.

One thing I'll never understand is penis tattoos, not ones on the penis but tattoos of penises in general.
Or if you really want to go meta, why not a tattoo of a penis on your penis?

Same thing with boobs/vaginas/OH GOD WHAT IS THAT? sort of thing.

[chantelle_white]

At the moment any type of tattoo would be a pipe dream but I would love to have some. I cannot escape the fact that I would want mine to be extremely fem and in most people's eyes obvious. I've scouted long and hard on the net and still find myself drawn to having a rose on my left ankle calf area. I'd opt to have the stem wrap round my and the flower to be prominent and large. It's cheesy yes but it would make me so thrilled to show it off. That and I'd love my name in a scroll style tramp stamp. Finally a butterfly on my right foot.

Fantasy? Yes but the dream is there and it's the thought of something unmistakably feminine on me forever that will push me on. Again would I regret them? I'd like to think not and that I was merely expressing the person inside.

That's my ramble anyway 😃

[Raquel June]

One thing I'll never understand is penis tattoos, not ones on the penis but tattoos of penises in general.
Or if you really want to go meta, why not a tattoo of a penis on your penis?

Umm... Are tattoos of penises common in Ontario?

Cuz I gotta say, I've seen a lot of hearts, names, flowers, butterflies, tramp stamps, tribal silliness, celtic silliness, barbed wire silliness, skulls, demons, comic-bookish stuff, kanji, koi, gothic lettering, weapons, the ace of spades, portraits and random animals ... but I've never seen a tattoo of a penis on someone.

I mean, I wouldn't want one, but I think I'd be impressed. It's kinda ... uhh ... ballsy and original.

[whowhatwhen]

They seem to pop up a lot in places that mock badly done tattoos, that being said there are quite a few penis tattoos that are quite beautifully drawn and very artistic but at the end of the day you still have a penis tattoo.
In person though, I haven't seen anything offensive.

I do admire some of the nice artwork people have though.

[Beverley Sims]

If it is not an appropriate feminine looking tattoo I would be inclined to cover it up to enhance my presentation.

[Jenni Yumiko]

Have 9 tats all drawn by me, belly piercing which got closed up by a recent surgery, and multiple ear piercings. I love ink

[kodak82]

I love every one of my tattoos. I'm actually thinking about getting more work done soon. Its crazy to me how only a few years ago tattoos were so taboo but now everyone from bikers to CEO's have them. Its funny to here my70 year old grandmother talk about what kind of ink she would get.

[blackmamba]

Wear what you want! I know tons of attractive people, male/female/other that have awesome tattoos. If you love them, show them off.