People say awful things about my face tattoo, but I don’t have any regrets
Watch: People say awful things about my face tattoo, but I don’t have any regrets
A woman who got a large face tattoo on "impulse" says she doesn't regret it for a second, despite receiving a lot of negativity with strangers telling her she has "ruined her face".
Alitia Thoburn, 20, a tattoo artist from Bristol has been passionate about tattoos since she was eight-years-old. While her fiancé, Jonathan Saunders, 37, also a tattoo artist, was inking her arm the couple impulsively decided to bring the design up onto the right side of her face. The design is a large brush like stroke of ink which comes down to her collar bone and connects with the rest of her tattoos.
The inking is one of Alitia's favourites despite trolls suggesting it has had a negative impact on her looks and prospects. "I don't understand why people always thought that tattoos meant you are a thug or criminal," she explains. "It could be something positive like a memorial or something you simply enjoy."
Alitia has had up to 50 hours of sessions tattooing the rest of her body and got her first face tattoo in May 2023. She had been contemplating an inking there for a while but was initially committed to finishing the rest of her body first. Since getting the face tattoo Alitia has added some flowers to make the tattoo "look more feminine''.
She loves her tattoo but says she has received a lot of criticism about it online and in person, with people warning that she may regret her decision to ink her face. She was once asked by an elderly lady 'what the f*** have you done to your face?' and has also been told she is a 'stupid b***h' for getting a facial inking. But Alitia is determined not to let opinions impact her. "The people who think I will regret my tattoos let them, I don't care what they think," she says.
In contrast to the negativity she's received, Alitia has had plenty of support from people telling her how much the design suits her. She now plans to cover all her body in tattoos, so all her inkings will join up to create one big design. "It's a work in progress but eventually I will be tattooed everywhere and it will all be connected into one large body suit," she says.
Though she doesn't believe her face tattoo will be completely accepted for a very long time, Alitia has zero regrets about her choice of inking. "I like to customise how I look," she adds. "I don't regret anything in life because if I did things differently I wouldn't be the same person."
Visible tattoos: the facts
A quarter (26%) of the British public have tattoos. This includes one in nine (11%) Britons who have at least one visible tattoo; on the head, face, neck, forearms, wrists or hands.
According to a recent YouGov study the British public are split on their attitudes towards inkings in general, with younger Britons tending to take more of a positive view towards body art and older Britons feeling more negatively.
When it comes to visible tattoos attitudes are also somewhat divided depending on the location of the inking. Two-thirds of Britons (64%) say they wouldn’t consider visible tattoos to be unprofessional in the workplace, as long as they are not on someone’s face or neck.
For those in these locations, the figures are almost exactly reversed with 63% of the public claiming they would consider face and neck tattoos to be unprofessional, with just 28% saying they would not.
It seems that a negative attitude towards a visible inking could have an impact on your careers as because tattoos are not a protected characteristic, employers can legally dismiss someone or refuse to hire them because of a tattoo.
But things do seem to be changing. Back in 2019 Air New Zealand said it would end a ban on body arts to allow workers to express their individuality and cultural heritage. And in 2018, London's Metropolitan Police partially relaxed a ban on recruiting candidates with visible tattoos, saying they would now be considered on a "case by case basis".
It was estimated that about 10% of candidates were immediately rejected in 2017 because of the ban, at a time when the Met were seeking to recruit 2,000 extra officers.
Read more about tattoos:
The rise of midlife tattoos as Amanda Holden gets her first at 53 (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Tattoo warning issued by NHS as risks outlined by health chiefs (Daily Record, 2-min read)
Breast cancer survivor gets confidence back after realistic nipple tattoo: 'I felt like part of me was missing' (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
