Art

30 People Shared Stories Of ‘Which Type Of Tattoo Make You Cringe The Most?’

These tattoos are the ones you would want to consider avoiding.

Published February 22, 2023

Your body is a naked flesh canvas, which is why it’s important to put some thought into it before getting body art. Unless you choose to have it removed, it will become a permanent part of YOU, and inking isn’t exactly painless. Since tattoos have become one of the most creative ways for people to express themselves and tell their stories, there are great tattoos that aren’t noticeable but are very meaningful.

But of course, there are some of the tattoos people chose to mark themselves with that can leave anyone speechless, and not in a good way. Recently, Reddit user @soapsoupsin asked members of the r/AskReddit, ‘What is the most f**ked up thing you’ve tattooed? And without holding back, they weighed in, contributing examples they had seen that seemed like really bad ideas. We’ve compiled 30 stories from the community, read on.

#1

30 People Shared Stories Of 'Which Type Of Tattoo Make You Cringe The Most?' — wherearemyvoices,wherearemyvoices

“The tattoo of a clown holding a gun smoking a joint on my leg…”

Edit: Thanks for all the love and awards, guys! Never thought my horrible tattoo from 9 years ago would blow up like this.

#2

“That stupid cliche thing that says “life” one way and “death” the other.”

#3

“Memes.”

“The thought that a lot of people have dead memes from 2017 in their arms or legs is kinda funny.”

#4

“I once stood in line behind a lady who had, like, the bad tattoo parade going from the nape of her neck. She had “Only God Can Judge Me,” something in Asian characters, and an ugly, faded, poorly drawn crucifix.”

#5

“Had a lady come into the store I was working in with a big neck tattoo that said Daddy’s girl…. may have been the most shocking one I’ve ever seen.”

#6

“Tattoos that are gifts from you to someone else. For example, “For your birthday, I got your birth date tattooed on me!”

#7

“F*****g wings. Where you think you’re flying to??”

#8

“Knew of a guy once who had “DUBSTEP” tattooed on his chest in VERY VERY large letters. He also insisted that dubstep was the future of music and was here to stay.”

#9

“Former tattoo artist here, and it has to be infinity symbols.”

“ESPECIALLY when they want them to be “uNiQuE”, so they have you spend three hours drawing up different ways of cramming little McKayzleigh and Brackxston’s names, birthdates, birth weights, blood types, and favorite ice cream flavors in there.”

“Fine, I’ll find a way.” I can work for my money.”

“Oh, and can it also have a thin blue line in there for my husband?”

“Sure, lady.”

“And maybe some birds breaking off of it, cause my meemaw loves birds!”

“Sighhhh. Yeah, okay.”

“And can you do it on the side of my finger in white ink?”

“F**k you, get out.”

EDIT: Bonus points on these if they walk in holding a monogrammed Yeti tumbler full of the alcohol, they’re trying to smuggle in.

#10

“I was at a concert years ago in Philly when this guy showed up with a tattoo of a woman that had some very poorly executed features (e.g., an oddly crooked nose, teeth out of alignment, etc.). My buddy says to me, “If some tattooed guy screwed up a picture of my girlfriend that badly, I’d kick his ass.” “Well, about ten minutes later this young lady shows up, and damn if she didn’t look just like the tattoo.”

#11

“This young man wanted a tattoo on his back. It said something like, “Lisa please forgive me.” I told asked him if this was some last-ditch effort to get this girl back. He said yes, and I told him this is a really bad idea you shouldn’t do this. He wanted the tattoo anyway, so he got it. If it worked out with him and the girl, she will always remember this terrible thing he did that was so bad he had to go get a tattoo to try and prove how wrong he was. Or if it didn’t work out with them, whoever he dated afterwards would ask him what terrible thing he did that was so bad he had to go get a tattoo to try fix things with his ex. It seemed like a no-win scenario with that tattoo. My advice is, if your tattoo artist is telling you that something isn’t a good idea to get, just take a moment and consider why.”

#12

“I actually plan on getting a biohazard symbol as a tattoo. Some people have said, “Eew, what, are you trying to be punk or edgy or something?” or something along those lines when I tell them, but then I explain it’s because of my career. I’m a medical lab tech, and I deal with biohazardous substances all day, so it’s a nod to the fact that the human body (and everything it produces) is considered biohazardous material. I’m just being a good little lab tech and labeling myself appropriately.”

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention by several people that the biohazard symbol is used in the gay community to denote HIV+ status. I appreciate the information, but being the fact that I am a happily married bi woman, I don’t think it will affect me in the same manner.

#13

“I had to have a polyp removed from my colon a few years back. When they removed it, they actually tattooed a marker inside my colon, so that spot would be easier to find and check in a colonoscopy. So while, not a tattoo artist, I do have a tattoo up my a**. That qualifies as f*****d up.”

#14

“Nothing says “I’ve been to prison for cooking Meth in my trailer” like a Joker neck or face tattoo.”

#15

“Those creepy faces of babies, which look like there’s a little demon on your body.”

#16

“A defendant in the courtroom I clerked in during law school had “homicide” tattooed on his face, over his eyebrow. Not a great look..”

#17

“A cartel hitman got a pretty detailed back tattoo of a pretty unique murder scene, and when he was arrested and processed for something else entirely, the tattoo was so unique and obvious that it was a particular murder in question that he was arrested and convicted for the murder.”

#18

“The “Only God Can Judge Me” tattoo.”

“No, we can all judge you.”

#19

“I’m a tattoo artist. Had a regular come into the shop, he was an older swinger type and my coworker tattooed him. He got Pinocchio tattooed above his junk with his penis as the nose, and script that said “Lie to Me.” I try not to judge tattoos but I figured you’d all appreciate this one.”

Edit: Obligatory “wow this blew up” edit. Thanks, everyone for correcting my shrug.

#20

“I refuse to sink” next to an anchor. That is literally what anchors are made for.”

#21

“A guy I worked with had a failed pregnancy. Stillborn. So, he was mourning. I have very high-quality work on my arms that is very visible. So, he asks me who and how much. I tried explaining that with portrait work, you get what you pay for. He calls gets a price and then confronts me on the number like we were in cahoots. I reminded him that you don’t cheap on portrait work. And he told me he knows a guy who knows a guy. One last time I said don’t, but he fully believed I was in on scamming him.”

“He goes to a friend of the guy, and when he returns, I ask if I can see how it turned out.” He pulls up his shirt and starts to cry. He has what anyone can see is the worst tattoo of his dead baby on his chest. Just crying, he said, “I just wanted to remember him.”

Just tragic

Tl;Dr

Don’t cheap out on dead baby portraits.

#22

“Any tattoo with something in Chinese or Japanese written on it. I am learning Japanese coz why not, and I saw this dude with a tattoo saying sakana (fish). I was like, hey what does that mean and he said poison. He may have typed poisson into Google translate lol.”

#23

“I have a tramp stamp that says “no regrets” in very fancy cursive. It’s the only tattoo my dad laughed at rather than cringed. I can judge no one.”

#24

“Couple tattoos like portraits or names. Mostly when they proudly tell you it’s because they’ve been together for 5 months and just know they stay together forever.”

#25

“Once i saw a dude in a gym who had an elephant tattooed in his crotch. Guess what was the trunk?”

#26

“Nothing super weird and usually things I didn’t feel comfortable putting on people, I would turn away. But I had a coworker who would scoop them up and do the tattoo for them. One was a girl who had just turned 18. She wanted a chain around her waist with a lock hanging on it just above her vagina and the words “property of Dave” or whatever the f**k her boyfriend’s name was. First off, she was 18 so I figured the relationship probably wasn’t going to last so I wouldn’t do it for that reason. Then come to find out, her boyfriend had just been sentenced to life in prison for murder. The girl was making a terrible emotional mistake. I refused but my coworker did do the tattoo.”