The growing thing should really be a nonissue. Seriously, you’d have to grow like FEET before it’d really mess with your design on your back man.

My only advice is this: be really damn sure you want it. Not because you’re 18, but because you oughta be sure with every tattoo.

When I turned 18, I thought it’d be cool to get a tattoo that read “I Feel Pretty”. The words were to be arranged around a smiley face surrounded by tribals (which sounds like a shitty design, I know, but it’s one of those things that aren’t as stupid as they sound).

So, I got it, and then went to get a ton more tattoos. Now, I’ve never regretted the “I feel pretty” portion of it, but the problem was I didn’t trust my artist to create it. All the ones after it though, I gave him increasingly vague ideas and let him run with them, and I’ve discovered that he’s roughly 1000x the artist I am. Compared to my later ink, my first, which I drew, kinda looks like a hunk of crap.

So while I don’t regret the design or the text, I surely hate how amaturish it looks in comparison to the rest. My advice is, be sure you actually want it, and make sure the design is solid and well done, because chances are once you start, you won’t stop until you’re outta skin. Tattooing is addicting man.

Though it could be worse. My brother-in-law, who’s forty, has been getting tattoos from the same guy for 30 years, and you can tell. The first ones are so crappy you want to shoot yourself, while the newest are pieces of art.

Love. Peace. Metallica.