I don't see any way to compromise. The thing is.. will you still want them 5 years from now. I carved a tattoo on my arm once and my father saw it and yelled about the future and made me let it heal.. and I think he was right.. although I have seen some very nice ones like ankle bracelet, or upper arm bracelet. A compromise would maybe be to do one that is a temp one.. like henna or something.

well i allowed one of my alters to get a simple star tattoo when i turned 18..since i have not celebrated my birthday before or after that day...it was like a contract to maintain sanity...now i have to extra tattoos, not so much memory of it..and very highly often i forget i have all three., with piercings..(oh and u cant see my tats with reg. clothes)
anyway..at the age 13 i pierced my lobes extra times..got tired and removed them to only find myself re piercing them...until eventually the hole healed and i no longer re pierce just to have a different earing look..same with my nose. its not pierced now, but for like 3 years, i pierced it and removed it, let it heal when removed and pierce the opposite side and vice versa over and over..now i want a tatto but cant decide since we all have to like it :) --hope that helps. just make sure its something you can all agree on somehow if u do get ink or rings...that way u wnt regret it everytime or freak out when u realize u have it

Your replies do help. Thank you. It seems that all the tattoos we want are on the left side of the body which is interesting.

hehe yeah, that is interesting

Hm. I have a tattoo, but there was no agreement over it. Happened a few years back before we really understood about what was going on with us. So I guess someone just came out and got one? And now we're stuck with it. No one's overly upset about it, but probably not the best way to go about things.
If I were ever to get another tattoo we would have to reach some sort of agreement.

Yeah. Trying to find that place of consensus. I have some very conservative alters who are fine as long as they don't see it but others that really want one on the lower inside arm as well as up on the shoulder. The debate rages on....

A lot of it has to do with what a tattoo MEANS. To some it means a personal expression, an outlet, a declaration or simply using the body as a template for a story.

Others feel that only degenerates get tattoos.

So we may need to work on that. Obviously!

We all pretty much like our tattoo.

We're an odd bunch.

Well, I'm doing it. I'm starting with one on my back and if it goes well, we'll just go from there. Thanks for your help and input.

I would go for temp tatt you know there are ones you can get that lok real they last for weeks. You can all take turns. When I was pregnant we did a dragon on the belly not all would have agreed with that. It was to make becoming pleasantly plump exciting instead of oooohhh look how fat im getting. a fun way to celebrate whats nexed except that I lost that baby so then had I gotten a real tattu then that would have been really hard to look at everyday. Anyways bla bla bla sorry. But yeah thats what I would do.

Thanks mamoth! That's a great idea. It will allow me to try a tattoo for a while to see if I want it.

Just wanted to update unless anyone else is thinking of a tattoo.

First, it took a LOT longer than I thought - 2 hours to start and I'll need another hour or two.

The pain feels different on different parts of the body but iI found it difficult to maintain one personality. It helped to distract by watching a video or listening to music. And having a friend to hold my hand was also helpful.

I found it very empowering to be able to tell the tattoo artist to stop when I needed a break and to call the shots in terms of what design I got.

And I really like the design! : )

Congrats on your tattoo!

Mine's in my gallery, BTW, and I'm still very proud of it..:p

I also found that I became quite euphoric from the pain...I judged myself unfit to drive after two hours of having the work performed. It took me another hour or so to feel sober.

But apparently not everyone has that reaction

Thanks hylierandom! I zoned out with the pain and got into "the zone" where I was able to tolerate it. Afterwards I had a little endorphin rush but not enough to run back and go under the needle again anytime soon!

That said, when I've spoken with other friends who have a lot of tattoos they talk about that feeling of euphoria - and they have a LOT of tattoos!

For me the real plus was feeling like a bad-ass! : )