Poll Proves that Most People Don’t Regret Their Tattoos

“You’re going to regret those tattoos when you’re older.” If you have ink you probably can’t count the number of times that someone has said this to you. In the past you have probably balled your fists with rage when told this, I know I have. Now you don’t have to get angry thanks to empirical evidence showing that their assumptions are wrong. According to a new YouGov survey, 78% of tattooed Americans don’t regret their tattoos.

Though this may not seem like news considering the overwhelming percentage of people who are happy with their ink, you have to admit it’s kind of cool to have some statistics to back you up next time someone decides to make a snarky remark to you. I mean really, it’s crazy how many people are suddenly concerned with the future of other people’s bodies based off of the number of comments people make regarding what they do with them.

And while there has been a 25% increase in removal requests according to a Premier Laser Clinic report, the most commonly removed tattoos are dolphins, names of ex-lovers, and misspelled foreign quotes (another reminder to always do your research and check that spelling). The YouGov survey also shows that the older a person is when they get their tattoo the less likely they are to regret it. Of the people who got tattooed before they turned 21-years-old, 38% ended up regretting it. Of those who chose to wait until they were a bit holder only seven percent had regrets.

As always, there are still going to be naysayers (haters gonna hate), especially among older generations where tattoos are less popular but they also have less people who sport tattoos to begin with. A third of 18-44-year-old Americans have (at least) one tattoo, which is twice as many people as Americans who are 45 and older.

So wear your ink proudly, and next time someone tries to give you their two cents give them a sweet lesson on the statistics and cue the mic drop.