For many older people, tattoos came with baggage. Now, social mores have changed and for those in their 60s, 70s and 80s: “The stigma associated with prisoners’ tattoos, or sailors or misfits getting them, has disappeared,” says Louise Krystahl, a tattoo artist. That may be why she now gets a lot of clients over the age of 60, who feel ready for their first tattoo at her studio, Inkscape, in Bexhill-on-Sea. She once tattooed a ladybird on the wrist of a woman in her 80s.
“For older people, it’s usually a sentimental reason, not just that they fancy a butterfly,” says Krystahl. “Some of them have a new lease of life, or want to tick it off their bucket list.” The pandemic, she says, may have spurred on others: “I think people are doing stuff they have thought about for a long time and it has given them the impetus.”
Here are some people who decided that it’s never too late to get inked.
Neil Davies has his daughter’s name, Emily, tattooed on his arm and adds a star on his birthday each year. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
‘When somebody says, “What’s that on your arm?” it’s an excuse to talk about Emily’
Neil Davies, 67, lives in West Sussex and got his first tattoo in 2019
My daughter Emily died in January 2019, from breast cancer, when she was 37. On the day she died, we were in bits. It struck me that I wanted something with me that meant Emily was with me for ever. The only thing I always wear is my wedding ring, but I didn’t want just another piece of jewellery. I wanted something that I could wake up with in the morning and go to sleep with at night. I had her name tattooed on my arm on my 65th birthday, three days after she died.
A few weeks later, I came up with this little saying, “Sometimes the star that shines brightest, shines but briefly.” I had that tattooed underneath her name. That, to me, was Emily. She was a very bright, vivacious person, always the life and soul of any party. She had friends for life. She worked very hard, she brought up her little boy until he was five, until she couldn’t, on her own. She kept a job going at the same time. A lot of people loved her because she had a lot of love to give.
I find that talking …….
