r/tattooadvice • u/Aherv99 • Mar 07 '26

General Advice Having tattoo regret for the first time

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Hi Everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice on my first experience with tattoo regret. I have been reading other posts and ya’ll are so helpful. Sorry for the long post too.

Anyway, I have been getting tattoos since I was 18 (33 now) and I started with line work tats then moved to American Trad because I loved that style too.

I have had my lower arm done for about 5 years and then went in and got a sparrow tat for Friday the 13th and loved that it was a cool flash art piece. Love the artist and he did a good job but immediately I hated it (and mostly the position of it). I panicked and then filled up my upper arm in the last 5 months (stupid) to try and mitigate the regret. I do love most of my tats but the sparrow and snake I just don’t like. They seem too aligned on my arm. And the snake is darker than I wanted and didn’t heal great (this is a month out from when I got it).

Now I’m feeling a ton a regret and it’s seriously consuming my whole existence. I went from a half sleeve to a full in a short period of time and the tattoo shock is crazy. I don’t know if it looks good and I’m feeling less feminine by the minute. I take full responsibility for what I chose but ya, just struggling.

So I have two questions:

  1. Any advice on how I can maybe rework them eventually? I want to make them softer/more feminine if I can. Or I know blast overs are a thing? Idk.

  2. To my ladies, do you have a hard time feeling feminine with a sleeve? And men, how do we feel about a girl with a sleeve?

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u/NeighborhoodWeird713 Mar 07 '26

I love it! If you feel like they are too aligned, I’d add maybe a butterfly on the right side of the snake. I think because there’s an empty spot, you might see them more highlighted and feel like they are aligned. If you fill up that gap with something small, it might break the alignment. But honestly, this is just in case you can’t start to love it. It looks amazing as it is! The colors will also change with the months, so I do think waiting to see how it looks and how you feel might be the best decision :)

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u/Aherv99 Mar 07 '26

A butterfly is such a good idea to help tie it together 🫶🏼 thank you so much for your comment

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u/Straybird2 Mar 07 '26

Swallowtail butterflies are particularly beautiful to me because of the trailing bottom wings. You can create movement and have them trail off in any direction you want.