Removing My Chest Tattoo

15 years ago I put on a really big statement necklace that I haven’t been able to take off since. No matter what mood I’ve been in, what I felt like wearing, through all the taste shifts I’ve experienced in a decade and a half, it’s been there, non-changing and always a huge part of my appearance. That’s how I describe my chest piece. Do I regret it? Yes and no. I LOVED it so much when I was younger, and up until the last couple of years I still loved it. But now- I’m over it. To me it’s just too aggressive. I don’t want to lead with my chest tattoo, I want to lead with ME.

I’ve been talking to Hank about removing it for a couple of years and we’ve recently discussed it a lot more seriously. Then this week, I decided to go for it. It’s so weird though- it’s been with me through so much. It’s had a great run. In fact who knows if I would be where I am today, without it right? Every little decision leads us right here. Thinking about Tattoo Tuesday (where are my OGs at?!) and how that brought SO many people to my blog. Then my successful blog way back then led to SO much else. Crazy. Evolution is real though and I’m glad to have the option to remove it, as painful as it will be.

It’s funny too- I don’t think I would have shared this before. Maybe it’s an ego thing but I always felt so vulnerable saying- I don’t like this anymore. I was wrong. But I feel just fine saying this now. Growth? 😆 Another thing is that I looked everywhere online and could not find ANYTHING that told the whole story of how the removal process works. I would love to be able to see treatment by treatment photos of something this size, details of the healing, all of it. So I am excited to share the process and hopefully this will be helpful to some of you.

My consultation is in two weeks and then we’ll begin. It’s going to take forever and it’s going to look gnarly in between for a long, long time. Since sharing this I’ve had multiple people send me photos of their chest piece post removal. It took most of them two+ years and it was a long process. But to see their clear skin now- amazing.

So- here we go! Who’s looking forward to following along?