Most of Sorren’s tattoos are inspired by their passions and interests. Unfortunately, a manipulative relationship with an aspiring tattoo artist led them to a tattoo they didn’t truly want.
Sorren applied to our Second Chances project convinced they wouldn’t be accepted, but we were happy to help. Here’s their story.
My tattoo is something I had ideas about for ages but hadn’t got one solid idea. Unfortunately at the time, I was with a person who thought they wanted to be a tattooist. It wasn’t a great relationship and was quite emotionally controlling and manipulative.
So when I put an idea out like, 'oh, this is the kind of thing I want' they would say, 'cool, I’ll do that then.' And then anytime I said I didn’t want it or wanted to change it, they would say I was being a brat or spoiled and that if I went to a tattoo shop, they wouldn’t let me do this and that I’d just have to go with whatever they said.
I’ve been trying to ignore the tattoo for the last eight years. I’m excited to not have it anymore.
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Would you say removing it is part of you moving on?
Yeah, completely. I look back and I’m almost annoyed at myself. Why did I let myself get pushed around like that?
Removing it is taking back some degree of control over myself, which is really nice.
And how did you discover our Second Chances project?
I’d been getting adverts because I’d been searching for tattoo removal, but it was always out of my price range. And then Second Chances popped up and I thought, 'oh my story won’t be good enough to get into that.'
Sorry, I’m getting a bit emotional. So yeah, I applied but I don’t think I expected to hear anything back.
But then you did! How do you feel at the start of your journey?
Nervous, but really excited. Most of my nerves were about getting here on time, so now I’m here, I can let all of that nervousness go.
How do you think you’ll feel as the tattoo fades?
I actually don’t know. It’s been so many years of not thinking about it and telling myself it’s on my skin now so I just have to deal with it.
"I imagine I'll get quite emotional seeing it go after accepting that it was there forever. I’m kind of excited to see how I feel. It’s going to be very cool."
And finally, what advice would you give your younger self?
You don’t have to justify how you feel to anyone. No is a complete sentence. If someone is making you uncomfortable, you don’t have to give them the time of day to try and explain why you’re feeling a certain way. You can just say no, and that doesn’t mean you’re rude or a bad person.
I think that’s the most important thing that has come from the whole thing. Just being able to say no and that being fine.
SECOND CHANCES is here to help
To nominate yourself or someone else for our SECOND CHANCES programme, complete the submission form with your tattoo story and what it would mean to you/your nominee to receive treatment with us.
