I’m fed up with people calling me a bad girl because of my tattoos – so I’m getting them removed
- Lauren Burnside, 30, from Australia spoke of her plight as a tattooed woman
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A woman who was ‘addicted’ to getting tattoos reveals why she is now getting them removed – with people constantly assuming she’s a ‘bad girl’ because of her extensive ink.
Lauren Burnside, 30, from Australia got her first piece – a set of roses on her stomach – done when she was just 18 years old, after becoming inspired by Lady Gaga’s floral back tattoo.
In the years following, she added more ink to her collection – getting 18 more, setting her back around $20,000.
But despite initially enjoying the art, the now 30-year-old has begun to ‘hate’ her tattoos and is getting them removed one by one – having already lasered off nine, and is in the process of removing a further six.
She initially got the tats as a ‘coping mechanism’ while struggling with depression but ‘regretted every single one’ and is removing them as she is fed up of public scrutiny.
Pictured is the stunning Lauren, with a glossy lip, wearing her shiny black locks down. She is in the process of removing her tattoos as she is fed up of the scrutiny
Half-clothed you can see how the extent of Lauren’s inking – almost from head to toe
She was ‘essentially covered’ by 25,when the appeal wore off, and the heavy inking attracted comments in public and criticism from her family members.
She said: ‘I feel like they are the first thing anyone sees when I’m wearing shorts or a dress and it makes me feel incredibly insecure.
‘People make assumptions about me and my personality based on how I look – especially the older generation.
‘I’ve heard whispers of snarly remarks and been looked up and down in public, and it hurts.
‘I’ve found that because of my tattoos, men interact with me differently. They immediately assume I’m a ‘bad girl’ or a ‘biker girl’, which isn’t the case.
‘They also assume I’m promiscuous and often over-sexualise me because of the way I look.
‘I also come from a family of ‘clean skins’ – neither of my parents have a single tattoo so you can imagine their shock when I started getting heavily tattooed.
‘My mum warned me [and] she knows me better than I know myself. She knew I would regret them but at the time I couldn’t be reasoned with.
A close up of one of her tats. Lauren is getting them removed one by one – having already lasered off nine, and is in the process of removing a further six
Although her mother warned her, in her youth she decided to swap her ‘clean skin’ for ink
‘I was in my rebellious era. In hindsight, I wish I had listened’.
Now, she plans to have ‘completely clean skin’ within the next few years, with the removal process costing her an estimated double what she originally spent.
Lauren added: ‘I’ve been in the process of removing these tattoos my entire adult life so it’s become really defeating.
‘I don’t expect I will have completely clean skin until I’m until I’m in my mid-30s, and that makes me really upset that I wasted my 20s in a body I didn’t feel comfortable in’.
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