1. Trends. Avoid getting a tattoo based on trends. When everyone is getting the same design or style it usually means in a few years the so called cool trend will wear off and that type of ink will be seen as unoriginal and lame.
2. Face Tattoos. The suicide rate among those who get face tattoos is very high, telling you there is a lot of regret involved with this decision. Avoid getting work done on your face unless you are absolutely certain this is for you.
3. Tribal tats. Unless tribal is absolutely the style for you, then forget it. Don't jump on a bandwagon that ended a few years back with an enormous amount of people embarrassed that they got caught up in the tribal tattoo ideas trend and now are regretful about the work they had done.
4. Lower back tattoos. Especially if you are female, lower back tattoos have now morphed into slang terminology as they are now known as "tramp stamps" due to the fact that so many women jumped on the bandwagon and now there are tens of thousands of inked up lower female back tats.
5. Neck tattoos. Neck ink isn't as bad as face ink, but still the number of "bandaids" I have seen placed on necks to cover up ink, warrants a warning about neck work. May seem like a cool and clever tattoo idea at first, but over time many people get tired of the constant attention they receive from their neck ink.
6. Cheap tattoos. This is homemade work generally done with India ink. The outcome is usually always horrible, and over time the work smears and fades, ultimately resembling a bad skin rash rather than a tattoo.
7. Names. There are exceptions to names. Your child's name is usually a safe and sound decision. But in general, the number of tattoo cover ups involving names is huge. There is a lot of regret with name ink, so be careful with this choice.