More Australians removing tattoos after relationship breakups, switching jobs

From painful reminders of the past to switching jobs, more inked-up Aussies are keen to erase their tattoos and boost their body image.

Like many Aussies, inked-up Hockeyroo and Olympian Anna Flanagan is keen to erase her tattoos, which she says are a painful reminder of the past.

She has started procedures to clear artwork of the sun tattoo and a phrase that reads “Tall tress catch the most wind’’, which she now says has negative connotations, reminding her of when she got the ink immediately after being dropped from the 2016 Rio Olympics team.

As a 19-year-old, she inked the sun tattoo to remind her of a friend who died but she started to remove it in January.

“It’s not really a good representation of something that’s supposed to be a reminder of a beautiful person, as opposed to these dark demons I was fighting,’’ she said.

Former Olympian Anna Flanagan is getting her tattoos removed.

Open about her struggles with eating disorders, alcohol addiction and homelessness, Flanagan said just like life’s battles, tattoos did not have to be permanent.

The dual Commonwealth Games gold medallist belongs to the generation where tats are not taboo.

“I don’t know many people without tattoos,’’ the 30-year-old said.

“Some of them are fully covered and some of them just have a few small ones. I feel it’s a coming-of-age thing. With tattoos it’s one of those things where you may regret it later in life but when you’re 18 or 20, you don’t think about it.’’

The Bondi woman has taken up her tattoo clearing at Removery studio, which opened a clinic at Parramatta Westfield this week.

Olympian Anna Flanagan is ready to be tattoo-free. Picture: Richard Dobson

It has expanded across Australia to meet growing demand, mainly driven by a desire to delete reminders of ex relationships or those switching careers.

Removery national manager Daniel de Moor said company research showed 80 per cent of Australians with a tattoo believed erasing it would boost their body image.

Most people wanting to get old tattoos removed are women aged between 35 and 50, while the pandemic has made 33 per cent of the Australian inked-up population want unblemished skin.

A total of 37 per cent of survey respondents were keen to remove a tattoo because they had changed their style, 32 per cent said it was attached to a bad memory and 31 per cent wanted a removal because it did not fit in with their life.

“It’s really interesting a lot of people didn’t realise it was an option to get it removed,’’ de Moor said.

“And maybe people say they’ve grown out of the tattoo or they’re a mum now and say ‘I loved the tattoo but I’m ready to get it removed’.’’

Removery laser specialist Lawree Pruha, who also has several tats, often treats customers wanting to switch careers, such as a construction worker who opted for treatment when the skull tattoo on his head didn’t seem appropriate for this new real estate career.

Relationship breakups and job changes are contributing to a boom in the tattoo removal industry.

Airhosts also make up much of her Melbourne client base. Airlines such as Emirates uphold a strict no-tattoo policy while police recruits use her services too.

But cosmetic motives and relationship regret are key reasons driving the boom in the tattoo-removal industry.

“A lot of time they’re falling out of love with their tattoos or it’s just not aged well on the skin,’’ Ms Pruha said.

“Alternatively you get an ex’s name or a ring band and their relationship has moved on.’’

Tattoo removal requires patience — despite advances in technology, clearing ink takes an average of a year to 18 months.

However, community’s growing acceptance of tattoos means body markings will still be prolific and Removery says it is an at “all-time high”.

With that comes a demand for erasing, or fading, ink using laser removal.

While many hate the decisions they made in their youth, some just want to make room for “better ones”.

“A lot of it comes down to the art work and the artist didn’t live up to their expectation or it wasn’t explained what they wanted,’’ de Moor said.

“I went to a dinner party and about a 10 out of 12 people there had tattoos.

“All people, from bankers to managers and physiotherapists, different incomes and all of them had tattoos ... it’s just so more common and prolific than you think.’’

Tom Roder, an artist at Markd Tattoo studio in Redfern, is undertaking treatment to fade some of his tattoos but has no intention to reduce the extreme amount of ink coating his skin. Instead, he wants to alter the space for fresh art.

Tom Roder is having laser sessions to fade some poorly-applied tattoos.

“I’m pretty much totally covered,’’ he said.

“I got a lot of tattoos when I was young so I have a lot of shitty tattoos that are very cheap and aren’t well done. Because now I’ve run out of space I’m going to start lasering ones and re-covering it.’’

That includes the “unsalvageable ugly gypsy girl’’ he got as an 18-year-old that later became a big panther and then a solid sleeve he is also keen to fade on his right arm.

Instead, he will opt for smaller, palm-sized tattoos.

“Now I’m running out of space it’s valuable real estate,’’ he said.

MORE NEWS

Meriton apartments planned for 263-281 Pennant Hills Rd Carlingford

Abdallah family considers footpath memorial, urges forgiveness after Oatlands death