Readers share their true stories of terrible tattoos.

I got my first tattoo when I was 16. I decided I wanted to get my boyfriend's name on my chest, so it would always be close to my heart.

I went to the first tattoo shop that was open, Big Daddy's in Uniontown, Penn. The woman who did it asked me to take a look at the stencil she put on me to see if I liked it. Upside-down, I thought it looked good.

The actual inkjob felt like she was cutting me instead of tattooing me. I didn't know what it was supposed to feel like, so I thought I was just being a crybaby.

After I got it done, I went home and looked in the mirror. To my surprise, it said "Chaxlie" when it was supposed to say "Charlie."

I went to a new shop when it healed to get it covered up. What I didn't realize was the new shop I went to was in partnership with Big Daddy's. They tried fixing it, but it looks horrible, as you can see in the photo. You can still see the pink name through the shading.

It looks like I let my 4-year-old son draw on me with a permanent marker. My advice would be to do some research on tattoo shops before you get tattooed. Please think before you ink.


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