‘I want to reclaim my skin’: Why these people are removing their tattoos

Tattoos may not be forever anymore, thanks to improved laser technology and easier access to technicians trained to remove them. But they can take years — and thousands of dollars — to fade. Four people share why they are saying goodbye to their tattoos.

When Zach Gilyard, an art director in Brooklyn, got his first tattoo as a senior in high school, he did what most teenagers do and didn’t tell his parents. But not for the reasons you might think — Gilyard’s father and older siblings are all heavily tattooed, and Gilyard, like his mother, thought he would never join them. But on a whim 2006, he got a winged foot on his ankle to represent running, and kept it hidden around his family. “It was not very me,” he said in a phone call, of getting inked. “I kind of liked that it was a bit of a thrill for me, because it was a time where I couldn’t control the situation. I was doing something permanent.” Twelve years and several tattoos later, Gilyard abruptly decided to reverse course shortly after beginning a black-ink traditional patchwork sleeve on his left arm, starting with a panther head on his shoulder. It was big and bold, as intended, but left Gilyard feeling unsettled. “I always had a bit of buyer’s remorse every time I got one. It would last a week or two, and then I’d be happy that I did it,” he said. But this time, the feeling didn’t subside. “I had it for maybe a month, and I freaked out about it — it sent me into a whole panic. I couldn’t explain why. I just didn’t want it, so I told myself in that moment that I was going to get rid of it.” Roughly a quarter of people regret at least one of their tattoos, according to a 2023 Pew Research study surveying nearly 8,500 people in the US, as well as a smaller, separate study conducted in Turkey published the previous year. But it’s only fairly recently that tattoo removal has become more reliable and widely available. (This writer can attest to that; in 2008, she had a self-administered teenage stick-and-poke lasered off. It was an ordeal.) Celebrities have often drawn attention for their disappearing ink: Angelina Jolie famously removed Billy Bob Thorton’s name after their divorce in 2003; Megan Fox lasered off her portrait of Marilyn Monroe; and Pharrell told British Vogue in 2008 he was trying an experimental alternative that involved growing new skin. Most recently, Pete Davidson appeared newly bare-chested in a Valentine’s Day campaign for Reformation while undergoing removals of some 200 tattoos, though paparazzi shots following the ad revealed he is still sporting lots of faded ink.