With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, tattoo parlors and freelancers find their schedules flooded with appointments made by lovesick puppies who want to proudly profess their love to the world with a tattoo.

“Some of the craziest love tattoos I’ve been paid to do are these huge names of people’s significant others. This guy came in here once and he wanted to get his girlfriend’s name tattooed on his torso. He came back to cover it up in like two weeks,” said Albert, a tattoo artist at My Skin Tattoo. “It’s as if it were a jinx to ruin relationships.”

During this time of the year, men and women seem to be overcome with an intense feeling of romanticism, which drives them into making what some  would consider crazy impulsive decisions.

However, it is common for these clients to come back to the tattoo shops months, if not days later, ready to get their love tattoos covered up or removed.

Jennifer Ortiz, sophomore nursing major, said that if she ever gets a love tattoo it would be something small and intimate. She said that a love tattoo shouldn’t be extravagant but a subtle and private representation of care, which is the same opinion most tattoo artists have.

“I would never tattoo my boyfriend’s name or his portrait or anything so extreme,” Ortiz said. “It would probably be a small simple representation of our love, like a symbol that we both treasure.”

For individuals who regret getting their love tattoos, laser removal is the only option to getting them removed completely.

This technique breaks up the pigment colors of the tattoo ink within the skin with the help of thin lasers. These surgeries are commonly carried out by cosmetic centers or specialized dermatologists.

The removal of the tattoo or tattoos takes time and has to be spread out with multiple visits. The window of recovery is a couple of months in between sessions to not cause damage to the skin and effectively get rid of the tattoo. The tattoo removal procedure ranges from $100 to $300 for each session.

Albert said that if people want to risk getting a love tattoo and playing with the consequences of life, they should do it since life is about passion.

“The most popular couple tattoos right now are the Queen and King tattoos on the knuckles and the infinity symbols with the couple’s initials on them,” he said. “The infinity tattoo for couples I just find ironic. I chuckle inside whenever they ask to get it done.”

Tattoos can also be covered up with another tattoo, which is a quick and inexpensive option. Many television shows such as “Tattoo Nightmares” and “America’s Worst Tattoos” base their episodes on the surplus of regrettable tattoos across the nation, where most of their clients want to cover up unwanted tattoos from past relationships gone wrong.

“I would never get a tattoo of my partner’s name. I mean, I really care about her a lot, but if something were to happen between us, I wouldn’t want the constant reminder of it on my skin,” said Cynthia Sanchez, freshman psychology major. “Now, if something really bad were to happen to her, knock on wood, I would plan on maybe getting something tattooed that would remind me either of her or of our relationship.”

Jesus Lopez may be reached at [email protected].