Let's just leave chrome tattoos in the past, cool?
'90s Tribal
Remember how we just said "Almost nothing says 1990s and early 2000s like a chrome tattoo"? Well, that's because there's still some tribal ink from a couple of decades ago floating around as well. If there's any worse tattoo than a bad tribal armband, it's not much worse, and it's probably way less plentiful than the all-black disasters. Tribal in the '90s was an easy way to mark the douchebags and misogynistic bros of the world way before the Chainsmokers existed (just kidding, there are some decent people out there who just happen to have terrible tribal tattoos), but these days it just looks kind of pathetic.
That's not to knock a lot of the Polynesian style tattoos that are going on in shops these days. Current artists are doing crazy intricate designs with their work and making them every bit as tough and beautiful as people had hoped for in the '90s. When people say "Tribal is back!" they mean the new (old) version of more authentically Polynesian tattoos, not the dumb swirls that are barely a baby step above a barbed wire armband. We're not even going to go into barbed wire though, because ew.
Tramp Stamps
Thankfully, the lower back tattoo is almost certainly on its way out. Although it was primarily a bad decision for many women in the '90s and 2000s, there have also been plenty of dudes who made the poor choice to get something like the name of their hometown or favorite sports team across the small of their back. It's unfortunately been replaced by the under-boob sternum tattoo, but at least it's progress, right?
