National Tattoo Removal Day: Here are some of the best stories of celebs regretting their body ink
Less than a month on from National Tattoo Day, the U.S. is today celebrating “the advanced procedure of laser tattoo removal”.
Today is National Tattoo Removal Day in the United States - an event strategically scheduled to follow on from National Tattoo Day. A day billed as a “celebration of the advanced procedure of laser tattoo removal”, August 14 comes exactly four weeks after July 17’s National Tattoo Day.
As the organizers of National Tattoo Removal Day explain, this is the earliest point at which an individual harboring regrets could begin the process of lasering off skin ink applied to coincide with last month’s celebration of the tattoo.
“If someone got a new tattoo on July 17 […] and ended up not liking it, they’d have to wait a minimum of four to six weeks before getting it removed with a laser,” says National Tattoo Removal Day’s official website. “This time period is necessary to give the skin enough time to heal.”
How many people regret their tattoos?
According to a 2023 survey by the data analysts Pew Research Center, 32% of U.S. adults have a tattoo - and nearly one in four tattooed Americans expresses regret over at least one piece of body art.
Removery, a leading laser tattoo removal company, estimates that there are around 28 million people in the U.S. who have at minimum one tattoo they wish they had refrained from getting.
August 14 was also chosen as National Tattoo Removal Day because it falls exactly six months before February 14: Valentine’s Day. “Many people get the name of their girlfriend or boyfriend permanently tattooed on their skin as a sign of commitment and love,” organizers explain.
“However, that tattoo can be a very painful and unwanted reminder when that relationship comes to an end. National Tattoo Removal Day is six months out from Valentine’s Day which is typically how long it takes to remove a basic black name tattoo (4 treatments spaced 6 weeks apart).”
“I should have Googled it”
To mark National Tattoo Removal Day, here are a few examples of famous figures who have shared their experience of getting a tattoo they later regret:
Jessica Alba:
“I do have a few tattoos, and I regret one of them... maybe two. I got [‘kind of a tramp stamp’] when I was, like, 17 and I’m so irritated that I got it.”
Miley Cyrus:
“A mistake that I made that I still think about is, like, 80% of my tattoos.”
“ A mistake that i’ve made that I still think about is 80% of my tattoos. ” 😭 pic.twitter.com/0rN9ddaLRd
— Miley Edition (@MileyEdition) June 1, 2025
Megan Fox:
“I just got one that I don’t like, that I have to rework. It’s my entire arm, so not a big deal. As they get older you regret them, because they just don’t look good anymore. Like, they oxidize and spread."
Khloe Kardashian:
“I should’ve listened to Kim [Kardashian] when she told me, ‘You don’t put a bumper sticker on a Bentley.’”
Adam Levine:
“I have one that’s pretty stupid. I don’t even know what it is […]; it’s just hideous.”
Jennifer Lawrence:
“I was with Liam [Hemsworth]’s family and everybody was getting tattoos, and I was like, well, I’m always going to need to be hydrated, so I guess I should get ‘H₂O’ on my hand […].
“I know that the ‘2′ [in my tattoo] is high and in ‘H₂O’ the ‘2′ is supposed to be low. I should’ve Googled it before I got it tattooed on my body forever.”
Want more?
For more tattoo-nightmare stories, this time shared by non-celebrities, let us point you in the direction of this excellent collection published by BuzzFeed.
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