Some Advice from a Non-Expert 
(but a girl who's been there)
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Here are some things i would recommend when considering your first tattoo:

1.  think long and hard...that should be your first step.  make sure that you are getting the tattoo for *yourself*, and for the
right reasons.
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2.  now that you've decided that you *definitely* would like one, think 100 times as hard about the design...preferrably, create one yourself.
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3.  once you have your design picked out, sleap on it (well, not *literally*). take a few days (preferrably a few months, if its your first one).  getting a tattoo on a spur of the moment may seem like a really cool, spontaneous thing to do, but trust me, it isn't...i have friends who made that same mistake.
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4.  ok, so you've picked out your tattoo, and took same time away from it to think about it...hopefully you've spent that time looking around for a good place to get it done.
if you haven't, now is the time.  talk to people who'se tattoos you like about where they got them done (*trust* me, tattooed people *like* talking about their tattos :)
once you've got the names of a few well-reputed places, visit them yourself.  this is the time to trust your gut instinct...if you don't feel comfortable it a place, there's probably a reason.  make sure that you genuinely trust the place (make sure its clean...in fact ask to see the tattoo area, also make sure all needles are one-use, and that an autoclave is used to sterlize all the equipment) and the artist (its imperative that you see their work--all reputable artists have pictures of tattoos they've done, that they'll be *glad* to show you)
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