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Before You Get a Tattoo, Ask Yourself These 6 Questions—Scheana Shay Learned the Hard Way

March 15, 2026

At some point, everybody has a “what was I thinking?” era. Scheana Shay just happens to have receipts from hers all over her body.

On the latest episode of Scheananigans, the Vanderpump Rules alum got brutally honest about the tattoos she’s currently removing, calling them “seven bad decisions” she made between the ages of 18 and 23. And between the upside-down matching ink, the first-date shamrock, and the giant Live, Laugh, Love moment on her ribs, there’s actually a pretty solid lesson in all of it: if you’re about to get a tattoo, maybe pause and ask yourself a few things first.

☐ Are you sober right now? Like actually sober?

Multiple tattoos Shay regrets started the same way: tequila. She got a matching tattoo with Kristen Doute while drunk that ended up “technically upside down.” She got an emerald diamond behind her neck “drunk with the cousins” in Texas. She got a shamrock on her foot on a first date after “a few tequila shots.” The pattern is loud and clear.

If you’re within walking distance of a bar, go home
If the idea came up in the last 3 hours, sleep on it
If your cousins are involved, absolutely not

☐ Do I actually want this, or did somebody else just sell me on it?

When Shay was 19, she called her mom from Texas looking for tattoo ideas. “She looks at her wall and goes, ‘What about Live, Laugh, Love?'” Shay says. “Did it mean anything to me? Was it like my life’s motto? No, I just got it.” She also got talked into going bigger on her tramp stamp by the tattoo artist. “I went in wanting the little itty-bitty Britney Spears fairy tramp stamp. And they’re like, ‘No, no, no…we should go big, go big or go home.’ And I was like, okay.”

Meanwhile the only two tattoos she’s keeping are a hummingbird and a hibiscus flower she got for her grandparents who passed away. Those stay because the meaning is real. Everything that was someone else’s idea is getting lasered off.

☐ Am I doing this over a person, a breakup, or a random emotional spiral?

“I got [my tramp stamp] to piss off my high school boyfriend who we were on a break,” Shay says. “I was like, I’ll show him. Jokes on me. We’re not together. I still have the tattoo.” She also got a shamrock on a first date thinking the guy would pay for it. “He did not. I was stuck with a $300 bill and a painful foot.” The boyfriend left. The date left. The ink stayed. If the motivation is tied to a person, a mood, or proving a point, that feeling is temporary. The tattoo is not.

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☐ Will this still feel like me in 10 years?

Shay found an old Facebook post from the day she got her Live Laugh Love tattoo. At the time it looked like clean, delicate lettering. Now, in her words, “it’s just smushed.” Which is basically the tattoo version of looking back at an old photo and realizing the vibe you were going for at 19 is…not exactly the one you’d choose today.

☐ Have I thought about where this is going to show up in real life?

“Every time my hair is in an updo, I hate it,” Shay says about the emerald diamond behind her neck. Red carpets, formal events, open-toed shoes—all of these moments keep reminding her of decisions she made as a teen. So before getting a tattoo, ask:

Is this about to photobomb every selfie and group pic forever?
Am I ready to see this every time I pass a mirror, window, or my phone camera flips on?
Is future me going to look at this and immediately clock the exact version of me that approved this decision?

A tattoo can be small and still manage to haunt every outfit.

☐ Am I prepared for the fact that changing my mind is expensive?

Getting a tattoo takes an hour. Removing one can take a year—or longer. Shay is currently removing seven simultaneously at Lucy Hart Inc. in LA, and even with what she says is a machine that works “in half the amount of time as normal tattoo removal,” the process is still painful, expensive, and slow. Her 11/11 wrist tattoo is “quite blistered right now because it’s on the bone,” and she says that one has been the hardest to heal.

Before you walk into a shop, it’s worth knowing that the undo button exists but it costs significantly more than the original decision.

Listen to the full episode on Scheananigans with Scheana Shay, available wherever you listen to podcasts.