Think Before You Ink: Wyomingites Are Shelling Out Big Bucks to Erase Tattoo Regrets

The original story by Scott Schwebke for Cowboy State Daily.

Across Wyoming, more and more people are paying serious money to wipe away tattoos they now wish they’d never gotten in the first place. The message from laser techs across the state is simple: think before you ink.

“At the time, it feels like a good idea,” said Rachel Watson, a technician at Sterling Skin Care in Casper. “But later, when people are trying to grow up and get real jobs, those tattoos can become a problem.”

Watson sees up to 25 tattoo-removal clients a week. Many walk in embarrassed by decisions they made years ago — names of exes, misspelled words, impulsive designs, and especially tattoos on the face and neck that now stand between them and job opportunities.

“A lot of younger kids do tattoos with their friends and misspell words,” Watson said.

One client even tattooed herself while looking in a mirror — backwards.

Others seek removal because they want to join the military, which has strict rules on visible tattoos, or because their ink is interfering with work or relationships.

According to the Pew Research Center, about one in four tattooed Americans regrets at least one of their tattoos. Mario Harris of Casper knows that feeling well.

When he was 21, a drunken night with a friend led to a spontaneous trip to a tattoo shop during a $30 “Walk-In Wednesday” deal. He ended up with a cross on his forehead and the words “In God We Trust” stretched across both eyes.

“At the time, it sounded like a good idea,” Harris said. “Afterward, not so much. Your forehead is a focal point. People definitely noticed.”

From February 2023 to August 2025, Harris went through multiple laser treatments to remove the tattoos — a long, expensive journey compared to that original $30 price tag.

“If you get a tattoo on your face, you’ll face consequences,” he said. “Make sure you’re settled in life and have your career going first. Removal costs way more than getting the tattoo.”

And that cost adds up fast. At Sterling Skin Care, a single finger treatment runs around $105. A medium-sized tattoo is about $315 per session, and a full sleeve can cost roughly $750 each time. Some tattoos require up to 12 sessions, spaced six to eight weeks apart.

“It’s definitely not one and done,” said Jackie Koch, office manager at Sterling Skin Care in Cheyenne. “People are always shocked by the price and how long it takes.”

The difficulty also depends on how the tattoo was done. Heavy-handed artists who go too deep or overwork the skin can make removal much harder.

“If the ink was applied heavy-handed, we’re looking at a real journey,” Koch said.

Not everyone opts for total removal. Some people go for cover-ups instead, turning old mistakes into new artwork.

“Usually they come in with a crappy little tattoo,” joked Jeremiah “Germ” Carlson, owner of Lost Souls Ink in Cheyenne. “I make it pretty. That’s my job.”

Award-winning cover-up artist Dalton Capozza of Green River agrees that most bad tattoos can be fixed.

“There’s always a way to fix it,” he said.

But Casper tattoo shop owner Lylith of Veil & Ink says she’s seeing fewer cover-up requests these days.

“It’s becoming less and less,” she said. “Hopefully that means people are making better decisions when they get tattooed.”

For laser technicians like Watson, the lesson is one they repeat daily to clients staring down months of treatments and thousands of dollars in bills: slow down, think it through, and don’t let an impulsive decision become a lifelong — and very expensive — regret.