"Most of the women I work on come in and get two or three removed in one go, they're looking for a blank canvas." The tattoos Canberra men regret most are southern cross tattoos, popular with patriotic teens on holidays with "the lads". Hartley says most of the tattoos he removes from men are holiday souvenirs, performed by unqualified tattoo artists in south-east Asia. "I think this will change now though because social media now allows people to source the truly talented artists overseas," he says. "You can get better recommendations online and really do your research." The tribal tattoo, popular with men in the 90s, is now the top of the list of Canberra's most regretted tattoos.

Hartley says Canberra men also regret tribal tattoos that were uber cool in the late 90s and early 2000s but which now reek of an era of men with Eminem-style bleached blonde hair and Blink 182. Tribal tattoos are generally very dark black and feature Maori-style swirls with pointed ends. Also regretted by Canberra men are "barbed wire around the bicep tattoos", says Hartley, big in the early 2000s. Becoming more and more common among Hartley's male clients is having entire sleeves of tattoos removed, reversing hundreds of hours of painful needlework and thousands of dollars of ink in just a few sessions. And why do men want their sleeves removed? So they can start the process all over again, of course. Canberra construction worker Anthony Onorato is in the process of having his right tattoo sleeve removed. It all began with the "ugly angel" - a piece of art he had tattooed at a Canberra studio in 2010.

Even while the angel was being needled on the soft flesh inside his right bicep, Onorato could tell it was ugly. In fact, his girlfriend at the time (now wife) Cassie was pleading with the tattoo artist "to make her prettier". "My mates give it to me all the time, especially the angel, they're just going, 'What is that?'," Onorato said. Anthony Onorato's 'ugly angel' was the first of many disappointing tattoos on his right arm. Credit:Sitthixay Ditthavong Onorato's wife Cassie is also experienced in being under the painful tattoo removal laser. She had the word AMORE removed from behind her right ear so she could wear her hair up for her wedding. She's also in the process of having her parents' initials removed from her ribcage, a tattoo she got "on a whim" while she and Onorato were on holiday. Queanbeyan's Chloe Baker, 28, was at first delighted with the tattoo of Elvis she had inked on her left shoulder. It was a tribute to dad Ian's love for the King of Rock and growing up to a soundtrack of hits like Suspicious Minds and A Little Less Conversation.

But when someone mentioned that her tattooed Elvis's ear looked out of place, and someone else said it was a good likeness, "Except he looks Asian", the dream was over. Baker's Elvis tattoo, now in the process of being removed, took three hours and cost $400. "Once someone called him Korean Elvis I just couldn't unsee it," Baker says. She's in the process of having the offending rock star removed from her shoulder but it's taking awhile because the removal process is so painful. "Honestly, I'd rather give birth again over getting a tattoo removed," she says.

Elvis isn't the only unfortunate ink Baker has had permanently placed on her body. The same artist responsible for Korean Elvis misspelt the word 'underneath' in a quote from film Batman Begins she had tattooed on her right hip. Baker hadn't even noticed until she showed her fresh ink to a co-worker, who pointed out that it said 'undeneath' instead of 'underneath'. She went back to the tattoo studio, where said artist inserted the missing 'r'. Baker's spelling mistake tattoo. The artist forgot the 'r' in underneath but has since tried to fix it. Hartley's advice to people considering getting a tattoo is to undertake thorough research and to spend money on quality. He uses a laser worth $100,000 to remove the tattoos of Canberra's regretful. The laser blasts the ink particles in the tattoo so small they are naturally absorbed by the body.