So a lot of people without tattoos ask the question, ‘Just how painful is it?’
The reason they don’t know is that it is a very tough question to answer. But i will give it a shot.
Also it is important to know that where you get your tattoo makes a difference – while inside of the arm has some degree of pain to it, i can quite imagine it is not as bad as the guy i heard who got his eyeball [not even kidding] tattooed or the guy who got his, well, let’s just say some places are more painful than others.
DURING
The best way i can describe it is as a series of moments of discomfort [for the most part] interrupted by dots of pain. The kind of pain one would get from jabbing a needle into the inside of one’s arm [if you had a tattoo like mine]. So there for a second then gone. Then back. And there again. Now back to discomfort.
Or to put it another way: Irritating, irritating, irritating, sore, sore, sore, irritating, irritating, sore, irritating, irritating, irritating, irritating, sore, irritating…
Christina used two different kinds of needles on me – the first was the outline and the second was more for shading. i definitely enjoyed the second one a lot more.
During the first 5 to 15 minutes of the tattoo process [which was about an hour or just less than] i was in ‘Never again! What was i thinking?’ mode, but then you get used to it and during the last 15 minutes i was starting to plan my next tattoo with a vengeance.
AFTER
The part i was, and am, most scared of though is the next couple of weeks, waiting for it to heal. Washing it four times a day with lukewarm soapy water and trying to navigate the different advice from everyone else who has had a tattoo, while just trying to stick to what my tattoo lady told me.
And hoping i don’t get to the itchy part – have been having nightmares where i completely scratch off the scabbing that is meant to happen as the tattoo heals. Woergh!
But, in the four days that have passed since then, it has mostly been a dull throbbing or sensitivity. So comes and goes a little. Definitely not huge pain but a little sting’y.
THE CONCLUSION
Getting a tattoo was definitely not as sore as i possibly imagined and probably not anything near to childbirth [yes, people with tattoos and children?] but it was not for the absolutely faint of heart.
The pain and irritation is probably not worth it for a whim, but definitely is for something more meaningful…
I took a LONG time [years] in getting mine and largely because i could not settle on the right idea but i would definitely advise that as the biggest thing – don’t get it if you’re not absolutely satisfied with the design. Don’t settle for a bad tattoo. It is with you for life, or at least until you can afford good laser surgery.
But a good one? One with deep meaning and significance to you? i am all for that.
[…] [For the answer to the question, ‘Just how painful is getting a tattoo?, click here] […]
on the pain bit, my first three were definitely more irritation than pain……the fourth one was my first that needed shading so more pain there. i remember thinking he’s done and being all relieved and grateful, then he was all “ok, outline is done, now we do the shading” and i almost told him to leave it as is…i was totally over it by then…but absolutely loved it when he was finished with the shading so i was super glad i didn’t tell him to stop. all four were also quite small so it was less than 30 minutes of pain.
my 5th one took 3 hours – at least 2 of which were shading…which hurt way more than the outlining… i pretty much cried through the last hour…every time he stopped the gun to wipe i thought we were done, then he would change needle and/or dip more ink and start up the gun and the crying would start again. and again, i wanted to tell him to just stop but i knew i’d hate the tat if left half finished… the rest of the day i was in pain!
but by the time it had healed i was back to planning the next part of the piece – seeing as it turned out a lot bigger than what I had originally planned, i decided it was going to be turned into a full back piece… but i’m going to break down the rest into smaller bits so i’m not in pain for that long ever again….
Thanks for sharing, T, do you have pics of the back piece?
this was right after it was done – still swollen and irritated… http://instagram.com/p/qtxkijuNve/
That must have been so much of sore. Tears understood. Wow.
I have a serious itch for another tattoo after reading all these posts!! Maybe in May or June… hmmmm
Ha ha great.
Got mine nearly a decade ago and have never regretted it. A couple of family members thought I was nuts, though. I also waited years (I was about 45), partly because I was scared of tattoo parlors as well as the potential pain, plus, it took me that long to decide on something I could live with permanently. I would describe the pain as (a) someone running a fingernail over a sunburn or (b) someone carving on your skin with an Exacto knife. And I survived the experience just fine and would do it again, except I’m happy with my one.