RANT Gallery The Beauty of Dark Art

If you know much about me over the last year or so, you know that I have some experience in receiving tattoos. If you don't know the story, the short version is that my wife is an amazing artist and this last year she has been using me as a canvas to expand her artistic abilities to the human skin. In other words, she has spent the last year learning how to be a Tattoo Artist using my body to practice on.

Over the last year I have sat for something approaching 50 sittings; I have 75% of a leg that is fully sleeved out and have various other parts of my body splattered with tattoos or tattoos-in-waiting. If you are interested you can see some pictures at http://www.ranttattoo.com but those are about 9 months out of date so don't give the full story. Anyway, the point of this post is about Tattoo Pain and I simply wanted to put myself out there as somebody who has experienced more than a usual number of tats and some in unusual places (though I definitely have boundaries, but I digress).

Something I am asked about a lot is "does it hurt", and while I think everybody understands there is pain associated with sticking needles 1/16th of an inch or so into your skin 1,000 times per minute, the truth is that the pain inherent in the process ranges greatly depending mostly on location. But before I go into that explanation let me just say that it is only valid when done with an experienced tattooist ... if your artist goes too deep into your skin then you WILL feel something nasty (I've passed out twice with this sort of experience, two different artists) ... but no matter how much experience they may have, it doesn't change your body and it is your body that reacts differently according to where you get the tat.

When I first started getting tattooed, only 3 years ago now, and for quite some time I assumed that a tat was a tat (more or less) and while there might be some more sensitive areas on your body than others, generally the experience would be the same. I assumed that if I left my Johnson alone and other "sensitive" areas then one tat would feel like another. Nothing could be further from the truth..

Loose Skin is Unpleasant!

I bet a slow-motion video of a tattoo gun doing it's thing would illustrate this point better than words. Suffice it to say that too much skin allows the needle to push the skin around rather than penetrate it to deposit the ink. So, places like your inner-thigh typically have a lot of extra, loose skin and so make for a generally more painful experience because it is difficult to make the area tight (even though I run 3 times a week and have very little body fat).

The more overweight you are the this pain will affect you and, the real unfortunate part, the more the tattoo itself will be affected. It is very difficult to draw a straight line under those circumstances and it usually shows. That being said, this pain is relatively easy to deal with ... it is annoying to be sure, but compared to what the pain could be, this is pretty minor.

Bony areas can be ouchy...

Now, there is no way that a tattoo artist will ever hit bone; while I imagine it might be possible with the right (powerful) gun, you will have punched the tattooist in the face long before they manage to hit bone. Too deep is very painful; I can only imagine what hitting bone would feel like. And in my opinion, that is precisely the problem with bony areas, your mind takes over.

Today, in fact, I had a chance to test that as I got tattoos dangerously close to what I've always assumed would be really nasty .. my knee cap. But, in fact, it turned out that compared to the next pain-point, the knee cap was easy to deal with. I wouldn't be surprised if doing the knee cap might be one of the least painful spots (though I'm not sure yet I want to test that assumption).

Tendons are beyond tender!

Tendons, those elastic bits of flesh that connect bone and muscle, are the real pain points when it comes to tattooing. Whether it is the top of your feet, your ankles, the tendons that tie together your upper and lower legs, those around your shoulders, or any other tendon area I'm sure, it doesn't really matter ... getting a tattoo in these areas provides a whole new level of pain.

Is it doable? Well, I suppose it depends on how much you want the tat...Sue got a big one on her foot, which swelled up to about twice it's size for 3 days but she sucked it up. I had one put on close to my knee and actually stopped Sue from continuing because I couldn't take the pain anymore.

No matter how much it hurts, it stops hurting

and very quickly at that. I'm always surprised how nearly instantaneously the pain stops after the tattooing stops. Never for more than 5 minutes afterward. Knowing that the pain will cease quickly does make it easier to put up with the pain initially; I doubt very much I would put up with so many tattoos if the pain lasted even hours.

What does it feel like?

Another common question that I usually answer with "the closest I can describe it as is a slight burning sensation. Not quite but close