Tomorrow at the grand old age of 43 !! , im havin my first tattoo 😆
Whats peoples take on the pain involved ?? …. people ive spoken too say it feels like really bad sunburn, or carpet burn ??
is this correct or worse ?
and if it helps im havin a half sleeve tribal design…. my wifes also getting her first tattoo at the same time ..
cheers

my brother who likes martial arts and bruising his bones complains about his tattoos for about 3 weeks after gettign them.

good luck. and post a pic. 😀

It all depends on your pain threshold.

A mate of mine has dozens and nearly everythime he faints. Just take a bottle of water and stay away from the light at the end of the tunnel 😉

I’ve 2 on my upper arms and I’d say they felt like a blunt razor blade (covered in aftershave) slowly dragging through your skin.

I’m thinking of starting on my legs next, report back here your findings tomorrow please

Silly to say its not sore but you’ll no doubt have had lots worse coming off the bike, bit like moderate sunburn I would say. I have two tats, the second one got a bit sore towards the end, two and a half hours but it was kind of cumulative. First one was dead easy, maybe only half an hour. A little bit tender after but like a bruise nothing more. Make sure you look after it though and follow the instructions they give you for what to do for the first few days.

Aparently my tattooist say your bleed more on warm summer days, so have it done in winter if you don’t like seeing your own blood (as much)

🙂 Get’s worse as the session goes on, I found the outline more annoying/sore than the shading.

it doesnt hurt as such, but it gets a bit wearing after a while and can make you feel a bit of a whitey coming on…. dont drink booze beforehand, it doesnt help..

you going for the neck pirate tattoo?

I’ve no problem with getting my arms tattooed, wouldn’t say it was pain free, but it’s more a case of being uncomfortable rather than hurting.

My chest on the other hand hurts like hell! Had the third session on my full chest plate on Saturday, after an hour I’d had enough!

my frst one was 2 hours, it got pretty bad towards the end. its a very strange sensation, very much like johnclimber said. my second one was on my ankle, that was agony

Also depends on gun vs hand poked.

My right calf has a 25-30 min gun tattoo (my first, a badger).

My left upper arm/shoulder has a 21 hour hand poked geometric tesselation (finished on Friday!).

The healing time appears to be quicker with the hand poked. I also prefer the lack of the gun sound and found the filling to be less painful than gun. It’s harder at the end of the session when the area is sore too. There’s also the bit of your body it’s on too; bony areas with gun will feel more awkward and the softer areas (inside of arms, armpits, backs of knees etc) will be more sensitive.

Make sure you’ve eaten properly in the day and have something sugary for afterwards. Drinking the day before, earlier in the day will make you bleed more as it thins your blood.

I really recommend a cream called “Easy Tattoo”, it’s far nicer to apply than Bepanthen which is quite thick. Thick equates to grippy when rubbing it on tender skin!

I’m not great with pain, but it’s bearable. You may even find it anticlimactically so. Oh and DON’T PICK YOUR SCABS! It’s asking for a patchy tat 😉

Herman, run the bepanthen under hot water before applying, thins it out quite nicely! Got full sleeve on right arm and about 2/3’s of left arm done, worse bit for me was elbow area and inner elbow bit, and some bits around wrist, imagine cat digging it’s claws in! Pinches a bit around the armpit too!! The rest was relatively pain free!

I had had a 7 hour sitting once and the best way I can describe it is like someone dragging a blunt drawing pin across severely sunburnt skin.

it’s not acute pain, more chronic, I got a light sweat on at times but giving that girls have it done I’d say man up.

take some cherry coke with you, its great. If you’re having a big piece it will hurt more as initially i find it fine, only once my kin starts to get inflamed does it start to burn a bit.

I liken it to having a blunt knife dragged over sunburnt skin. it sounds like it might hurt a lot, and for a bit it does, but after a while you stop caring so much!

depends on you, the tattooist, what your having and where.

my tip is to use bepanthen nappy cream(seriously) afterwards for the next couple of weeks as it stops it scabbing too much and also stops the itching that starts after a few days

it’s more of a niggly tortuous pain than a scream out loud pain 😀
it also depends on the amount of flesh under the skin, IMO the closer to the bone the more it hurts
.
I didn’t think it was too bad – for me it was the cumulative effect of constant pin pricks around my spine when doing the outline that made my feel nauseous, but a glass of water and a breather later and I was fine. afterwards it didn’t hurt at all.

More uncomfortable than painful.

Take you mind of it by getting a Prince Albert at the same time.

For some people part of the ritual of having a tattoo is the pain you go through when it is being drawn, like some kind of modern day initiation. After saying that, mine didn’t seem to hurt too much at all, but it may depend on the part of your body. Mine is on my upper arm.

Get’s worse as the session goes on, I found the outline more annoying/sore than the shading

Other way around for me.
Not painfull really, but any near my head causes nausea due to the vibration. I take a few minutes and then carry on and alls fine.

im havin a half sleeve tribal design

DONT DO IT!

each to thier own and all that, but tribal really is gash.

Id almost beg of you to come up with something more interesting

Oh, and upper arm is a piece of cake, like above, inner elbow and elbow burns like fire.
I also seem to remember collar bone hurting. Its all bearable but takes concentration to get through long sessions, I used to be mentally knackered after getting in from a 3 hour sit.
First 4 or 5 sessions were great but after that it becomes a chore so having a break for a year or two to get the buzz back

I fell asleep in the chair, found it a weirdly relaxing experience.

I found that the outline hurts but the colouring in doesn’t. So when I see guys with massive etched tattoos it mskes me go 😯

I have two, the one on my arm was first and although it did hurt, it was bearable. The second is on my chest and the fleshy parts were ok, however, when the gun was hitting the bone it hurt.
That said, it is an addictive pain, a strange thing which others I have spoken to agree with.

While getting my first one, I asked the ‘artist’ where is the most painful place to get tattooed. His answer; the bell end.

no matter where the needle is being put on your body… it hurts less if you watch i’ve found.

arms, chest, lower stomach, whole leg including knee-cap and achilles tendon = all fine.

collarbones = stinged like a bitch (closer to the bones are a definite factor) but biggest factor for me was my tattooist is left handed so i had a vibrating hand pushed up against my throat pushing ym head back so i couldnt watch.

outlines hurt more than shading/colour. the reasons being outlines get pushed deeper into the skin and use thicker, single needles. colouring/shading uses smaller needles in a bunch close together so you get the bed of nails effect.

the wider the area being outlined the more ‘stingy’ it is as the tattoo work isnt localised to a certain area and the body doesnt have a chance to focus on numbing one area.

is tribal because you love tribal and it means something to you? 🙂

I’ve had somewhere around 35 – 40 hours under the needle.. I probably wouldn’t have any more..
Even though I have some ace designs ready to go, I really don’t think I can justify the pain/reward ratio any more..

Well there you go, I would never have imagined philconcequence being pretty much covered in tats! Weird how you build up a picture of someone from their posts on a forum.

All bearable, strangely satisfying kind of pain. Quite hypnotic and a good experience overall. Embrace it as part of the experience instead of worrying about it.
Half sleeve won’t be bad, under the arm will likely be the tender spot for you that will sting a bit more.
I found the ribs & spine the most acute, in that order.

🙂 interesting maxray, i’m guessing its becuase of my mature and sensible persona on here 😈

I’d agree with all the above – your pain threshold WILL be different to that of others, and where it is on your body makes a massive difference. Worst bits for me were elbows, the soft bit around the armpit, the back of the wrist where it’s bony and – worst of all, I found – over the collarbone. I had a weird thing whilst getting my chest done, that at certain points (mainly over the bone, and I guess due to the amount of nerves in the area) the pain would actually “move” – so whilst I was having my collarbone inked it actually felt like it was my throat. That was a bit weird.

You probably will find that just as you’re getting used to it he’ll move to a different area that will sting like buggery.

Oh – and I’d recommend E45 for aftercare.

Of course it hurts, you are being stabbed, repeatedly! Saying that, I enjoyed the experience, the real killer is the itchiness that comes after.

worst of all, I found – over the collarbone. I had a weird thing whilst getting my chest done, that at certain points (mainly over the bone, and I guess due to the amount of nerves in the area) the pain would actually “move” – so whilst I was having my collarbone inked it actually felt like it was my throat. That was a bit weird

i had the same! felt like he was tattooing my adams apple , then looked in a mirror to see it was about 2 inches away haha!

I know of no person who has visible tattoos who is happy they had them done after they have reached about 40 years of age. This is much more likely with women. Note I am talking about visible tattoos. What will you do when you are board with it? You know they will eventually become unfashionable again and thats all they are now. What is like to be slave to fashion………..at your age If it makes you feel more manly go for it and if your wife is happy with a visible tattoo which SHE WILL be sorry she had in the future then that is up to the pair of you. Tattoos used to be the thing you had done when you were an immature teenager and regretted when you were adult it appears maturity is much later in life now.

But what would be the point of an invisible tattoo? All that pain and nothing to show for it?

wow, you can’t know many people with tattoos then SD-353 😆 either that or you know a disproportionate amount of tattooed people who made silly decisions when getting inked as a kid.

by visible tattoos do you mean tattoos that can’t be covered up by ‘normal’ clothing, or are you talking about all tattoos other than UV ink tattoos?

i’m pretty sure there’s a fair amount of people on this forum alone who are over the age of 40 and are still happy with their ink… only an idiot would get a tattoo to feel ‘manly’ and unfortunately in my humble opinion your post shows more about your prejudices and ability to stereotype than any real knowledge about tattoos.

I got my first one done last year and was surprised at the lack of pain as I thought it was going to really hurt. Mine runs on my inner arm from elbow to wrist, it nipped a little at the wrist and near the elbow, but nothing major. IMO it was far worse having a hot shower after it (as advised by my tattooist), which was the same sort of pain as sunburn in the shower. I also thought it’d bleed lots, but it didn’t…but I did follow the advice well ie no booze for x days before, eat a good meal first, take in something sugary etc. I was told to wash it three times a day and use bepanthen (sp) – worked really well, had hardly any scanning and didn’t need any touch ups.

They are addictive though, I’ve been wanting another since I got it done, just can’t come up with a design.

I know of no person who has visible tattoos who is happy they had them done after they have reached about 40 years of age.

You do now. 8)

Northwind +1.

Its not the tattoo that hurts its the rubbing off of the excess ink that gets very sore, my last one took 4.5 hours with lots of shading and felt very sore afterwards.
My first tattoo was for my 40th birthday and I also know loads of people who still love their tattoos 10,20,30,40 years later!

philconsequence – Member
wow, you can’t know many people with tattoos then SD-353 either that or you know a disproportionate amount of tattooed people who made silly decisions when getting inked as a kid.

Of course they made silly decisions when they were young that was the point I was making. Roughly half the people I know have

visible

tattoos and all regret it. if that is disproportionate then so be it. Note as I come from a working class background I obviously know a disproportionate amount of working class people who in the past were much more likely to have tattoos. Now granted the tattoos are not great as they fade with time but either way people regret them.

by visible tattoos do you mean tattoos that can’t be covered up by ‘normal’ clothing, or are you talking about all tattoos other than UV ink tattoos?

Your question suggests that you would want to cover them up? I mean torso (non visible) it is not normal to walk round with your sleeves down all the time so arms are visible.

I’m pretty sure there’s a fair amount of people on this forum alone who are over the age of 40 and are still happy with their ink…

And as you are fully aware of they got them latter in life again it is fashionable now it will not be in the future.

only an idiot would get a tattoo to feel ‘manly’

Yes subconsciously, surely it is obvious what I mean?

and unfortunately in my humble opinion your post shows more about your prejudices and ability to stereotype than any real knowledge about tattoos.

I doubt if you have ever been humble at any time in your life. Also what is there to know about tattoos it involves drawing on your body and not being able to have it removed ever. And in what way am I stereotyping? Are you suggesting I look down on the working class or I think that the middle class are trying to imitate the working class……the latter is correct.
A lorry crushed my right leg when I was nine and I have a skin and a very obvious bone graft I would rather look at that than a silly childish tattoo! PS I would guess that I knew about 100+ people in the forces and about 60% had tattoos I wonder what they feel about it now!