A fear of needles is kind of irrelevant. I’m terrifed of needles as far as injections and piercings go and I’m pretty heavily tattood for a chick. Look at the inside of your wrist…see those veins? The needle from a tattoo wouldn’t go anywhere near as deep as those and they’re only about 15 epidermal layers down. When you were a child you will have fallen over and grazed yourself deeper than a tattooing needle goes.
I personally feel like the pain of a tattoo is half of the fun, it’s like earning your right to have your tattoo. My best advice is to breathe. If a tat is really hurting me I sometimes subconsciously hold my breath which DOES NOT HELP.
Just remember, whatever pain you feel is temporary. What’s a few hours of pain? At least if you’re ever captured and interrogated by terrorists you’ll be prepared for it after getting inked 😀
I personally feel like the pain of a tattoo is half of the fun, it’s like earning your right to have your tattoo. My best advice is to breathe. If a tat is really hurting me I sometimes subconsciously hold my breath which DOES NOT HELP.
Just remember, whatever pain you feel is temporary. What’s a few hours of pain? At least if you’re ever captured and interrogated by terrorists you’ll be prepared for it after getting inked 😀
Yeah you are right it’s only temp the pain but the tats forever unless you get it remove
One question of interest on this subject, Matthew.
I have a friend who is a doctor and has a ready supply and will to use injected numbing/anesthetizing stuff. He uses it to perform all sorts of skin repair/surgeries (I hope it’s quite clear by now that I am no doctor and do not know what I’m talking about :)) like in-grown toenails and whatnot, so they must work pretty well.
I have absolutely no desire to ask him for some stuff, especially since he hates tattoos, but do you think such stuff would have effects (good or bad) on the tattoo and/or healing process?
Just curious.
Hi
Yes the stuff your friend can lay his hands on is much stronger than that on the commercial market and you could get a tattoo and prob feel nothing but the vibration of the needles.
The problem is that without proper monitoring it can in some lead to breathing difficulties, irregular heartbeat, and loss of sensation as some of the side effects. They are very easy to overdose on.
That is why they only allow topical with around 4% on a commercial basis. They also do not allow their product to be injected which could be lethal in wrong hands.
I was discussing with my dentist the use of injected adrenaline into the skin as an anesthetic (like the stuff they numb your mouth with). I was advised that it can lead to amputation as restricts the blood vessels if used improperly and heart failure.
Topical anesthetic creams (commercial) do work to a large extent the skin is numbed. The problem is ppl’s expectations of the stuff sold on the market.
It takes upto an hour (sometimes more) for the stuff to actually sink in as it is not injected but soaked through the pores. The effect can last as few as 20 mins and rarely lasts longer than 45-60 mins.
The numbing does not always mean painfree either merely a reduction of the pain. It will also inhibit the endorphins as the signal is reduced or blocked so the cream wears off and bang the body is wracked with pain.
Your friend will likely use lidocaine or other synthetic morphine which is injected directly to the site and has a much longer and stronger effect.
That said removing a toenail requires flesh cutting and is way more painful than most tattoos we would get.
However like you I am not medically qualified mine is just a passing interest I am sure he will be able to explain it much deeper.
Take care
Matthew
As everyone else has said, its not that painful. Okay so i admit my tattoos are not on the sensitive areas (ribs etc) but i find i end up asleep when i have had mine done.
If you have this irrational fear then maybe its your subconcious (sp?) telling you that you shouldn’t be getting a tattoo in the first place?
If you have this irrational fear then maybe its your subconcious (sp?) telling you that you shouldn’t be getting a tattoo in the first place?
Me too! I almost fell out of the chair the other day! Atleast I wasnt snoing!
Nothing really. Before my first time people said that the first time always good because you don’t know what’s coming and therefor a more nervous. Hell no…
First time was awful. Probably because I couldn’t get it out of my head what people had said. On the other hand my first sitting was five and a half hours. I did not know that was concidered a long sitting…
But overall the pain isn’t that bad. What I do is that remind myself that it’s only temporary. I also remind myself that if I don’t get it done now I will have to come more times and even if I like my tattooer it cost money to get there as well as I have to take a day off of work. You could say my motivation is at least 50 percent financial. Apart from that there are different kinds of pain. Lines hurt more than shadowing for example and is more difficult in certain areas. But as the pain varies so extremely it’s easy to overcome the worst parts.
eating and loading on sugar doesnt help the pain, it helps the tolerance to faint/be sick – the pain is never the problem, its more than tolerable, even a buzz to some people – but its the blood that sometimes gets people and makes them faint/be sick. keep your eyes away from your arm if your getting a lot of shading/block black/colour done on your piece, read a magazine or something
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