for my tattooed freaky people...

[keryx]

I am perplexed by people who say tattoos don't hurt that much. Unless you live with pain every day, making your scale different, I think tattoos hurt. A lot.

I now have three in different spots, and each has hurt in varying ways to varying degrees. And. Absolutely never something I would describe as a "tingle" or a "pinprick". More like a "touching a searing hot stove at unusual angles" or "a needle puncturing your skin over an over at an extremely fast rate". Each time the process starts, I make a mental note to myself (apparently in very light pencil) that this is stupid and I never plan to do it again.

The only nice things about tattoo pain are its extreme localization and the way it gets you a little contemplative after the first half hour or so. But that's the first half hour of really very noticeable pain, and it's not like it goes away when you meditate. It just gets endurable. A few hours later when the euphoria wears off, my whole body starts to complain that I've stuck it with needles a lot, and could we maybe take a nap...

You? If you have tattoos (or if you just feel like speculating or throwing off the curve), tell me: did yours hurt? How about after?
[Poll #1378247]

Comments

[keryx.livejournal.com]

I think the process starts like this... you see other people with beautiful art on their bodies. You think wow, I have this image in my head that I want to have with me all the time. Then you go and get it, and the process is whatever degree of exhausting and painful it is for you (this seems to vary greatly). By the end of that process, you've survived something many people wouldn't even try, and you're euphoric with pain. And in another week, this beautiful thing you wanted with you all the time stops itching and swelling... then you think of something ELSE you want. Except now, instead of thinking how much it hurts, what you tend to remember is that you survived it.

I don't know anyone who changed their mind once they were mid-tattoo or had major complications after the fact, but I'm guessing those would be the people who never do it again.

[doktor-jess.livejournal.com]

I couldn't understand why people would another either, until I got one. As soon as it healed, I was already planning my next one. I've finally decided on the Rocky Horror lips on my right inner wrist.