How Much Does It Hurt To Get A Tattoo?

Pain is part of getting a tattoo. For some people the pain is even an important part of the experience because it allows them to more fully connect with their physical existences. Regardless of your attitude about the pain of the tattooing process, you are certainly interested in how much it will hurt as you anticipate your first tattoo.

The first thing for you to understand is that pain is subjective. This means that people feel pain in different ways and cope with it according to their own abilities. For example, if you are particularly worried and nervous about pain, then you are preparing your brain to interpret the pain in a strongly negative way. You may have heard of people referring to their pain tolerance. Some people say they have a high tolerance to pain and others are quite aware that they have a low tolerance for pain. Much of your tolerance for pain will derive from your mental preparation for the experience and your acceptance that getting the tattoo will hurt.

In addition to individual attitudes toward pain, some concrete factors do influence how much getting a tattoo will hurt.

1. The location of the tattoo - Some places on the body are more sensitive than others. The skin over less fleshy and more boney areas such as the ankles is often reported to be a more painful area to get a tattoo. Although few people get face or head tattoos, these are sensitive areas that can be more painful than other parts of the body.

2. The size of the tattoo - Logically, a large tattoo will be more painful to have applied to the skin than a small tattoo. Large tattoos require the skin to be pierced by the tattoo needle more.

3. The complexity of the tattoo - Even if a tattoo is not very large, it can be more painful to receive than a simple tattoo if the tattoo design is intricate and is filled with color. Once again, an intricate color-filled tattoo requires more needle work and causes more pain than tattoos based on simple one-color lines.

With some planning, you can lessen the impact of pain on your tattoo experience. First, you should not allow yourself to become overly fearful of the pain. If you are committed to getting a tattoo for sound reasons, then you should accept the pain as a part of the process and visualize yourself dealing with the pain in a positive fashion. You can try considering the pain as an element of a ritual experience that will add to the meaning of your tattoo.

Bringing along moral support is always a good idea. Friends or family members can help distract you from pain by offering encouragement and pleasant conversation. Tattoo studios are typically accommodating of guests and allow one or more supporters to be present during a tattoo application.

If you are getting a large or complex tattoo, you should also consider that it does not necessarily have to be done all at once. Your tattoo artist should be sensitive to your level of discomfort and be willing to offer you breaks. Also you and your artist could work out a schedule of multiple tattoo sessions so as to spread out the work and the pain.

Finally, topical anesthetic creams are available that may be helpful in lessening the pain by numbing the skin. This option would have to be discussed with have your tattoo artist to get his or her opinion about the effectiveness of such products.

Tattoo Parlours - Guidelines for Choosing the Best Tattoo Parlors

If you were going to invest in a piece of art, would you feel better about buying it from an accredited gallery which could prove it was authentic, or from someone selling it from the trunk of their car?

So think of the tattoo you are about to get as a piece of art, because that's what it should be. Tattoos are one of the most ancient forms of body art, for which you will be providing the canvas. And because tattoos have soared in popularity over the past decade, there is no shortage of tattoo "studios" more than willing to practice their artistry on you. How do you separate the best tattoo parlors from the rest?

Let me confess. I have, for years, indulged in oil painting as a hobby. I have an easel, brushes, a palette, paints and mediums too numerous to count, palette knives, and even a smock. I have won a few awards in amateur competitions, and even sold a few pieces of my work. Does that make me a professional artist?

No more than owning inks, needles, designs, and renting a store space makes someone a professional tattoo artist. Before you decide to patronize a particular tattoo parlor, learn what a successful parlor should look like. If the one you are considering doesn't measure up, take your money, and your canvas, elsewhere.

When you start looking for the best tattoo parlor, you'll be able to tell a lot simply by paying attention to your first impressions when walking in the door. If you see clutter, overflowing ashtrays, dirt in the corners and dust on the furniture, will you really be able to overlook them?

Pay attention to the quality of the tattoo designs on display. Tattoo "flash", all those design posters covering the walls of every studio, are, or should be, anyway, copyrighted artwork purchased from professional artists. Do they have the bright colors and clear definition of professional artistic prints? Can you see the copyright and the artist's name?

If the flash you are looking at appears washed-out, and you can't see any identifying marks, you may be looking at designs bootlegged from anywhere; the same people who sell traditional artwork or bootlegged movies from the trunks of their cars are perfectly capable of selling stolen tattoo designs. Any merchandise that has a market is merchandise which can be counterfeited, and the soaring popularity of tattoos has made tattoo designs prime bootlegging material.

If the shop you are visiting was willing to cheat legitimate artists out of the royalties they should be getting for their tattoo designs, will they be willing to give you full value for the money you spend on your tattoo? The best tattoo parlors offer new needles, fresh high quality ink, clean gloves, and artists who will spend all the time necessary to make sure your tattoo is the best it can be.

How is the lighting in the studio? At the best tattoo parlors, your tattoo will be done in natural light, so that you can judge how it will permanently appear. Or will it be done under fluorescent lighting, or in a dimly lit corner? Fluorescent lighting will heighten the effect of yellow and greens inks while graying the blues and reds.

If the studio's cleanliness, flash, and lighting seem acceptable, it's time to learn about their history. How long have they been at their present location and can they give you the names of some satisfied customers? Do they have a portfolio with pictures of their healed tattoos to show you? Do the artists know how to avoid scarring, or what to do if they see plasma leaking during the tattooing process? Do they even know what plasma is?

There are some terms you can throw around to find out how familiar a tattoo studio's employees are with safety regulations. Asking whether they practice "Standard Precautions" will let you know if they are in compliance with the OSHA guidelines for controlling bloodborne diseases.

Standard precautions mean that the best tattoo parlors will have artists who sterilize their packaged needles and tubes in an autoclave before opening them for use. Any equipment they use on a customer, including inks, glove, razors, ink cups, and ointments, will be discarded after sue, and the artist will wipe down the work area with a virucide, to destroy any lingering germs or viruses.

The best tattoo parlors dispose of any sharp instruments in the same way that hospitals do, in "sharps" containers, and any other materials which have come into contact with blood in biohazard containers.

The simple rule is that anything which is exposed to human blood, in the best tattoo parlors, will either be disposed of or autoclaved after use.

It may seem uncomfortable, but you want your tattoo artist to treat you as if your blood were infectious. Even though you know it isn't, you can't say the same for everyone else who has been tattooed at that particular parlor. So the best tattoo parlors will approach everyone that way. Don't take it personally.

If the person who greets you when you enter the parlor is reluctant to answer your questions on the parlor's safety practices, and can't refer you to another employee who will, scratch that tattoo parlor off your list.

And if you live in a state which requires its tattoo parlors to be certified, you are in luck.

In the U.S., only three states, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, require their tattoo artists to be certified by the American Academy of Micropigmentation: http://www.micropigmentation.org/

And only one state, Oregon, has a state certification program. Oregon's tattoo artists have to complete and pass a 368-hour training course at a state-approved training school. New Mexico, North Dakota, and Washington D.C. have no regulations on tattooing at all.

So if you're in a state which is either unregulated, or only requires its tattoo parlors to pass an occasional Health Department inspection, the easiest way for you to find the best tattoo parlors is to look for those whose artists belong to the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. The APT admits only those artists who have educated themselves in proper tattoo safety.

Look at choosing the best tattoo parlors the same way you would look at choosing the best art galleries. You are buying artwork, and you, and the rest of the world will be looking at it for the rest of your life. The best tattoo parlors take pride in their work.

And you'll probably be able to tell you are in one of the best the minute you walk through its door.

How to Get a Tattoo off Your Body

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There are few ways of getting a tattoo off your skin, but none of them are easy, pleasant or simple....

Fade Away Methods:

Fade away methods are the newest development in Tattoo Removal. This method normally involves a series of creams/rubs that are absorbed into the skin. The series, used in combination, causes a reaction that breaks down the components of the ink, which the body then disposes. This procedure essentially speeds up your body's natural process of ridding your body of a foreign object -in this case it is ink. With time the tattoo becomes lighter and lighter, thus the tattoo "fades away."

This perhaps is the cheapest and least painful removal method. This is the only method that does not have a risk of scarring. However, it is does take some patience. Results are not seen overnight

Surgical Methods:

Most surgeons caution patients that complete tattoo removal is not possible. Few surgeons guarantee complete removal. Beware if they do! This might be your first sign warning sign.

How effective the removal technique is depends on size, location, age of tattoo, colours and type of ink used.

Also be aware of the possible side effects - scarring and pain

Those are:

Laser: The Laser technique is the penetration and break up of the ink articles that were injected into your skin. Much like the Fade Away Method, the ink particles that are broken up by the laser are carried away by the body's natural systems and are disposed as bodily waste.

This removal method involves the use of several types of laser or intense pulsed light therapy. Which types are used all depends on the colour of ink used in the tattoo. Laser has improved somewhat over the past couple of years. It used to take an average of 2 years to remove a tattoo, and even then the process was not fully guaranteed. Although modern lasers and light systems can remove a tattoo in a little less time, this process is entirely dependent upon the laser type, number of sessions and the patient's body. At lease several treatments are necessary, even today. This procedure is performed under a topical anesthetic or with none at all. This is one of the more expensive methods used today.

Cryosurgery: This method involves freezing area of tattoo area prior to its removal.The removal technique often used is dermabrasion (This method involves removing all of the skin and the ink of the tattoo. A sanding instrument is used to "sand off" surface and middle layers of the skin. The tattoo is "sanded" with a rotary abrasive instrument in order to remove all of the skin. Bleeding is likely to occur. This procedure is performed under local anesthetic or local and oral/IV sedation. The price for Dermabrasion can range from $1000 to several thousands of dollars depending on the extent of the area treated.)

Excision: The tattooed area is cut out of your skin, and the surrounding skin is sutured together. This method leaves a scar. Only a small tattoo or a small section of a tattoo can be excised at a time. A larger tattoo may require several treatments and a skin graft. If it is a large tattoo skin from another part of the body might be needed

Best Star Tattoo Ideas and Meanings

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Star tattoos are some of the most popular tattoos in both males and females. Some of them like the small twinkling stars tattoo look very feminine while others like the nautical stars are very masculine.

People who chose star tattoos have different reasons. For some people, they only like the appearance of star tattoos on one particular part of their body. For others, they relate themselves or their lives to the meanings of star tattoos.

One basic meaning of star tattoos is that the wearer wants to achieve something, like a goal, and the tattoo is a reminder that he should never give up to get what he wants. It shows the wearer's determination to reach his goals.

Another very basic meaning is the wearer's interest in anything related to astronomy. The wearer must have been very interested in this subject that he wants other people to identify him as someone who likes to know about the heavens and heavenly bodies whenever they look at his tattoo.

Also, star tattoos could mean a very significant point or event in the wearer's life. Maybe the wearer joined a new religion, got married, decided to change his ways, and so on.

These are some basic meanings of star tattoos. Now, if you want to get one for yourself, here are some star tattoo ideas that you can use for your own tattoo.

Nautical Stars. A long time ago, when compass has not yet been invented, sailors use the stars to navigate. These ancient sailors used to wear nautical star tattoos to guide them during their journeys and long voyages. This was a superstitious belief back then. But now, that tradition carried on and whenever you see somebody sporting a cool nautical star tattoo, ask him the reason for that and he will most likely answer something like this: the star is something that guides him to go to the right direction or create the right path in his life.

Shooting Stars. This tattoo could mean a short yet very significant event that happened in a person's life but it changed his or her life greatly. It could symbolize a short romance, a person, a job, or anything that made an impact in the wearer's life.

The Star of David or Hexagram. If you adhere to Judaism's doctrine, then you might be interested in getting a hexagram tattoo. Hexagrams can also be used by people who do not believe in Judaism but believe in the interconnection of humans and the Divine.

Pentagram. This is a five-pointed star that could mean different things. For one, the four points can symbolize the four elements-water, earth, wind, and fire-and the point at the very top is the spirit that the four elements have.

These are just some examples of popular star tattoo ideas. You can think outside the box and create your own design with your own special meaning.

Star tattoos can be placed in different parts of the body depending on your gender. Choose the best design that you want with the corresponding meaning and the location where you want it to be placed to have the perfect star tattoo.