Vote: What Does Getting a Tattoo Feel Like?
Saturday September 13, 2003
What does getting a tattoo actually feel like? Like a pin being dragged across your skin? A bee sting? A burning sensation? Or is it just plain unbearable? If you have a tattoo, vote in this forum poll and let us know what you think! If you don't have one, but were wondering that very thing, take a look at what our forum members are saying on the matter.
Comments
like a pin pushed into your arm then dragged allong, hurts like hell but well worth it
I hear guys complain more than girls. I am a 18 year old female with two tattoos. IT DOES NOT HURT. it feels like a needle vibrating against your skin… and thats exactly wut it is.. it feels like what it is!
the ribs hurt a little.. bone hurts much more than muscle. still, it’s not unbarable.. i got a tatoo up the entire side of my back; it was my first tattoo and i didn’t take any breaks. the guy next to me did, though.. and he got this little thing on his arm. just suck it up, jesus christ.
i got my first tattoo today and i was so so scared but o my god its nothing to b frightentd about !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i am thinking about getting a tattoo and i am only 13 yrs old does it hurt
well im 14 and i just recently got my tattoo in april because my sister passed away in 2005 and i wanted something done for her so i got a cross with her name & dates & like vines its pretty but honestly a tattoo doesnt hurt at all the guy started doing it and i looked up at my mom like this is it. it just feels like someone scratching you in an annoying way but it doesnt hurt for me getting my ears pierced hurt more than getting my tattoo im actually addicted to tattoos now i cant wait to get more but yeah i deffinately think that it doesnt hurt at all it just depends on your pain tolerance i guess.
I wanna get a tribal/celtic one on my hand like Cheryl Cole’s (links below)
http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8582/cheryltattoo5wn.png
.. My mum says it will look stupid if i went for a professional job when i was older though .. what you all think?
hey i am a tattoo artist and i advise u not to get anything below ur sleeve until u get a steady job
I have 7 tattoos – the foot hurt quite a bit – ankles a little….back not so much. Depends on your tolerance for pain and how much “padding” there is in the area you tattoo. Not agonizing. Totally tolerable unless you’re a real pain-weinie. Very addictive. I was only ever just going to get “one”…here I amd 7 years later with 7 tattoos…and I’ll be adding 2 more next month. Love them!
Im getting angle wings on my back and it will be my first tattoo. what does it feel like getting a tattoo on the back??
I know this is probably a little off topic but as you all are talking about tatoo’s i want to ask a question?
What tatoo should a power hungry man such as my self get? Serious answer please or i will kill you…
Reply effetivly!
I got my first tattoo a few months back. It is a larger cross between my shoulder blades. It did not “hurt” per say, more of an uncomfortable sting, but only lasts during impact. The worst part is the itching that follows days later. Won’t line, the needle to the spine didn’t feel great. But that might have been because I was 2 hours in and getting a bit tender. Contrary to what I heard from most, the filling was not worse by any means.
the long outline lines of a tattoo are the worst,depending on the tat being done….that does feel like long slashes with a very sharp knife or needle…the shading is a doddle…tho i have heard some people say the shading hurts the most….after the first 10 mins your skin goes quite numb so you dont feel much after that…if you sit for more than 3 hours it can get a bit hair-raising and my personal best is 4 hours…then my body has had enough….having a decent meal before is a good thing…drinking fruit juice while having the tat,and then another good meal after helps the body deal with all this energy being spent…then the tat just feels hot and very much like a graze….
to those of us serious collectors,the pain is as important as the final picture…haha…when i hear a tattoo machine i immediately want the pain…weird i know….its also kinda tribal to me as each of my tats are a ritual/rite of passage and another meaningful piece of my life…
i cant say ive had a bad experience with regard to pain…i dont like the sound of the needle as it goes over the elbow bone…it sounds like its drilling into you, but the pain is not bad…i DO think if you are really afraid and panic about what its going to feel like, you put your body on such a danger alert that all your nerve endings actually feel the pain worse than it is…this happened to my daughter, as she was so scared and almost fainted just having a 20min butterfly done…haha….its normal to be scared but if you really want a tattoo you will deal with it….
Raven…
Im 16 and me and my boyfriends brother had a bet on getting tattoos and he got his first one a long time ago and i promised i would get my first one on my ankle and this was a year ago he’s already on his 7th do you think i should get my first on my ankle??????
Hey im 20 and thinking about getting a tattoo but i’ve been unsure for a while now because i don’t know if what i have is called ‘hives’ but if i scratch into my skin with my finger nail for example, after about 5 mintues of so my skin where i scratched raises :S..i’ve been to my doctor to ask about this but to be honest she didn’t sound as though she knew what she was on about and sounded unsure about the advice she gave me which was to get a small tattoo to see what happens! wasn’t really re-assuring to me…any advice??
k for your issue with being concerned with getting hives….if u think this is potential issue i’m curious if you could have them giv u like just like a small dot somewhere where no one would c it to test if you’ll react….sorta like a patch test
I may be “The HennaChick” but, I love-love-love my ink. I have about 80 hours of ink and nowhere near done yet.
In all honesty, I have to fight to stay awake during a tattoo session. It’s more annoying at first than anything but I just ignore it and try to stay awake. I don’t want to jerk awake if my artist hits a twitchy spot. My sessions usually last 3-4 hours with a couple of breaks when we need nicotine. It’s not the tattooing that bothers me, it’s the healing for two weeks that drives me crazy. LOL
As a general rule, if it was THAT painful, people wouldn’t do it over and over and over again. If you want the ink bad enough, you will sit through it. Good Luck!
they do not hurt
hey,… so when u say annoying feeling honestly wat do u mean
Im 18 and want to get my first tat on the top of my foot. I know it is different for everyone I just want to here peoples experiences with tats on their feet. Should this be my first tat or should I start somewhere else on my body?
does one on the back of the neck hurt a lot?
have 8″ tattoo on upper right arm/shoulder; took 4.5 hours with no breaks; pain was not bad, like a cat kneading on your bare skin; granted I chose that location so that there would be plenty of meat between the needles and my bones but I am very glad I did it; planning my next one now
im 16 just got my first one, its not as bad as everyone says, to be honest without sounding like an ego maniac, it doesn’t hurt at all really, more of an annoyance, feels like someone hitting sunburn but the pain goes away, your body sends endorphins to kill the pain, please don’t let the intimidation of pain keep you from getting one =]
I got an 8 inch color tattoo between my shoulder blades last week, and while the outlining wasn’t any big deal at all, the color shading was a whole new definition of pain! I was able to easily laugh through it for 3 hours, though, and I’m going back for more in 2 weeks, so how bad could it really be? It hurts, but it’s so worth it. You’ll forget all about the pain as soon as it’s over and you’ll be ready to do it all over again!
I got my first tattoos when I was 15. They did hurt, but not as bad as everyone thinks they do, and for getting tattos on your wrists, my dad, who does tattoos, said they should be small enough to hide with a watch or something.
im 15 years old&i got a tattoo
on my hip..and it did not hurt
it juss tickled. im about to get
another one soon
hi im almost 16 and i was really wanting a tattoo but i didnt know if it hurt and was wondering if you guys thought it would its the one on the guys back in this DVD cover:
http://necrocarnival.net/images/Doomsday_poster.jpg
I got a butterfly on my hip half on the bone and it didnt hurt i cant believe i freaked out so much! i wiould put the pain down to ” mini electric shocks!” i dont know why but thats what i think it feels like. Im addicted!!!!!
i got my first tattoo at the top of my back from shoulder blade to shoulder blade and it didnt hurt at all it was just uncomfortable the way i had to sit. im shocked it wouldnt cuz it hit my shoulder blades on both sides cuz they kept popping out
I just got my first one done on my back yesterday. The pain was pretty minor, sometimes I forgot the needle was in my back at all. The first few seconds were the worst part and even that wasn’t that bad. Also a fun fact, because of your nerve set up one side of your back hurts worse then the other. For me, the left was by far the worse, but it was still worth it all the way!
I am truly a tattoo junkie. At this point in time I currently have over 50 tattoos. I guess that I would have to say that it depends on your tolerance for pain as to whether tattoos hurt or not. My husband is a tattoo artist I have seen people close to tears while other sit and it does not seem to faze them in the least. For me it is very relaxing, any time I have a stressful day I come home and tell my husband I need some ink.
Never pick a tattoo ‘off the shelf’. I have 5 so far, all designed as one offs….
hey im 12 years old and my uncle died in a motorcycle accident on July 4th,2009 and he will be 24 September 18th . i wanted his name small on my foot but no tattoo artist will do it for me even if my mom is there. in 4 years im looking forward to getting a tattoo from under my belly button cross my hip bone and stop at the top of my rib. but im scare because of my hip bone and rib.
i am going to get a tattoo but i want to know if it is really painful just on my upper arm on my muscle or my wrist up does it hurt
I wouldnt recommend anyone under 25 getting a tattoo. I have friends that got that stupid barbed wire on their arms that they regret (and get made fun of) and girlfriends with the tat on the back for “something to look at” from behind. This shows the emotional state of difference when age 17 and 27 or 16 and 36. Dont get something that is “in” because it wont be “in” long and you will be made fun of as if we were still wearing parachute pants and doing the backspin, back in the days. Think long and hard, weeks, months or years, before you ink.
I have 2 tattoos and the 3 shooting stars i have on my boob didnt hurt at all but the one i got in the inside in my leg HURT well the outline was the part that hurt the shading in you can hardly feel. It just depends where you get it and how much pain you can handle getting my tongue pierced was way less pain then getting a tattoo
I got mine on my stomach, it feels like tiny needles going through your skin. It doesn’t really hurt. It starts to go numb. : ]
im all booked in for my tatttoo on 7th oct iv wanted one for ages im now 37 and im going for it im having a butterfly with four dot stars (one for each child )im having it one my wrist the tatooist so good you have to book mths in advance but im suprised some people are under 18 and have been tatooed i thought you had to be 18
My boyfriend is a tattoo artist and i never wanted a tatt, but one day i changed my mind and took the plunge. I was so scared. But i think the vibrating of the machine and needle is worse than the actually pain. It feels like scratching really.
Well where should I start?Here i guess:Being a tattooist(over 30 years)I don’t care about giving away “trade secrets”.I have about 160 tattoos(counting within my sleeves)I can tell you one thing:different needles have their own feel,,single needle have a hot feel(burning)the more tender the area the more burn(that’s why I outline with a tight 3 round)(and light shading)It doesn’t have that burning feeling just a little painful,(and a beautiful thin line and hair like shading)I color with a 15 round (and heavy shading)large round needles are more annoying that painful,now flat needles (single stack or magnums) that’s a whole different beast(they are where the saying “pushing ink”came from)they have more of a dragging thru the skin in reverse feel,Real painful in tender areas(in the business we call them garden rake’s)But everyone has their own tolerance for pain,But over my many years of tattooing this is what I have observed (and felt.)One thing I can tell people is to try to go to tattooist that not only tattoos others,,but also tattoos himself (not all do)I tattoo myself where ever i can reach.When they tattoo themselves they (”know the feel”) and are usually more of a gentle tattooist and that’s what you want to find!…….Bob
basically, it depends completely on the area of the tattoo and your pain tolerance.
normally, the more muscle on the area the less it hurts, very soft fleshy parts of your skin will hurt quite a bit more. for example, near your armpit i’ve found to be the most painful place.
I find normally on a muscle, its completely bearable, somewhat like a pin dragging. however near my armpit it feels a bit more like a burning hot pin. however this is only for short seconds at a time in most cases.
also keep in mind shading hurts considerably less than lining.
truth is you’ll never know untill you get one. start small, and give yourself a good idea of your tolerance, then you can decide wether you wanna tackle a large peice or not.
i want to get my first tattoo on my neck. There isnt alot of muscle there. And i hear the pain isnt that bad. Im jw how bad it would hurt on my neck?
The most important thing to remember is that everyone is different in their pain tolerance, different body parts hurt in different ways and the pain can change from day to day (or for that matter, from minute to minute). I could not sit for longer than an hour each sitting when my ribs were tattooed. But I sat for four and a half hours when my hip was being inked. I fell asleep when my upper left arm was tattooed. When my back was inked it felt like someone was scratching my back really hard; it was not even close to painful, just intense.
Also, the immediate “ouch!” goes away as soon as the artist lifts the needle from your skin.
Your endorphins will kick in about ten minutes into your experience. They may not dull the sensations completely but will help.
You will learn to love green soap. It feels so good when the artist is using the green soap to clean up an area so he can see what he is doing.
It will help to focus on the end result – hopefully a kick-a$$ tattoo!
Good luck!
i am thinking about getting my first tatoo on my inner (upper) arm…i really want this tatoo but i wanted to get someones opinion on the pain of this tatoo? i dont want to be started and not be able to finish
No it does not hurt at all. I was scared at first. At the most it just feels like cat scratch… i want to get move, i can almost promise anybody it wont hurt.
ok. i went with my sister to get a tatt the other day and i asked about the difference between girls and guys when getting one. basics? he pretty much broke it down into, well, guys are little girls. he said they tend to pick a more fleshy part of the body and even then hes seen a few guys almost cry over a 30 minute tattoo. and watched a couple girls go through a 4 hour session with no breaks and no tears. im very excited to get my tattoo. just because i know it doesnt hurt like people say it does
Well I got a tattoo on my upper inner arm. Before I got it I did some research and a lot of people told me it was one of the most painful spots to get a tattoo. But to be honest, it wasn’t that bad. Then again, I’m a girl, and girls are usually tougher than men men it comes to pain haha ;P
I’m 19 and got my first tattoo last week. Everyone said it woluld be agony so i was really shaking going in. It’s on the outside of my lower arm from my elbow to my wrist.
As soon as I heard the needle vibrating I started to panic but once it touch my skin I was like, “Is that it?”
Maybe it’s just that I have a high pain tolerance but it was really nothing. I also got it on the bone and I’m quite thin. Still though it’s just like having sunburn and somebody rubbing it. It’s by no means unbearable, in fact I kind of liked the sensation after a few minutes.