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One of the biggest dilemmas facing those looking to get their first tattoo is the level of pain they are likely to be put through. Is it as painful as it looks?Do tattoos hurt? Lets get this out of the way now. Yes, they are painful. Any procedure involving needles being repeatedly stuck into your skin is going to smart a bit. So now you know.
The better question should probably be how much do tattoos hurt?
Let me reminisce on an incident from my childhood. When I was very young, possibly five or six years old, I used to take baths with my father. He had a tattoo and I was intrigued by it. I can only describe it as a very badly drawn eagle on his bicep. The line work was thick and blotchy, any colour that had been there had long since faded.
It wasn't a very nice tattoo.
But to a five year old, it was the epitome of cool. I used to run my fingers over it. I was fascinated by it. I wanted one.
I guess my father saw some warning signs and thought he would try to dissuade me at an early age. He went into substantial detail regarding much the tattoo had hurt. He described the tattoo artist as plunging huge needles in and out of his arms with great force. He described how the blood spurted everywhere with every inked line. He told me how much it had made him cry, and how much the tattoo had hurt him for weeks to come.
He probably went a bit too far really. But it did the trick. I no longer wanted a tattoo.
Roll forward twelve years and there I am in the tattoo studio about to get the first one. I've chosen the design, now all I'm worried out is the pain. Will I get through it? Will I cry? Will I pass out?
Well, I didn't do any of those things. It hurt, but not as much as I anticipated.
The best way I can describe it is to say it's very much like someone scratching your arm deeply. Short passes of the needle, such as very short lines, hardly hurt at all. Should the tattoo incorporate longer lines then obviously the needle is going to be in your skin for longer so you will feel it. It stings a bit.
Line work is generally completed with a single needle, whilst shading and colouring utilises multiple needles on a single tattoo gun. A bit like a very small comb. The technique used to get the shading and colour completed is very much like when you used to colour in sections of a drawing when you were young. I.e. lots of vigorous "rubbing" back and forth within the line work. This obviously involves a bit more effort from the artist and this is where I experience the most pain.
If your tattoo is very small and only covers a small section of your body, then the needlework will be fairly localised. You may find that the area goes numb after a period of time, so the pain is less.
If your tattoo is big then it will cover a wider area. Once one body part has gone numb the artist is moving onto a new location, so you're never out of the woods. Added to that the fact that you're having needles stuck into you for a lengthy period of time, you may start to suffer after a while and need to consider breaking the tattoo sessions up into small, more manageable chunks.
A big factor here is body location. Certain areas where there is less fat on the body will be more sensitive, so it will hurt more. Some examples are the spine, feet, neck, wrists etc.
So yes, tattoos hurt, but you're probably over estimating the level. If you are concerned about pain, talk to your tattooist. It is better the break the tattoo up into smaller sessions rather than compromise on a small tattoo that you don't really want, in a body location that you have no desire for.
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