Odd question....

[deathpixie]

For those on my friendslist who have tattoos... I know the amount of pain depends on where the tat is done - bony places or areas that are sensitive any way (like the inside of your upper arm) are painful, but is it bad just during the tattooing, or does it hurt for a while afterwards? And it's a sort of burning pain, yes?

No, I'm not about to go get one tonight. This is for something I'm writing. ;)

Comments

[alasdair.livejournal.com]

Upper arm wasn't too bad. Chest was quite painful. For a value of painful that means "entirely bearable, just not exactly pleasant".

The sensation is as if someone is dragging something stabbity across your flesh (because well, they are). Yes, burning is a good way of putting it, but the sensation has a distinct dragging, pulling feeling or not.

The big problem I found with the chest was that the sensation changed (from sharp to dull, I suppose) from one side of the tat to the other, because the nerve concentration across the area varies, so just as you're used to one kind of pain, it gets replaced by another.

With the chest, I found myself tensing involuntarily a lot, and the tattooist had to keep telling me to relax.

In terms of aftercare: it itches like a bastard for a couple of weeks, but you can't scratch. I found myself slapping the affected area quite a lot, as a means of dealing with the itch.