Tattoo Placement

The type of tattoo you want may dictate its placement. For example, the back, chest and upper leg are great canvases for large designs, such as portraits and scenery. The arms, especially the bicep, is a traditionally popular location, and gives you the option of an ever trendy arm band design, a small, easily hidden tat, or a huge, domineering statement that goes great with a tank top.

The hands are feet are painful spots for permanent tattooing; as a result, most people opt for smaller designs in these places. However, the hands especially are highly popular in traditional henna tattooing, so if you have next to no pain tolerance but still want your digits extensively decorated, henna is a pain free option that’s strong cultural tradition will keep you respectable in the tattoo world. Just don’t tell people you got henna because you’re afraid of a little pain.

The genitals and butt, it not the most common and is extremely painful, but people do it. You know what they say: different strokes for different folks. There really is a tattoo out there for everybody.

If you’ve already got ink, you know that the first think everyone wants to know is “Did that hurt?” If you’ve been considering whether or not to get a tattoo, the mystery surrounding the pain factor is most likely what’s holding you back. Some have described the sensation as more of a burning or feeling. Some say it feels more like a bee sting or a burn. Many wouldn’t call it pain at all, but more of an irritation. How much discomfort you experience depends on where you choose to put your new tattoo.

Bone and nerve endings should be main considerations in tattoo placement. Areas with a lot of nerve endings close to the surface of the skin, like the spine, nipples, hands, feet and genitals are going to be more uncomfortable that others. Places with shallow bones like the sternum, ribs, shin, knees, elbows, the head and behind the ears will also be more sensitive.

The size of the design you chose also plays a part in the amount of pain involved. Of course larger tattoos take longer to complete, prolonging the irritation of the skin and making it more raw and sensitive. That’s why most tattooists will suggest you break big projects up into several sittings.

There’s a common misconception that having a few drinks before going under the gun will keep you relaxed and help make you more comfortable. This is not the case. In fact, tattooist won’t work on you and don’t even really want you in their shops because, unless you are so drunk that you passed out cold, you will have a harder time following directions and sitting still.

While there is always some blood during the process, drunks tend to bleed more, making the process slow and messy. The excess blood makes it harder for the skin to absorb the ink and your tattoo may no take at all, which means you’ve wasted the artists time, bled all over his shop and got poked repeatedly with nothing to show for it.

The same is true for any drugs, legal or otherwise, you may be thinking of taking. That goes double for amphetamines, or anything that makes you jittery, even caffeine. The best thing you can ingest to help with the pain is a good meal. A good night’s sleep wouldn’t hurt either. Fatigue is known to have a negative effect on pain tolerance.

Another very important thing to consider when choosing where to put your tattoo is how it will affect your employment options. Even in the twenty-first century, there is still a lot of stigma attached to tattoos. If you are a white collar professional or work in a very public, customer-service type atmosphere, you may want to think about putting your tattoo someplace where you can show it off if you want to, but can easily cover it up for work without looking silly.

Time And Tattoos

Throughout the course of time, tattoos have been used to personify and represent someone’s affiliations, personal preferences, and their creative outlook on life. Tattoos are gaining in popularity these days as well with both men and women. Research has shown that nearly 1 in 4 people have at least one tattoo on their body.

By definition, a tattoo is a permanent marking on the skin. The ink is injected by needle under the skin, creating the image of the tattoo. The needle moves very fast, puncturing the skin and depositing the ink into the epidermis. As the ink is depositing into the epidermis, the skin captures the color of the ink. The artist will continue to clean the tattoo as he works on it, wiping it off with antiseptic and disinfecting the wound.

Over time tattoos will chance with the skin on a constant basis due to the wind, sun, regeneration, water, and other things. The way a tattoo looks and the design must also chance with the skin as it shrinks, stretches, and ages. The pigment that makes up the tattoo must remain the way it is over time, although tanning and wrinkles can affect the color and clarity of the tattoo.

The overall length of time that a tattoo styles healthy and vibrant in color all depends on how well it was taking care of after it was completed and how the skin is taking care of. Even though infection is always a concern with tattoos, you must also promote healing in the sense of retaining as much ink as you possibly can. Most tattoos will heal completely within a few short weeks, although they must be kept moist to prevent scabbing. If allowed to scab, the scab that forms will remove some of the color from the tattoo.

The number one enemy of tattoos is the sun. Just like other colors that are exposed to sunlight, the pigments found in tattoos will fade. Yellow and red are the hardest colors to maintain over time, blue and black are the easiest and most stable to maintain. Tattoos are considered to be part of the organism of living skin and need to be maintained to keep the color alive and fresh. If you are going to be out in the sun, you should always cover your tattoos and wear a quality sunscreen as well, just to be on the safe side.

Tattoos that have been properly applied, properly healed, and protected from the rays of the sun can remain their best for years and years. Although the colors will remain vibrant as well, time and the sun are definite enemies for tattoos. No matter how well you take care of your tattoos and protect them, there really is no escape from changes that come as a result of time itself.