入れ墨 irezumi: the truth about tattoo pain
As I will be departing the Orient this year to traverse more northerly shores, I took it upon myself (or to be more precise, upon my actual person) to commission an epidermal etching as a permanent keepsake of my time in the ol' Nippon.
Today I visited the inking salon for my first-ever rendezvous at the point of a needle. The evening prior I had spent fretting over various tattoo forums online, randomly googling "tattoo pain" & c, perusing ghastly horror stories that left my teeth chattering and Sir S chiding me for consulting the unreliable cyberwaves on such matters.
I wanted to commit to my blog a description of the pain levels for other first-time inkpots who might be curious. My tattoo is on the centre of my lower back, and is probably the size of a small teacup-saucer and took nearly 2 hours. It features a thin swirly circular border, overlaid with a red dragonfly (赤蜻蛉). The wings have minimal detail with a smoky grey fill. The pain was nowhere near as bad as I expected. In fact, it was more like a prickly irritation than swooning pain. However, I did experience most of the sensations that are commonly described in the "Ye Gods! That Prick Bally-Well Hurt, By Jove!" forums. From worst to least painful:
1. Cigarette burning (especially for the thicker lines and fill)
2. EpiLady nipping (if you've ever used this one, gals, the sensation of a tattoo needle is very similar - an irritating plucking and nipping that one wants to swat at)
3. Pin-cushioning (the needles for the finer lines were just like a needle from a sewing kit or mummsie's pin-cushion, but light and hot upon the skin's surface and not at all deep)
4. Cat-scratching (it was fun to visualise our cat, Grandmaster Flash, snagging his claws into the flesh above my sacrospinalis; another sensation that causes an irresistible desire to swat the tattoo artist)
5. Buzzing (aye, much buzzing went on during my inking session, and this was my fave bit because it didn't hurt at all and felt rather warm and fuzzy, verging on the ticklish)
6. Tickling (occasionally the tattooing was purely ticklish, to which I had to stifle a giggle for fear that a sudden laugh would leave a permanent, wonky line upon my person)
7. Tummy rumbling (the vibrations of the needle caused a pseudo-hunger in my poor tumkin and it seemed to rumble for food, even though I'd just scoffed down mentaiko fish egg pasta earlier! The rumbling was similar to that at music halls, when the drummer gets lively and one can feel the clash of cymbals and thump of the drum in one's innards & c)
My tattooist was very gentle and always paused and wiped after about 10-20 seconds of needle reverb. As soon as the needle paused, any discomfort subsided immediately. These regular but brief "rests" made the whole experience far more comfortable than I'd anticipated. During the session, I mainly experienced sensations #2, #4 and #5.
Make sure to eat well and drink lots of water beforehand. My throat got mightily parched towards the end, even though I'd downed quite a bit of water before the session. Also, be aware that one can get sleepy during the session, and therefore there is a tendency to drool. Keep tissues at the ready!
Finally, I found that visualising Transporting Scenes of Fun and Jests helped to keep me calm during the "cigarette burning" bits. During the 2 hours, the following scenes flickered in my cinematic brain and assisted in keeping the niggling pain to a minimum:
1. Our aforementioned cat clawing the furniture, carpets, pantihosed legs of guests, any vertical or horizontal object & c in a never-ending, manic frenzy of scratching;
2. The Mighty Boosh's "Ice Floe Song" replayed itself several times for comic amusement;
3. Recollections of the weekend Hen's Party, where the petite and elegant Miss S provocatively ate a gigantic sausage whilst wearing bunny ears.
Today I visited the inking salon for my first-ever rendezvous at the point of a needle. The evening prior I had spent fretting over various tattoo forums online, randomly googling "tattoo pain" & c, perusing ghastly horror stories that left my teeth chattering and Sir S chiding me for consulting the unreliable cyberwaves on such matters.
I wanted to commit to my blog a description of the pain levels for other first-time inkpots who might be curious. My tattoo is on the centre of my lower back, and is probably the size of a small teacup-saucer and took nearly 2 hours. It features a thin swirly circular border, overlaid with a red dragonfly (赤蜻蛉). The wings have minimal detail with a smoky grey fill. The pain was nowhere near as bad as I expected. In fact, it was more like a prickly irritation than swooning pain. However, I did experience most of the sensations that are commonly described in the "Ye Gods! That Prick Bally-Well Hurt, By Jove!" forums. From worst to least painful:
1. Cigarette burning (especially for the thicker lines and fill)
2. EpiLady nipping (if you've ever used this one, gals, the sensation of a tattoo needle is very similar - an irritating plucking and nipping that one wants to swat at)
3. Pin-cushioning (the needles for the finer lines were just like a needle from a sewing kit or mummsie's pin-cushion, but light and hot upon the skin's surface and not at all deep)
4. Cat-scratching (it was fun to visualise our cat, Grandmaster Flash, snagging his claws into the flesh above my sacrospinalis; another sensation that causes an irresistible desire to swat the tattoo artist)
5. Buzzing (aye, much buzzing went on during my inking session, and this was my fave bit because it didn't hurt at all and felt rather warm and fuzzy, verging on the ticklish)
6. Tickling (occasionally the tattooing was purely ticklish, to which I had to stifle a giggle for fear that a sudden laugh would leave a permanent, wonky line upon my person)
7. Tummy rumbling (the vibrations of the needle caused a pseudo-hunger in my poor tumkin and it seemed to rumble for food, even though I'd just scoffed down mentaiko fish egg pasta earlier! The rumbling was similar to that at music halls, when the drummer gets lively and one can feel the clash of cymbals and thump of the drum in one's innards & c)
My tattooist was very gentle and always paused and wiped after about 10-20 seconds of needle reverb. As soon as the needle paused, any discomfort subsided immediately. These regular but brief "rests" made the whole experience far more comfortable than I'd anticipated. During the session, I mainly experienced sensations #2, #4 and #5.
Make sure to eat well and drink lots of water beforehand. My throat got mightily parched towards the end, even though I'd downed quite a bit of water before the session. Also, be aware that one can get sleepy during the session, and therefore there is a tendency to drool. Keep tissues at the ready!
Finally, I found that visualising Transporting Scenes of Fun and Jests helped to keep me calm during the "cigarette burning" bits. During the 2 hours, the following scenes flickered in my cinematic brain and assisted in keeping the niggling pain to a minimum:
1. Our aforementioned cat clawing the furniture, carpets, pantihosed legs of guests, any vertical or horizontal object & c in a never-ending, manic frenzy of scratching;
2. The Mighty Boosh's "Ice Floe Song" replayed itself several times for comic amusement;
3. Recollections of the weekend Hen's Party, where the petite and elegant Miss S provocatively ate a gigantic sausage whilst wearing bunny ears.
Flashy considers his own artistic nous("If only someone inked my claws!" thinks he)
Labels: lower back tattoo, tattoo pain
posted by Miss Ember at 9:06 pm
2 comments
