How Bad Does It Hurt To Get A Tattoo?
How bad do tattoos hurt? – There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to how much pain you’ll feel when getting tattooed. But if you’re wondering what type of pain to expect, Caranfa says the experience is comparable to the feeling of a cat scratch or a sunburn.
“Long periods of irritation and tenderness are what make you feel any discomfort,” Caranfa says. “The sensation of a tattoo needle is very dull compared to a syringe [and needle], it isn’t the needle that causes discomfort as much as it is prolonged tenderness of being tattooed.
” Importantly, different people will report varying experiences of pain based on their individual nervous systems and pain thresholds , says Channelle Charest , a California-based tattoo artist and Co-founder of tattoo scheduling platform Tatstat. Other factors that could affect pain during tattooing include:
- Age: Studies suggest aging decreases your pain sensitivity , meaning elderly people might experience less pain when getting tattooed. Researchers have yet to determine why this happens but note that the size of parts of the brain that process pain decreases with age.
- Sex: People who are biologically female are more likely to experience greater pain intensity, a lower pain threshold, and a lower tolerance for induced pain compared to people who are biologically male. However, research is still emerging.
- Psychological expectations : If you go into a tattoo expecting it to be an excruciating experience, this might affect how much pain you actually feel. Studies suggest that people who feel anxious about and “catastrophize” pain before a procedure often experience higher levels of pain intensity and distress than people with “neutral” pain expectations.
Fortunately, most of the discomfort you feel while getting tattooed will end when your tattoo artist puts down the tattoo gun. “The sensation is only when the needle is in you,” Caranfa says, adding that while it’s typical to experience some soreness, swelling, and itchiness in the days after getting tattooed, it’s “not debilitating.
Contents
- 1 Is the pain of a tattoo bearable?
- 2 How do I prepare for tattoo pain?
- 3 How do you prepare for a tattoo?
- 4 How can I calm my nerves before a tattoo?
- 5 Should I take anything before a tattoo?
- 6 How deep do tattoo needles go?
- 7 Do tattoos feel good?
- 8 Whats the most painful place to get a tattoo?
- 9 Do they numb you when you get a tattoo?
What does getting a tattoo feel like?
– It’s no surprise that getting a tattoo often hurts. Getting one involves receiving many microwounds over a concentrated area of your body. But there are different sensations of pain. Just think of the difference in sensation between a bruise and a cut. Tattoo pain will usually be most severe during the first few minutes, after which your body should begin to adjust.
- If your tattoo is particularly large or detailed, the pain can become intense again toward the end, when pain- and stress-dulling hormones called endorphins may begin to fade;
- Some people describe the pain as a pricking sensation;
Others say it feels like bee stings or being scratched. A thin needle is piercing your skin, so you can expect at least a little pricking sensation. As the needle moves closer to the bone, it may feel like a painful vibration.
Is the pain of a tattoo bearable?
Consider the location of your tattoo – People have different levels of pain tolerance. Pain from tattooing is generally tolerable. However, some areas of the body are more painful to tattoo. Areas near bones like knees, hands, feet, head, neck and ribcage are more sensitive.
How do I prepare for tattoo pain?
How do tattoos compare to pain?
What does a tattoo feel like? – The most important Q first: What does getting a tattoo really feel like? Tattoo artist JoJo Roman compares the sensation of getting a tattoo to the feeling of a constant cat scratch (all my cat people out there know what she means).
Do tattoos hurt more if you’re skinny?
We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here’s our process. Tattoos are among the most common body decorations globally. According to a 2010 study , a whopping 38 percent of people 18 to 29 years old have been inked at least once in their lives.
A natural question to ask is, “Does getting a tattoo hurt?” While most people will say yes, in reality this is a complex question to answer. Tattooing involves repeatedly piercing your skin’s top layer with a sharp needle covered with pigment.
So getting a tattoo is generally always painful, though people may experience different levels of pain. People who are biologically male tend to experience and cope with pain differently from those who are biologically female. In addition, the various parts of the body experience different levels of pain when tattooed.
- While there is no scientific evidence that says which areas of the body will feel the most and least pain when getting inked, we gathered anecdotal information from sites run by people in the tattoo industry;
Here’s the general consensus: The least painful places to get tattooed are those with the most fat, fewest nerve endings, and thickest skin. The most painful places to get tattooed are those with the least fat, most nerve endings, and thinnest skin. Bony areas usually hurt a lot.
How do you prepare for a tattoo?
What should I eat before a tattoo?
Embrace the protein – If you’re wondering what to eat before you visit the tattoo studio, cook a meal that’s protein-rich with plenty of eggs, fish or red meat. Protein helps with recovery, so it’s a great way to prepare for the procedure ahead. If you want to snack during the tattooing process, consider packing some healthy foods such as nuts or fruit to fight any hunger pangs you might get while sitting in the chair. 
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How can I calm my nerves before a tattoo?
Take Breaks – If the pain of the needle is what makes you nervous, there are a number of ways to manage it. One way is to take breaks every half hour (or however frequently you’d prefer). Take a drink of water, stretch out a bit, check your email — anything that will help you revitalize or calm yourself.
Be sure to be breathing steadily and deeply throughout the tattoo to keep yourself relaxed as well. Holding your breath, although it sometimes feels natural to do so when experiencing pain, is not helpful.
When I’m getting a tattoo, I do very controlled and meditative breathing exercises. Counting to 10 as you breathe in and counting to 10 as you breathe out will not only keep your body calm, but it will distract your mind from the discomfort on your skin.
Should I take anything before a tattoo?
Avaliani recommends taking three or four Ibuprofen tablets an hour before your appointment so that your pain tolerance is higher by the time you feel the needle (which, by the way, looks more like the tip of a pen than a needle, in case that word scares you like it scared me).
How do you know your pain tolerance?
Cold pressor method – The cold pressor test is one of the more popular ways to measure pain tolerance. It involves submerging your hand into a bucket of ice-cold water. You’ll tell whoever is administering the test when you start to feel pain. Your pain threshold is determined by the amount of time between the start of the test and your first report of pain.
- Once the pain becomes unbearable, you can remove your hand;
- The time between the test start and when your remove your hand is considered your pain tolerance;
- While this method is more popular than others, some experts question its reliability;
It’s often hard to maintain constant water temperature. Even small differences in water temperature can have a major effect on pain intensity and tolerance time.
What hurts more linework or shading?
Tattoo Shading – Unlike outlining, shading isn’t necessary for every tattoo. Color and shading simply provide more dimension than line work. Contrary to what you might expect, many people report that the shading hurts significantly less than the outlining of the tattoo.
If you’ve already made it through your line work, pat yourself on the back. You’ve likely conquered the most painful part already. You can do this! That said, you should understand what is happening during the shading process.
It’s not the simple, single pass of an outline. Rather, your artist will be packing ink into your skin repeatedly, often for hours at a time, over the same area—which is why some people mistakenly expect it to be more uncomfortable than outlining. But remember: Outlining is very detailed, and your tattoo artist uses needles of a different size for the process.
Where do tattoos hurt the least?
Least painful to tattoo – The least painful places to get a tattoo are areas of your body with fewer nerve endings. Think outer shoulder, calf, buttocks, and outer arm. While people generally focus on the location on the body, Stanley Kovak , a cosmetic physician, theorizes that pain is more about size.
How deep do tattoo needles go?
Just How Far Does The Needle Go? – Now that you know a little more about the machine and the needle, it’s time to discuss the third essential piece of the puzzle—your skin. The tattoo needle goes through 1/16th of an inch of skin. That might not sound like a lot of skin, but it is really going through five sublayers of the epidermis, the dermal layer, and also the top layer of the dermis.
- Among these layers is a collection of sweat glands, hair follicles, connective tissue, fat, and blood vessels;
- During a tattoo session, the needle passes through the epidermis and epidermal-dermal junction, opening a passage in the 2mm-thick dermis;
The dermis is ideal for a couple of reasons. It is far enough not to bleed out and isn’t exposed. Knowing this, the tip of the tattoo needle is minutely adjusted to ensure that it enters the skin to the correct depth. If you were to look at a tattoo needle in the machine, you will see that it sticks out no further than 2mm.
What is the closest pain to a tattoo?
How bad do tattoos hurt? – There’s no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to how much pain you’ll feel when getting tattooed. But if you’re wondering what type of pain to expect, Caranfa says the experience is comparable to the feeling of a cat scratch or a sunburn.
- “Long periods of irritation and tenderness are what make you feel any discomfort,” Caranfa says;
- “The sensation of a tattoo needle is very dull compared to a syringe [and needle], it isn’t the needle that causes discomfort as much as it is prolonged tenderness of being tattooed;
” Importantly, different people will report varying experiences of pain based on their individual nervous systems and pain thresholds , says Channelle Charest , a California-based tattoo artist and Co-founder of tattoo scheduling platform Tatstat. Other factors that could affect pain during tattooing include:
- Age: Studies suggest aging decreases your pain sensitivity , meaning elderly people might experience less pain when getting tattooed. Researchers have yet to determine why this happens but note that the size of parts of the brain that process pain decreases with age.
- Sex: People who are biologically female are more likely to experience greater pain intensity, a lower pain threshold, and a lower tolerance for induced pain compared to people who are biologically male. However, research is still emerging.
- Psychological expectations : If you go into a tattoo expecting it to be an excruciating experience, this might affect how much pain you actually feel. Studies suggest that people who feel anxious about and “catastrophize” pain before a procedure often experience higher levels of pain intensity and distress than people with “neutral” pain expectations.
Fortunately, most of the discomfort you feel while getting tattooed will end when your tattoo artist puts down the tattoo gun. “The sensation is only when the needle is in you,” Caranfa says, adding that while it’s typical to experience some soreness, swelling, and itchiness in the days after getting tattooed, it’s “not debilitating.
What hurts more piercing or tattoo?
Tattooing is not for the faint of heart – 
Marko Zamrznuti tonovi/Shutterstock While piercing is a sharp, short pain, tattooing is a more sustained, dull pain, according to Authority Tattoo. With piercings, the needle fully penetrates your skin in a more intense way, but this only lasts for a second (if the piercer is doing things right). However, a tattoo can last for hours. The pain also depends on what part of your body you’re getting done.
For piercings, the least painful tend to be the earlobes because of the soft tissue, and the most painful tend to be the genital area, according to Healthline. For tattoos, the least painful areas are where there’s more fat, such as the thigh.
The more bony areas of the body, such as the ribs, can be excruciating, per Healthline. Although neither tattooing nor piercing are for the faint of heart, if you’re hyped up about body modification and have a low pain tolerance, we recommend going with a cool piercing to spice things up.
Do tattoos feel good?
– When you’re injured or in pain, your body releases endorphins , natural chemicals that help relieve pain and contribute to feelings of pleasure. Your body also releases these at other times, such as when you’re working out, eating, or having sex. Tattoos cause at least some pain, even if you tolerate it well.
The endorphins your body releases during tattooing can make you feel good and cause a euphoric feeling. This feeling may linger for a little while, and it’s not unusual to want to experience it again. The way endorphins affect your brain isn’t too different from the way chemical pain relievers such as opioids affect your brain.
They involve the same brain areas, so the “high” you get from endorphin release could seem similar to the feelings opioids produce. But an endorphin high happens naturally and isn’t as intense. Wanting to feel that euphoria could play a part in your desire for another tattoo, but there’s no scientific evidence to suggest you can develop an endorphin addiction, whether your endorphin rush is related to a tattoo or to something else.
Whats the most painful place to get a tattoo?
- Tattoo pain will vary depending on your age, sex, and pain threshold.
- The most painful spots to get a tattoo are your ribs, spine, fingers, and shins.
- The least painful spots to get a tattoo are your forearms, stomach, and outer thighs.
Getting a tattoo involves an ink-filled needle repeatedly puncturing your skin. Consequently, it’s not unusual to wonder how much pain you should expect when considering a tattoo. As it turns out, pain is a highly subjective experience , and how much discomfort you feel while getting tattoed can depend on a couple of factors including your biological sex, pain tolerance, and most importantly – the area of your body getting tattooed.
Do they numb you when you get a tattoo?
Pain killers will thin your blood, making you bleed more during the tattoo session. Bleeding makes the process harder for your artist. Zensa numbs the skin on contact and does not change the texture of the skin or the settling of the ink. It contains 5% lidocaine to keep you numb for up to 2 hours.
Where is the least painful spot for a tattoo?
Least painful to tattoo – The least painful places to get a tattoo are areas of your body with fewer nerve endings. Think outer shoulder, calf, buttocks, and outer arm. While people generally focus on the location on the body, Stanley Kovak , a cosmetic physician, theorizes that pain is more about size.
