The most painful places to get a tattoo are areas that have less muscle, lots of nerve endings, minimal fat, thin skin, and are close to bone. This includes obvious spots like your head, chest & rib cage, stomach, nipples, face, ears, neck, groin, and armpits.
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.
A Tattoo needle penetrates 5 layers of the epidermis
That may sound like a lot of skin, but in reality it is only 1/16th of an inch, about 1-2mm. That's pretty tiny. It goes through five layers of the epidermis, through the dermal layer, and into the topmost layer of the dermis.
Tattoo artists may use numbing cream to reduce the discomfort that their clients may experience during the tattooing process. The use of numbing cream may also help the artist work on a larger area of the skin in one session, as the client may be more comfortable with less pain.
It has been shown that women have a lower pain threshold and a lower tolerance than men to most types of nociceptive stimuli; therefore, women report increased pain sensation and further greater sensitivity to both clinical and experimental pain [21].
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.
Our skin becomes thinner as we age and its elasticity also reduces. The more exposure you've had to the sun over the years, the thinner your skin may become, and this can affect how painful it is to get a tattoo. Aim for your stronger or fattier areas of your body to help ease any discomfort.
The most painful places to get a tattoo are areas that have less muscle, lots of nerve endings, minimal fat, thin skin, and are close to bone. This includes obvious spots like your head, chest & rib cage, stomach, nipples, face, ears, neck, groin, and armpits.
Myth or Truth: Getting a tattoo hurts more than giving birth to a child. Myth: In reality, getting tattooed does hurt -- but it does not produce the same type of pain as childbirth. The pain of getting a tattoo feels more like scratching a bad sunburn.
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.
Tattoo Ink
Green is the hardest color to remove followed by light blue. Neon colors are also incredibly difficult to remove, and typically require multiple treatments with the Ruby laser. As a general rule, the greater the contrast between the color of the tattoo pigment and your skin, the better the result.
He and his colleagues have found that individuals who frequently get tattoos appear to have higher levels of certain immune molecules, including antibodies, in their blood than people who rarely get inked (at least for a brief time).
Anywhere on your body that has a little more muscle would be the best spot for the first tattoo. Generally speaking, an area will feel less uncomfortable the more body fat there is in that location. Therefore, some good spots to target are your calf, bum, bicep, and thigh.
Expect about half an hour to an hour for a simple, small tattoo. Keep in mind, however, a small tattoo with lots of color, line work, details, or a tricky placement could take several hours. Small tattoos are great for people who don't want to go through a lengthy tattoo process, but still want some cool ink.
A lot of tattoo artists refuse to use their own numbing creams or sprays during their sessions. Two of the main reasons why they might not use creams are: They consider the pain of a tattoo part of the tradition. They've used certain numbing creams before and they don't feel like they worked.
You should feel minimal to no pain for the first hour of your tattoo if you've used a good numbing cream and applied it effectively. As time goes on, the cream will begin to wear off. At that point, you'll start to noticeably feel the needle working into your skin.
"Numbing cream is typically considered safe to apply before tattoo treatments, especially in areas that are particularly sensitive," she says. "However, the numbing cream may or may not be effective depending on the type of ingredients used.
If you're considering a single needle tattoo, you can do a few things to minimize the pain. First, choose a smaller design. The less area that's being tattooed, the less pain you'll experience. Second, avoid sensitive areas like the spine or ribs.
You do not want the scabs picked off. The scabbing stage can last a few days. The tattooed area is unlikely to still feel sore after about two weeks.
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). Other people say getting a tattoo feels like someone is continually scratching a hot needle across your skin—because that's kinda what's happening.