5 Tips for Getting Your First Tattoo
This past month my uncle passed away, so my family decided that we would all get a tattoo to commemorate him. My cousin and my aunt have gotten a few tattoos before and knew what they were getting into. But my mom and I were tattoo virgins and had no idea what we were getting into. So through my three-hour long experience, these are the top five things I learned while getting my tattoo.
1. Knowing what you want
Since the funeral wasn’t for another three weeks, I had some time to really think about what I wanted to get. I had some ideas and designs I came up with. We were going to get the tattoos the day after his funeral. I was pretty confident I was going to get a heart with his name along the side, but the day of his funeral my cousin and I came up with a whole new design. My uncle always wore flip flops, whether it be in rain, snow, or shine. So we thought we would maybe get a pair of flip flops. Almost every speech that was given at his funeral mentioned his flip flop wearing habits. Because of this, we were positive that this is what we wanted, and that is what we were going to get. But once we got there, my mom said we should get the heart, since he will always be in our hearts. And just like that, we decided to get the hearts instead, and I couldn’t be happier.
2. Finding the right place/artist
When you’re looking for a tattoo place, you need to make sure that they have good ratings online. The place you go to should be sanitary and have respect for you and what you want. We went to Clean Slate Tattoo and Piercings in Colorado after reading the reviews online. Our tattoo artist, Zane, already had an idea of what we wanted and had a design ready. You need to make sure that you have a comfortable relationship with your tattoo artist, he is putting a needle to your skin for goodness sakes. Although he gave me my tattoo with two sugar squirrels in his shirt (don’t ask), he did a wonderful job.
3. If you don’t like the design, change it!
If you don’t have a specific design that you want, the tattoo artist will draw one up for you. But don’t feel bad to ask the artist to change it if envisioned something different. Remember, this will be on your body for life, you’re going to need to love it.
4. Feeling the pain
To answer your question, yes it hurts. I have a very, very low pain tolerance, so I was pretty nervous while waiting to get the tattoo. Out of the five of us that got tattoos, I insisted I go first so I could get it over with. What tends to bother people the most is the noise the machine makes, but thankfully for me, the machine Zane used was silent. The pain of getting a tattoo is different than any pain you will ever feel. If I could explain the pain the best I could, I would say that it felt like you had a sunburn and a cat was constantly scratching you on that sunburn over and over again. Thankfully, my design only took five minutes, because I am not sure I could take the pain any longer than that.
5. Aftercare
After you finish getting your tattoo, the artist will wrap it. You can take it off after a few hours and let it get some air. The recommended ointment is Aquatat, but don’t buy more than you need. .25 fluid ounces will be enough for about 20 tattoos. All you need is a super small amount and that will get the job done. Make sure not to touch it and don’t let other people touch, otherwise it will have a higher chance of getting infected. But don’t overthink it, it will heal eventually on its own.