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Tips for Sitting Through Long Tattooing Sessions
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- Published: Friday, 01 November 2019 21:18
How to Deal with Tattoo Pain and Coping Advise... Especially with Big Tattoos.
Go big or go home. When it comes to tattoos, the bigger the better. Big tattoos generally tend to hold up better over time and simply look better on the body. Being an established tattoo artist, at this point in my career, I mostly do large pieces. Some large pieces can take over a hundred hours to complete. How does one deal with getting poked for such a long time?
The obvious answer is that large projects are broken up into smaller sessions. However, these smaller chunks of time are still quite long while being stuck repeatedly. Believe it or not, the vast majority of my clients sit at the very least 4 hours for each session. Actually, I've found most can only realistically do 4 to 5 hours unless they are superhuman with mutant pain receptors. Most folks endorphins are depleted after that. Their pain tolerance starts to break down and they start fidgeting uncontrollably. The longest tattoo session I've ever done was a grueling 11 hours. It was hard as hell for both of us and not something I would ever want to do again.
Being the tattoo geek that I am, I've done a lot of research on this topic and have spoken to several doctors about this as well. If you are planning to start a substantial tattoo project and concerned about the pain involved or your ability to persevere, here is some helpful advice that will make your tattooing session much more bearable:
1. Get a good night's sleep before getting tattooed.
2. Get your tattoo done as early in the day as possible. Your body is able to handle more pain in the morning than in the evening.
3. Eat before you get tattooed. Eating well and having juice or other drinks with a high sugar content before getting tattooed will help tremendously with the pain and from becoming light headed during the tattooing process. This step really is key to dealing with pain.
4. Bring extra sugary snacks and drinks along with you for your session. Once again it will help with the pain and help keep you from fainting. This is one reason juice and cookies are normally offered when you donate blood.
5. Bring something to read or listen to, meditate, or try counting the hairs on your arm. Any sort of mental distraction can help.
6. Consider buying a numbing agent like SuperJuice3 (SJ3) and ask your tattooist to use it. Unfortunately, it only works if the skin has already been broken. So, for little pieces it's no good, but for large tattoos that require long, multiple sessions it's pretty good. The effect only lasts for about 30 minutes to an hour depending on the person. It has to set for at least 6 to 10 minutes to work, but it does help.
7. If you're not having me do your work... Well, first of all, that's just uncool, but anyway, use a tattooist that has several years, at least five, actually ten would be better, experience and has good bedside manners. More likely, they will be much more in tune with their clients and will be able to correctly gauge their client's condition during the session. They'll often know their client needs a break before it's requested.
8. If you've started a large project, tried all of the above and still are fainting or shaking uncontrollably during a session, this could affect the outcome of your tattoo. Besides, having fainting spells can be dangerous. As a last resort, have a frank and honest talk with your doctor and see if they will prescribe a mild relaxer. They probably won't, but if you explain the situation and tell them what's going on and how many more sessions you will likely have to undergo, they might be more willing to consider it. I know a lot of tattooist will not knowingly tattoo someone on illicit drugs and I won't either. However, if it's a matter of you unintentionally messing up the tattoo or giving up on it, I would rather you try and get some help from your doctor. It makes my job easier and in the end your tattoo will look better if you're able to sit still through your sessions.
Here's a bit of an afterthought to consider. Being the best tattoo artist in NYC (Well, I am damn it, my Mom says so) a place where pot is obviously in abundant supply and decriminalized, I've had more than a few clients think cannabis will help them endure the pain better. Yes, pot is a wonderful gift from God and it can sometimes help with the pain, but sometimes it can magnify one's perception of pain or cause one to focus more on it. Save your bud to celebrate after your tattoo session, you will have earned it.
I've yet to have a client who has followed these steps and not been able to pull long sessions. I'm confident you will be able to finish your tattoo like a champ. If you have any other concerns or questions about a tattoo project you are considering, let me know, I would be glad to help in anyway I can.
