As I have said I am currently in the middle of getting an Edgar Allan Poe chest piece, it started with one of the most painful tattoos I have ever gotten, a portrait of the poet himself. I got this on the right side of my chest and 6 months later I added another tattoo of a ship in the same place but on the left side and it barely hurt at all. Tattoos hurt, that’s just a fact of life and the pain of a tattoo can be weirdly addictive, but sometimes it can just be unbearable. Why was the portrait so much more painful for me than the ship? Well, there are little things you can do that significantly reduce how painful your tattoo is to endure and that’s what I’m going to talk about today because here at MTS we sell wholesale tattoo needles and we want to make sure that those needles inflict as little pain as possible. Saying this it is important to note that we all have different levels of pain tolerance and a tattoo will never be completely pain-free unless you are under local or general anaesthetic but that’s just not common practice, so let's see what we can do to help ourselves.

Make sure you are fed and watered

This might seem obvious but having a full stomach and keeping yourself hydrated can reduce the pain of a tattoo substantially and this isn’t something we always do when getting them. Sometimes we might have a tattoo booked in the middle of a busy day and haven’t had time to grab anything to eat or perhaps it’s a morning appointment and you’ve overslept and don’t have time for breakfast. Whatever the case you should make time to eat something as it will give you energy and stamina that will help you endure the pain, the best thing to eat is something rich in glucose if you don’t have time for a full meal. Staying hydrated is equally as important and drinking water before and during the sitting is paramount for keeping your skin hydrated and reducing the pain.

Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine

Alcohol is a huge no-no when it comes to getting tattoos for a plethora of reasons. Most importantly alcohol thins your blood making it more difficult for the body to heal and also causes your body to accept less of the ink. Caffeine has the same effect, and while it might give you the energy to withstand the sitting, the effect it has on your blood is not worth it. It’s much better to eat a chocolate bar and get a good nights sleep to keep your energy up.

Get a good nights sleep

Like I just said, a good nights sleep is so important when it comes to getting a tattoo, especially if you know you are going to be sitting for multiple hours. You will need the energy to sustain you and the more energy you have the more the endorphins and adrenaline will kick in which will lead to less pain throughout the sitting. Being exhausted is not going to help you cope with pain, when we are tired our body becomes more sensitive, especially our skin, so the less sleep you’ve had the more painful your tattoo is likely to be, and we don’t want that!

Take a break

Depending on how long your sitting is it’s a good idea to take at least one break, but not too many. If the pain begins to get too much then you can use a break to have a small snack like a chocolate bar to top up on that glucose, and drink some water then get back in the chair refreshed. The problem with taking too many breaks is it prolongs the tattoo process and only leads to more pain, not to mention every time you stop you are interrupting the flow of adrenaline that you will then need to build back up.

Distraction

This is probably one of the ones I use the most. Just distracting myself from the pain by focussing on something else. Most tattoo studios will have a radio or music that they play in the shop, try listening intently to the music and lyrics, or maybe it’s a busy day and there are conversations going on around you, be nosy, listen to the conversations. Anything to take your mind off it, the best thing I find is to chat to someone, sometimes I’ll have someone with me and I’ll talk to them or you can always chat with the artist.

The little things

There are little things you can do that might help with the pain but let me start by pointing out a big thing you can do, make sure you go to a reputable tattoo studio! This is so important, tattoo artists from reputable studios usually buy wholesale tattoo needles, have trained to be a tattoo artist and have a certificate to prove it, you don’t know where unlicensed tattoo artists get their needles from and they are called “scratchers” for a reason, because they don’t know the proper techniques and you will only be setting yourself up for a more painful experience if you aren’t willing to pay a certified professional. Ok, now that lecture is out of the way I’ll tell you some other little things that people have found help such as:

• Chewing Gum
• Squeezing something (depending on the placement of your tattoo)
• Concentrate on your breathing
• Keeping still

Follow aftercare instructions

This is another important one as remember that a tattoo hurts while you are getting it done but it will also be sore for a  while after its completed. It's important to follow aftercare advice to the letter to make sure your tattoo turns out looking the best it can and to make sure that you aren’t left too sore while it heals.

So those are a few tips that just might ease the pain. Remember if you are a tattoo artist looking for wholesale tattoo needles you can find them on our site and if you are a tattoo enthusiast then you can let us know what you think, is there anything else that can help reduce the pain of a tattoo that I’ve missed? Let us know!

Love Katy…

MTS