OK, getting your first tattoo is 100% exciting, but it can also be 100% stress-inducing.
What is it going to feel like? Is it going to hurt? Where do I get it at? How do I take care of it? Can it come off?
All those questions (and I'm sure a billion more) are going through your head. I know they were in mine.
Before getting my first tattoo, I texted like 10 friends and even made a Twitter poll to find out how bad this sucker was going to hurt.
My answer? Not bad.
My full answer as to how my first tattoo felt? It was scary at the beginning because it's a weird, new experience and feeling. However, it felt like a bunch of tiny fire ant bites. That "bite" subsided to an odd, numb, burning feeling that felt... kinda good.
What do some of the other veterans say?
"Mine Tingled." --Summer S.
"Kinda felt like someone touching a sunburn a bit." --Shelly R.
"Mine felt like a cat scratch lol." --Hannah S.
"I went to sleep, it was very relaxing." --Natalea B.
"A sting and it felt a little hot. Afterwards it was like a cat scratch." --Angie G.
"Mine are on my right shoulder blade and my left shoulder, but they just kind of felt like someone was giving me a sunburn in real time with a pointy shock pen." --Alasdair H.
"It kinda feels like getting poked with tweezers repeatedly to me then stings some." --Hannah B.
See there? It doesn't sound so bad, does it?
Very few had a painful response, but they admitted to also having an extremely low pain tolerance.
"Stinging bees. It's the size of a quarter... I'll never get another one. I am a chicken with a VERY low tolerance for pain though." -- Gladys W.
"Yeah, I had to have my friend hold my hand, not gonna lie." --Sarah S.
I personally consider myself to have a low tolerance for pain. Quite frankly, I'm a bit of a crybaby when it comes to pain or the slightest inconvenience, #NoShame, but I survived it with flying colors.
They also say that the placement of your first tat has a lot to do with how much pain you do or don't experience. My first was on my ribs, and they say that is one of the worst places to get one because of the pain, but again, it wasn't bad (for me).
"Depends on where it's at really. When I got the one on my arm, it felt like a mild tingly sunburn, but when I got the one on my ribs, it just burned so damn bad." --Christian M.
"Once it got closer to the end up the rib, yes (it hurt), but along the rib itself , it wasn't too bad. My upper back one hurt worse." --Hannah B.
"Depends. Ribs burned, spine just hurt BAD. Upper arm on the inside burned. Outer upper arm didn't hurt at all. "Collarbone vibrated my body lmao.. foot hurt bad." --Emilee W.
"My shoulder was the easiest." --Natalea B.
From all the different responses, I think it is safe to say that tattoos really aren't too bad, but the only way you're ever going to know what they feel like is if you get one for yourself! Don't be scared. If you are sincerely scared and worried, start small.
If you think it will look better big, go big! If you go small because you're scared, after it's done, you will be saying, "Man, I should have gotten that one bigger." I know this is true, because that is me literally every day.
