Numbing for tattoo?

squiggy

Just wondering does anybody know if it's true theres an artist in the Dublin area that can numb you before you get your tattoo? Thanks for any answers!

bordrlinepsycho

Even if there is there isnt really much point in being numbed cos it will just make there be an after pain whick you dont really get if you just get tattooed without any numbing

amazingemmet

You can get emla cream from boots etc for before a tattoo but it only lasts ~20mins so isn't really worth it as a tattoo if its any bigger then a tiny one will take longer then that to do and you can't re apply the cream. All in all suck it up it'll make you a stronger person in the end

squiggy

amazingemmet wrote:

You can get emla cream from boots etc for before a tattoo but it only lasts ~20mins so isn't really worth it as a tattoo if its any bigger then a tiny one will take longer then that to do and you can't re apply the cream. All in all suck it up it'll make you a stronger person in the end

Might just try that, it's not actually for me it's my sister is looking for something I have tattoos myself didnt mind the pain but she doesnt have much of a pain threshold!

amazingemmet

Its all in the mind tbh just tell her it doesn't hurt

Gauge

Exactly. I've yet to meet anyone who actually found a tattoo too painful to go through with.

rain on

My feet took six sessions because I couldn't stand it for any longer than half an hour. My tattoo artist did use a numbing cream on me for one or two of those, dunno what it was though, she provided it. It definitely takes the edge off, and if you were getting something on a fleshy area you'd probably barely feel anything. I wouldn't use it again though now that my feet are covered -- I think the pain is an important part of the experience.

rannerap

eh actually you cant get emla from boots.Its prescription only.You could try ametop though but its not for tattoos really.tbh if you cant stick the pain you shouldnt be getting a tattoo

amazingemmet

Yes yes you can get emla from them I've gotten it loads of times from them and not just one branch.

rannerap

and how long ago was this?I was looking foe some last week and i literally went to ten chemists and asked and everyone said prescription only.


http://indigo.ie/~prospero/html/beauty.htm

http://www.ms-society.ie/talk/book.html

both these pages mention how you have to have a prescription for it.Its to help numb you for injections so theyre hardly just going to give it to anyone

amazingemmet

I've been getting it for years in most places, boots in the green was the last place i got it.

As a side note emla is a 5% solution of lidocaine and prylocaine mixed with some dmso, So you can buy these sprays in sex shops for desensitising men which are 15% lidocaine and mix them with some 50/50 dmso and water and you get a stronger acting version of emla, Watch out for the dmso though it'll give you garlic breath

bounty_hunter

No tattooist will automatically numb you before you get a tattoo squiggy, but your sister could go in a speak to her chosen tattooist about it beforehand and ask them if they would mind her using a topical anaesthetic, although she really shouldn't need it. I wouldn't generally advocate numbing because the pain is part of the experience, but I had my rib piece started today and some parts of it were absolutely excruciating. I have no option but to numb the area before my next session because there were a couple of patches of sensitive skin that were just too painful to sit through. Don't let her be put off though, the ribs is just a bad area!

Sarranewrap, Emla isn't prescription only. The first pharmacy on Grafton Street (coming from the St. Stephen's Green direction) stocks it and will sell it to you without any questions asked.

Babybass

I agree - pain is part of the experience. Although its not really that painful - more annoying! But you can zone it out if it gets too much - definately all in the mind. I'm assuming that as its your sisters first tat that shes not going for something massive - so she should be ok! Also I find that if you go to a tattooist that just keeps going its better - its the stopping and starting thats the worst part (i experienced that with a touch-up and it was worse than getting the whole tattoo done!!):eek:

Will

when i got mine done i pretended i was on a sunny beach swimming in the water! lol didnt help but was funny

rannerap

bounty_hunter wrote:

No tattooist will automatically numb you before you get a tattoo squiggy, but your sister could go in a speak to her chosen tattooist about it beforehand and ask them if they would mind her using a topical anaesthetic, although she really shouldn't need it. I wouldn't generally advocate numbing because the pain is part of the experience, but I had my rib piece started today and some parts of it were absolutely excruciating. I have no option but to numb the area before my next session because there were a couple of patches of sensitive skin that were just too painful to sit through. Don't let her be put off though, the ribs is just a bad area!

Sarranewrap, Emla isn't prescription only. The first pharmacy on Grafton Street (coming from the St. Stephen's Green direction) stocks it and will sell it to you without any questions asked.

go to the chemists beside Georges arcade,and i gaurantee you wont be served it.ametop maybe but not emla

It wasn't me!

Sarannewrap wrote:

go to the chemists beside Georges arcade,and i gaurantee you wont be served it.ametop maybe but not emla

But... why would he go to somewhere you say definitely wouldn't give it to him when he knows a selection of places that'll give it out freely? Surely not just to prove a point that doesn't really matter!

bounty_hunter

It wasn't me! wrote:

But... why would he go to somewhere you say definitely wouldn't give it to him when he knows a selection of places that'll give it out freely? Surely not just to prove a point that doesn't really matter!

Exactly. Except I'm a she, not a he. Damn you masculine name!

Sarranewrap, chill. I was trying to help, not argue with you

amazingemmet

bounty_hunter wrote:

Exactly. Except I'm a she, not a he. Damn you masculine name!

You're a she!! Sexy pm sent:D

bounty_hunter

Did you think I was male all this time as well?! If I was big and manly I'm sure I wouldn't even be considering cheating my way through a tattoo! It was the bit between the boobs that nearly killed me

amazingemmet

Rules of the interweb 1: All posters are assumed to be male til proven otherwise and still be cautious of the proof

I'm big and manly and I can barely stand the bits going over the ribs and kidneys

bounty_hunter

amazingemmet wrote:

I'm big and manly and I can barely stand the bits going over the ribs and kidneys

Do they make you whimper out loud?

amazingemmet

They generally make me curse mono and her pain inflicting stick

bounty_hunter

Maybe I'm not such a wimp then Anyway it'll be worth it in the end, just gonna have to finish the piece in much shorter sessions that I'd planned. Still have another 3-4 hours to go, ouchie

amazingemmet

Any pics of the start of it?

bounty_hunter

You mean can I show you my boobs?
There's not much to see yet, it's really just outline shading. I only lasted an hour and half in the first session...

It's gonna be a snow scene and the outlines there are obviously mountains. The star will be negative space and is going to be surrounded by starry sky (the big ouch!), and that will eventually continue up to the aurora borealis on my chest. Think I'll be putting that bit off for a long time though after this, ****ing hell. Also my shirt is kinda in the way there, but it curves up around my sides.

rannerap

bounty_hunter wrote:

Exactly. Except I'm a she, not a he. Damn you masculine name!

Sarranewrap, chill. I was trying to help, not argue with you

sorry was just trying to prove a point,don't want to be making any enemies

im a girl too but people always think im a guy

bounty_hunter

No sweat. Well I thought it was pretty obvious you were female tbh, dunno where anyone would get that idea from

Reku

bounty_hunter wrote:

No sweat. Well I thought it was pretty obvious you were female tbh, dunno where anyone would get that idea from

There are no girls on the intarweb! :rolleyes:

amazingemmet wrote:

I'm big and manly and I can barely stand the bits going over the ribs and kidneys

For me the front of the ribs hurt, but on the spine! Agh!:eek: Because of where it is I had to be careful of how I sat/slept for weeks because it was still quite sore/tender. Leaves me thankful it is a reasonably simple design (took ~30-40 minutes if I remember right) and not some big masterpiece that would take hours to do.

amazingemmet

bounty_hunter wrote:

You mean can I show you my boobs?

Well if you're offering. Looks nice is it going to be higher up or stay that sort of size?

For some reason I knew sarrane wrap was a girl odd eh? Don't know why.

On a side note one of my friends got a heavy black work tribal sort thingy done on his ribs in a 9hour session and just sat there without flinching for any of it, makes me wish i had no feelings

bounty_hunter

It's going to go up to right under my boobs in a kind of underbust corset shape, then the bit with the star will go up a bit too.

That's ****ing insane! My legs were literally shaking for most of it, it was that painful.

Will

was it me? mine was about 8 hours i think. i took it like a man and cried when no one looked! :cool:
and jeebus bounty hunter is a girl, nice ink, itl be cool when its done

bounty_hunter

Did everyone think I was a guy? :eek:

And thanks Wilburt, can't wait to get it finished. Just not looking forward to the pain.

amazingemmet

It appears so, you do have a very manly name though.

Also got reminded about another painful ribs piece that was painful for me even though I wasn't the one getting it done. An ex of mine was getting her side done up to her armpit and slightly under the bust and i was holding her hand on that side out of the way and she nearly broke my fingers from squeezing them so hard.

bounty_hunter

Yeah, I desperately wanted to squeeze something but there was nothing in reach except my poor artist and it was probably better not to squish him while he was tattooing me. Gonna bring a stress ball or something next time.

I'm actually reading a bit about people's experiences with Emla and rib pieces now and it's kinda putting me off using it, a lot of bad vibes about it What does everyone else think?

It wasn't me!

Jaysus, sparked off a lot of name debate there due to someone getting the wrong end of the stick. "He" was actually referring to Emmett, and for the record, I did know Bounty Hunter was female, possibly due to past rantings on people's preconceptions.

Will

i found popping 2 nurofen (one before, one after) did wonders for me

bounty_hunter

I did that, had no effect whatsoever. Or maybe it did, and if I hadn't taken them I might have actually died of pain. Who knows!

It wasn't me!

Gorgeous work by the way, Bounty Hunter. Be sure to post pics in the appropriate thread when it's finished, it'll look awesome.

amazingemmet

Find something with codeine in it and take 4-5 times the dose on the package and you'll get close to what the prescription painkillers come with, though i don't reccomend doing that too often or at all

bounty_hunter

I actually have some prescription painkillers but I'm not going to risk taking them, they make me talk like I'm out of my ****ing tree and I don't want to appear disorientated or anything in case they won't tattoo me. It's all very well to say "just suck it up", but I don't think I'm gonna be able to handle finishing the sky up between my boobs without passing out or something, the pain was unreal. Don't wanna end up with half a tattoo either! What to do?

Edit: Sorry for hijacking your thread by the way squiggy!

amazingemmet

If you have the painkillers just go into your tattooist and tell them you're gonna take em, then take them as they're setting up and they should kick in by the time you start.

Crumble Froo

bounty_hunter wrote:

You mean can I show you my boobs?
There's not much to see yet, it's really just outline shading. I only lasted an hour and half in the first session...

It's gonna be a snow scene and the outlines there are obviously mountains. The star will be negative space and is going to be surrounded by starry sky (the big ouch!), and that will eventually continue up to the aurora borealis on my chest. Think I'll be putting that bit off for a long time though after this, ****ing hell. Also my shirt is kinda in the way there, but it curves up around my sides.

that is a very very nice piece.

and yeah, i confess, i totally thought you were a dude too... well, not actively... but it never dawned on me that you were a chick... i guess rule #1 in action... :rolleyes:

sorry bout that...

bounty_hunter

amazingemmet wrote:

If you have the painkillers just go into your tattooist and tell them you're gonna take em, then take them as they're setting up and they should kick in by the time you start.

Hmm, I might do that actually. Just warn him in advance. I'll need somebody to take me home then, in case I get lost or something These things are bloody strong.

I'm still considering the Emla, but I need to do a bit more research on it first. According to pretty much everyone I've talked to so far it's great for half an hour or so, but then as soon as it wears off the shock of the sudden pain multiplied by all the pain you should have got from the start hits you like a ton of bricks. So what I might have to do is just complete the worst bits in half hour sessions.

amazingemmet

What you could do with the emla is apply it in stages so as your tattooing one bit the other bit is covered then wipe it off apply the enxt patch etc, would take time but would work

bounty_hunter

Cool, thanks! What it work if I just applied the whole lot all at once an hour before and only wipe it off bit by bit? I'm aiming for a 2-3 hour session this time if I can possibly stand it. Have you used it yourself and if so what did you think of it? I've used it plenty of times for medical things and it was great, but never in tattooing.

amazingemmet

I've used it for doing implants and other sort stuff but never for tattooing so don't know if it'll work that way tbh.

Thephantomsmask

iirc EMLA has to be kept completely airtight for a minimum of 30min for full effect so if the area being covered is of any size then that would be hard to achieve effectively as the dressings normally used are pretty small, it would make the wiping as you go method hard too since the artist will need plenty of room around each area being worked on. I seem to remember a discussion on IAM about this some time ago and several artists saying that they preferred not to work on numbed skin as it loses pliability, l don't know how true that is but if you are going to try it then definitely give your artist the heads up anyway.

crazy_hayzie

sorry bounty hunter but with that name i thought you were a fella too! go figure!! cool tat though. should be nice when it's done. on the numbing subject, my latest piece is poseidon going on my rib cage from nipple level to halfway down my ass. about 16 inches from head to tentacle. got the outline done in one session(about three and a haf hours) and his torso coloured in another(three hours). and the front of the rib cage was absolute hell! if someone handed me a shot of morphine i would have gladly taken it!!

bounty_hunter

Thephantomsmask wrote:

iirc EMLA has to be kept completely airtight for a minimum of 30min for full effect so if the area being covered is of any size then that would be hard to achieve effectively as the dressings normally used are pretty small, it would make the wiping as you go method hard too since the artist will need plenty of room around each area being worked on. I seem to remember a discussion on IAM about this some time ago and several artists saying that they preferred not to work on numbed skin as it loses pliability, l don't know how true that is but if you are going to try it then definitely give your artist the heads up anyway.

It was actually my artist who suggested it I would assume he's fairly confident with it in that case, so I'm happy with that. One thing I did hear those is that it becomes more difficult to get the ink to stay, and therefore the area has to be gone over a few times and with more force. This would obviously affect the time thing as well. Know if there's any truth to that?
And it has to be kept airtight for at least 60 minutes before, so he's asked me just to pop in early and he'll be applying it for me and clingfilming me up! Thanks for your help.

bounty_hunter

crazy_hayzie wrote:

sorry bounty hunter but with that name i thought you were a fella too! go figure!! cool tat though. should be nice when it's done. on the numbing subject, my latest piece is poseidon going on my rib cage from nipple level to halfway down my ass. about 16 inches from head to tentacle. got the outline done in one session(about three and a haf hours) and his torso coloured in another(three hours). and the front of the rib cage was absolute hell! if someone handed me a shot of morphine i would have gladly taken it!!

Yeah, I know it was a very masculine name to choose. Wow that looks cool!
Yeah the front of the ribs was excruciating, but I found the area between the boobs was by far the worst. I hadn't considered it at the time, but when I examine the area now it's pretty much directly on bone with only a very thin veil of skin and sensitive skin at that, so I can't say I'm surprised

Thephantomsmask

bounty_hunter wrote:

It was actually my artist who suggested it I would assume he's fairly confident with it in that case, so I'm happy with that. One thing I did hear those is that it becomes more difficult to get the ink to stay, and therefore the area has to be gone over a few times and with more force. This would obviously affect the time thing as well. Know if there's any truth to that?
And it has to be kept airtight for at least 60 minutes before, so he's asked me just to pop in early and he'll be applying it for me and clingfilming me up! Thanks for your help.

Ah, that explains things!! Best of luck with it and let us know how it goes, I'd be interested to hear how well it works.