Tattooing Pain Management

By: Deon Melchior



Those of you with conspicuous ink know there’re two questions everyone wants to know. The first one is “Is that real?” and the next one is always “Did it hurt?” If you’re a big, tough, burly guy you probably just shrug and grin a little bit, because you wouldn’t want anyone to know you really wanted to cry like a little baby.

Of course it hurts. A probably fairly intimidating looking guy is leaning over you and repetitively jabbing your tender flesh with a needle. Of course there’s no sympathy for self infliction, and the end result is worth any discomfort. Pain is one of the first things that comes to people’s minds when they hear the word “tattoo.” But some are saying it doesn’t have to be that way.

The growing popularity and social acceptance of tattooing has inspired many to search for a way to make it painless. Some are trying alternative medicines like hypnosis, acupuncture and herbal therapies with varying degrees of success.

The first step in hypnosis is to make sure the client is a willing participant. If so, they are put into a trance. If the client is of a high-strung, hyper personality type, it may be a little more difficult and take a little more time to get them into the trance. The extra nervousness or anticipation the probably have about their impending tattoo could also slow things down a bit.

Once the client is successfully entranced, they are open to a higher degree of suggestion than they would be capable of otherwise. It’s simply suggested to them that they feel no pain, and they don’t. Before they come out of the trance, it should be suggested to them that they won’t feel any pain once they’re brought back to their normal state of consciousness. Artists who have worked with an hypnotists and found clients willing to give it a try have reported great success, with the client reporting only some tightness and warmth around the tattoo sight.

Acupuncture is basically the practice of inserting needles into specific points of the body to create and energy and relieve pain. The process causes the body to produce more endorphins, a chemical known to help make you feel better and alleviate discomfort. The same chemical is produced in different amounts by eating chocolate and exercising. It’s possible some tattoo seekers might be turned off by the idea of being stuck with yet more needles.

Reiki is a hands on technique that uses pressure put on different parts of the body to bring about an internal balance, similar to massage. It’s perhaps the most physically comforting technique because it relaxes the muscles, which is known to reduce tattoo pain. The tenser the person is, the more they’re going to hurt. Also, the nerves can only feel on sensation at a time. That’s why scratching an itch makes it go away. The sensation of the scratch replaces the sensation of the itch so you can’t feel it any more. The sensation of someone practicing Reiki on you somewhat replaces the pain of the tattooing process.

Drugs and alcohol are absolutely forbidden in upstanding tattoo establishments, but there are herbal options that can be taken internally or applied topically. To either numb the skin or work from the inside out to provide some level of pain relief. If you’re not into the holistic stuff, and prefer some good ol’ straight forward chemical assistance topical skin numbing creams do exist. They’re often used on patients during laser procedures. Your doctor or pharmacist may be able to tell you how to get them.



Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit - www.articleclick.com