Tattoo Pain

Handling Pain for your St. Louis tattoo

I’ve spoken before about how most of my clients are women who want minimal pain for tattoos. Can you blame them? Yes some people are after the pain, but the majority of us want a pain free St. Louis tattoo.

A lot of the work I do is smaller, however, I do larger pieces as well. I want to start by saying I have permission to share this story as well as this photo from my client. I think it is important for transparency.

Sitting for a St. Louis tattoo

Trust me, I get it. As someone with two kids, I have literally NO pain tolerance. And no, it doesn’t get easier with time or experience. I provide numbing cream before and during my procedures. The age-old stigma of “if you’re not tough enough to sit, you don’t deserve the tattoo” is dead. There’s no reason to be in pain.

I love joking with my clients that “we don’t need to FEEL something that bad.” A St. Louis tattoo is supposed to be fun and artistic. I tell a lot of my clients that if they are in that much pain, they’re more likely to move; and could cause a blowout or linework to zig zag or be uneven.

I like to apply a numbing cream for the procedure for anything that’s bigger or longer than a finger tattoo.

Knowing When To Stop

I love this client so much. She and I have a beautiful relationship where we are both open and honest with each other. This St. Louis tattoo took me a total of 37 minutes, and we are not yet complete with line work. After about 25 minutes of working, she began to twitch and sneeze. Luckily, I am a great artist and can play on mistakes, or move quickly away from a line once she begins to move.

We spoke about continuing, and whether or not she could handle the rest of the line work we had to do. I used a second numbing cream, and attempted to work on a different area. Unfortunately, once her pain set in; she was unable to continue to sit. Instead of telling her to handle it, and risk my artistry- we decided to stop.

The Follow Up for her St. Louis Tattoo

In about 4 weeks we will revisit this St. Louis tattoo. I have already prepared the stencil for the outer portion of the stamp, so we have set ourselves up for success. There was already a game plan in place before stopping, so we don’t have to spend more time revisiting the layout of her design.

Luckily, I am close with this client. Her and I have a very open line of communication, and I made sure our artistic visions met before continuing this piece. This is why we established trust, and she will be an amazing client for years to come!

Starting Your Tattoo Journey

Are you ready to start pain free art? If you’re looking for a female artist that is patient, kind, and passionate about tattoos- look no further! Click the link to schedule a free consultation.