Most painful spot to get tattooed

[jade1955]

I must admit the tattoo I got yesterday, on my inner thigh & shin area, was pretty painful (its on The latest tattoo lowdown thread). With most tattoo's I have found even on some nasty spots you get some respite, but this was relentless. There didn't seen to be any easy bits.

I know I hadn't had much sleep the night before, that might have had something to do with it.

Even on the train home it stung so much it felt like Mario had followed me onto the train and was still tattooing me.

[RoryQ]

I know I hadn't had much sleep the night before, that might have had something to do with it.

Obviously everyone is different, but if I were a betting man I bet this was definitley the problem. I wonder if you'd had a proper night's sleep would have have had a totally different experience?

I know I mentioned this before, but I got my chest panels done on different days (one side one day, other side the next). The first day I had gotten little sleep and was badly hungover. It was pretty hellish and I tapped out before we could outline the other side as planned. The next day I was much fresher and it was a way, way easier sitting. It was, in my head, as close as I will get to a controlled test of sleep versus no sleep for me when it comes to being tattooed.

Even on the train home it stung so much it felt like Mario had followed me onto the train and was still tattooing me.

I find that burning / pins and needles / stinging sensation comes and goes after I get something... One minute you're feeling grand, the next it's like someone has poured iodine on it or something.

[jade1955]

I find that burning / pins and needles / stinging sensation comes and goes after I get something... One minute you're feeling grand, the next it's like someone has poured iodine on it or something.

Yes, that’s what I was experiencing last night, in bed. Weird.

[Pablo]

Achilles!!! Ouch.

[Dumpleton]

My response to this thread is from me getting the outline only, hoping the shading is a little easier.

For me the sternum was crazy painful, the ends of the ribs felt like I was being drilled on from the inside of my stomach, under the belly button felt like a hot razor blade or something and I am sure I have a lot less work done than pretty much everyone else on this site.

Also my artist worked on the theory of working one side of the body at a time, he mentioned it could help make things a little less painful, how this works I am not sure. He did explain it to me but i was to busy trying to go to my happy place :)

[inky]

I got my palm tattooed by Tony Hundahl almost five years ago and have never gotten a touch up. It looks fantastic and I'm trying to work up the nerve to get the other one done as well.

Here is a recent pic:

[Dan S]

Even on the train home it stung so much it felt like Mario had followed me onto the train and was still tattooing me.

Ya know...since it WAS Mario, it's just possible he was!!!!!

[chrisnoluck]

Even on the train home it stung so much it felt like Mario had followed me onto the train and was still tattooing me.

this is exactly how it was after he tattooed my stomach! definitely made me hesitant on getting my torso tattooed more haha

[MsCreant]

back of my calves! hurt a lot and i wasn't expecting it to.

[bongsau]

knee ditch...IS the worst. thankfully i have a turbo-tattooist who will use his 'magic soap' on me (placebo effect? who cares, it works!). All I had to do was involuntarily try to roundhouse kick him.

knee cap...is gross. not so much the dead centre but the ring around the cap. brutal. i have both done. i specifically remember this one time where the needle snagged on something. me and my tattooists just looked at each other in terror and then started laughing. the area just balloons up, swelling didn't go down for 48 hours.

elbow ditch made me want to wimper like a little bitch. likely because my tattooist went over the area like 4 times to blast in the most unbelievable amount of white. looks awesome.

sternum...i barfed in my mouth. just a little bit.

rib cage...the spot 3" below your nipple is terrible.

around the nipple...just awful, in an erotic time-to-masturbate type of way lol/

frankly, it is all horrible. so much poor decision making. to think the next spots are going to be the butt, the spine and the stomach.

i'm never getting tattooed again.

[David Flores]

knee ditch...IS the worst. thankfully i have a turbo-tattooist who will use his 'magic soap' on me (placebo effect? who cares, it works!). All I had to do was involuntarily try to roundhouse kick him.

knee cap...is gross. not so much the dead centre but the ring around the cap. brutal. i have both done. i specifically remember this one time where the needle snagged on something. me and my tattooists just looked at each other in terror and then started laughing. the area just balloons up, swelling didn't go down for 48 hours.

elbow ditch made me want to wimper like a little bitch. likely because my tattooist went over the area like 4 times to blast in the most unbelievable amount of white. looks awesome.

sternum...i barfed in my mouth. just a little bit.

rib cage...the spot 3" below your nipple is terrible.

around the nipple...just awful, in an erotic time-to-masturbate type of way lol/

frankly, it is all horrible. so much poor decision making. to think the next spots are going to be the butt, the spine and the stomach.

i'm never getting tattooed again.

I feel the same way sometimes about getting tattooed. I feel like every spot I have left is going to suck royally, but somehow I keep getting tattooed. I can't wait till I am done, but I am sure when I am out of spots I will wish I had more room even in shitty areas.

[RoryQ]

When I got my knee done last week I think both of us were surprised that there wasn't more trauma / swelling / jumping of the leg. I jumped more getting some flames grazing my knee on my left leg, whereas this time was the whole kneecap and surrounding... And yet it didn't seem as bad. I spent the next 2 days walking around on vacation as normal - very little swelling. Overall I would say my back and chest were still more painful. Yet more proof that mileage varies when it comes to parts of the body and pain.

[ItsNewport]

Worst spot for me personally has been the chest/collarbone area, but i've managed to avoid (either through luck or subconscious fear) most of the areas that seem to have cropped up frequently in this thread.

A lot of it can come down to the tattooer, too. I won't mention names (not that it's a negative), but the 6 hours i spent working on my thigh were a breeze compared to one ~90 minute long tattoo i had done on the outside of my forearm.

I think one thing we can probably all agree on is that pain or no pain, we all keep signing up for more.

[slayer9019]

knee ditch...IS the worst. thankfully i have a turbo-tattooist who will use his 'magic soap' on me (placebo effect? who cares, it works!). All I had to do was involuntarily try to roundhouse kick him.

Just got my knee ditch tattooed...I have underestimated the uncomfortableness of getting tattooed! The real killer for me is not the actually getting tattooed part but the next day for an ass-to-knee ditch tattoo. Can't walk right!

[Colored Guy]

Worst spot for me personally has been the chest/collarbone area, but i've managed to avoid (either through luck or subconscious fear) most of the areas that seem to have cropped up frequently in this thread.

A lot of it can come down to the tattooer, too. I won't mention names (not that it's a negative), but the 6 hours i spent working on my thigh were a breeze compared to one ~90 minute long tattoo i had done on the outside of my forearm.

I think one thing we can probably all agree on is that pain or no pain, we all keep signing up for more.

I was fine on one side of my chest, the other was pure hell at the 2-hour mark. Same artist and they were done about 3 weeks apart. Felt like chewing on my belt it was so bad... took more than a few breaks. Might have had something to do with having to lay in a lighter color.

CG

[lving4today]

Achilles!!! Ouch.

That was such an....odd pain. I guarantee I made some weird ass faces. I can't decide between my knee or ankle next. I wanna get my knee just to get it out the way/experience it but I have one side left on my lower leg.

[Dumpleton]

Last week I got all worked up over getting work done on my chest and it wasn't so bad.

Yesterday I went in confident thinking it would be ok and was soon put in my place, some days getting tattooed just sucks no matter where on the body it is.

[Ivysaur45]

For me the inner bicep was pretty awful. :(

[CultExciter]

Chest thus far has been my least favorite. But, I imagine my tookus is gonna hurt the most.

[Reyeslv]

Chest thus far has been my least favorite. But, I imagine my tookus is gonna hurt the most.

Done both and the chest is NO day at the beach..... But the "tookus" is the worst! getting the left check finished in October and I'm not looking forward to it......

[ltholley]

I've been tattooed on the butt, both sides of the knee , the chest, but the worst by far is the palm. Not even a contest. Don't believe me here is one of the toughest guys I've ever seen get tattooed, just anguishing in pain.

[RoryQ]

Talking about other people-

I saw one of the guys from East Tattoo, Hua, get his lower lip / face tattooed last year in Milan. He has a black line that runs from his chin up in a straight line to his bottom lip and over the lip to the inside gum-line, and seemed to be getting it touched-up.

Looked absolutely horrific, getting it done. And it swelled up afterwards like he'd been stung by a wasp.

[rozone]

A few months back I had Cody Miller at Blackheart do a big black & grey geometric piece right smack in the middle of my sternum. It was horrendous. One thing's for sure, I'm glad I only have 1 sternum and never have to go through that process ever again...

Also, I agree that the upper ankle is a deceivingly horrible spot.

When Eli Quinters did the left side of my stomach/rib, we were both shocked at how painless it was. It was the most comfortable tattoo sitting I've ever had and it was one of the spots I was most worried about getting done.

I think a huge factor is how you mentally prepare for each spot. I expected the stomach/ribs to be so bad that when I actually got it done I was hyper-prepared for an awful experience. As a result, when it went down I was really well-equipped to deal with it and made it hurt way less. Just a theory.

[gougetheeyes]

@ltholley diggin the videos you've put up! Palm tattoos are neat; I, however, will not be getting my palms tattooed.. I'll leave that to folks tougher than me.

[ThaliaCamille]

Just the thought of getting the palm tattooed... I'm imaging the constant reflex to want to curl your hand up into a fist, and trying to resist doing so. Owwwwwwwwww.