Freddie

Thanks man :) is good to hear, it was painful but you soon forget how much it hurt and want more haha but I'm in no rush. After the full 5 hours I was ready to get the F*** out of there ? When I got home I wanted to sink a few cold brews but my budding tattooist roommate at the time freaked out and wouldn't let me touch any booze, she reckons it's super bad, I disagreed but went along with her advice anyway, I just couldn't win that day! Haha

Thanks man, it's always nice to hear that, it's not for everyone but I didn't get it to please anyone else but me :D I'm travelling Vietnam right now and get a lot of nice comments from people when I hit the beach so that's nice, locals here are big on tattoos! I think it's healed really nicely, the saniderm is the mutts nuts and worked really well for me, it's only been 2 and a bit months but it's settled down really well and I'm still happy, I'll get a photo of it later :D

Its a cool article, hey sounds like a chilled out guy. I'm very interested as to what the next one I get will feel like, now I have a reference point I can tell if the artist was heavy handed or something. And I will still give my honest experience because I think its more valuable as a forum contribution than a very tempting 'I am basically He-Man I didn't feel any pain' post lol

Cant argue with that

Worst case scenario, you'll just have to get a full sleeve, what a tragedy :D

Maybe its my screen but I cant see any blue lines, Looks like a nice tattoo if that makes you feel any better :D Welcome to the forum!

Scars are cool man, they are the tattoos of life. A tattoo which incorporates them as part of it like danger dan mentioned can look awesome IMO

Forgot to update this- Well, yeah I don't have any tattoo reference points as it was my first tattoo, but he started on my ribs, worked up into my armpit, then outlined across my collar bone, and on my nipple. This was all Excruciatingly painful. I once crushed my finger off in an industrial guillotine, I would do this again on all 5 fingers and it wouldn't feel as painful at that. I'm not being pussy about it, i'm just stating how much it hurt for me, in all honesty. Someone mentioned rubbing sunburn? Maybe if Edward F***ing scissorhands was doing the rubbing, I dunno... anyway. After about 2.5 hours, the artist tells me its taking longer than he expected, hes moving slower because he can tell it hurts, I'm lying there still and quiet, but i think if i tensed my other bicep any harder it would have popped, so he actually told me to take the cream because if he didn't finish today, I would be leaving the country and I wouldn't be able to come back for another session to finish. So I got experience with and without. Once the cream went on it wasn't just less painful, it was nothing, literally nothing, I swear if it wasn't for the vibrations i could feel in my bones or the buzzing I wouldn't know I was getting tattooed. So at this point he doubles his pace and I can feel how much faster the lines are going down. He said it would take 3-4 hours, it took a little under 5 in the end. Notes - When I could watch him tattooing it hurt less than staring at the ceiling. The perfect way to describe how it felt was slowly pulling a stanley blade across yourself like our a surgeon making an incision. I've slipped a few times with my stanley lol only difference is as soon as he lifts off the pain stops immediately. I dunno, I felt like a massive pussy taking the cream but I needed to finish up, my next one i'll still go in for with no cream. So there is my embarrassing, but genuinely honest experience. (better that just the BS 'It barley hurt I was fine' lie haha)

That looks bloody awesome! Congrats. But no in my experience the tattoo was real Fukn painful and as soon as he stopped buzzing no pain afterwards or during aftercare even came close. There are tonnes of great aftercare tips on here though to help you find one that suits you best, have a browse :)

I used moisturiser with fragrance after 4 days of Saniderm because it was all i had to hand and its worked out fine. If you've already been using it for the for 4 days then I don't think switching now will make much difference. Depends if you're going to stress about it, in which case get something different for the peace of mind ;) good luck!

Thanks man :D I like the fact its unusual style, it was funny because the stencil looked totally different, I lay down and he starts buzzing, 5 hours later it looks like this haha but i'm happy with it so that's what counts. As for your fluid build up, I had a similar thing in the dense areas where the lines cross, but i left it overnight and it dried up underneath the Saniderm. Although yours does sounds more severe.

@Boiled Dove Hope things turn out well for you man, you need change but you gotta make it happen. Personally everything went south for me in UK, I lost my house and was so down I just quit my job and got on a plane with a one way ticket to Amsterdam, been on the road for 8 months now. It doesn't fix anything but its nice to have a break and helped me realise what I consider important in life. Im probably going to do a stint in the Army in New Zealand when I get there for the experience and then who knows. Just keep my options open, try not to burn my bridges and keep rolling with the punches. You're nothing in life if you're not adaptable.

Gayest pose in the world, but it hurt lo lift my arm up, or put it down haha

All healed now, so thought I'd post a pic up.

Well, the Saniderm was brilliant in my experience! Did it hurt to take off? Yes. But worth it for the comfort and the completely stress free first few days. don't have to moisturise, or anti bac or leak on the sheets ect... it was great. I applied about 4 Hours after tattoo after id had a shower to wash the blood and goop off, didnt touch it for 4 days. Took it off, had 3 days of very light peeling, didn't even notice any flakes in clothes and it mostly came off in shower. All sorted :D