Hogrider

It's common to regret a new tattoo. Give it a couple of months. If you decide to "fix" it, find a good artist, don't pay for a design.

Time to find a new artist. I would NOT give them another shot. it needs to be fixed. I'd wait a couple of months for it to fully heal first.

What do you think is "custom" about handing him a picture and telling him I want this image, this size, right here? You're not asking for a custom design, you're asking him to copy an existing image. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not a "custom" design.

Given how unhappy you were with your last tattoo, I'd just be really specific about what you are looking for. You can go back and read my answer to your last thread if you're interested.

I like the one on your knee, but you probably shouldn't have gotten the word "sad" tattooed on your ass.  

5 hours ago, Nits said:

Hii, i have little bump on my tattoo....after consulting with dermatologist he didn't prescribed me any medicine. He told me it's granuloma.can you tell me is it self treatable or not

Did you read the post about Nizoral at the top of the page? I'd start there; it's cheap and easy to try.

@oboogie is right though, we're not doctors. I've been lucky, but I've heard that a lot of doctors have a negative bias towards tattoos. That may be why there's the "too bad, you're stuck with it attitude." When the dermatologist didn't prescribe anything and told you it's a granuloma, did you ask any questions?

I'm not trying to be a dick, but stand up for yourself and take a little initiative. It took me literally two seconds to find this article - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/granuloma-annulare/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351323. That's where I'd start.

Sorry, but not sticking up for yourself is one of my pet peeves. I had a friend that was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. His doctor told him to stop exercising and stay off it. I just about exploded. I told him to tell the doctor that that was unacceptable and what were his options. He wound up getting anti-inflammatories and physical therapy. It healed much faster and didn't reoccur, which would almost certainly have happened if he's just stopped using it until it was better and went right back to what he was doing before. YOU are responsible for your medical treatment, nobody else.

It takes six to eight weeks to heal. Didn’t your artist talk about the healing process??

14 minutes ago, Retard said:

Solid advice, I appreciate that but all things considered we all die at some point, why stop myself from doing something stupid? Life is short and if I don't enjoy it to it's fullest extent then I've wasted it. My body will decompose and the tattoo won't even exist and neither will I within the next century so why should I be so worried this? I think it just boils down to a matter of perspective in this case. If I regret it then oh well, I already regret a lot worse. And as for my name I genuinely don't believe words are offensive at all when their coming from a stranger on the internet, so if you take offense to my username that's you being sensitive and immature in my opinion, feel free to disagree but I won't be changing my username. I think I will go ahead and get a tattoo elsewhere first because after further thought I have no idea how my body will react to a tattoo or what kind of pain I'd be in so having a personal reference is probably for the best. It's funny that my original question never got answered though. All I wanted to come here for was to see if anyone thought copying a famous, now dead artists tattoo to honor them was unoriginal but ended up getting a lecture. Thanks for the help

OK, the ass-clown getting a tattoo of a nobody rapper on his FACE calling other people immature. You are the reason the ignore list was made, welcome to mine.

As to your original question, it will hurt like F***. Tattoos hurt. tattoos on thin skin over bone hurt even more. This is just one of the many reasons you don't get a big honking face tattoo as your FIRST tattoo.

Why stop yourself from doing something stupid?

15 minutes ago, Retard said:

I have high functioning aspergers and thats just what I go by lol. If the word Retard offends you I advise you re-evaluate your life choices.

 

I assumed it was common sense to get a tattoo done professionally, after researching the artists past work, especially one placed so brazenly but thanks for the advice still.

I don't think I'd regret it, I wear a beanie most of the time anyway and if I do need to go to a job interview I could use makeup right? Hope I don't sound too naive.

Yeah I didn't really expect this kind of reception, thought everyone would be pretty supportive but you guys take this stuff pretty seriously huh? Anyway thanks for the advice everyone

Yes, we take tattoos seriously and so should you. And just looking around at all the shit tattoos people wear, it's apparent that finding a skilled professional is NOT common sense. Getting a face tattoo is no joke and if you think that at some point you can just laser it off and have it look just like it did before, think again. A tattoo is a wound that's healed. If you try to laser it off, then you have a wound over a wound.

No, you can't just put makeup over it. try drawing it on with a magic marker and then covering it up with makeup. It's going to look like a mess. If there is a responsible adult in your life, you should really consult them because I can see that you're looking at making a huge mistake here.

If the word retard DOESN'T offend you, it's you that needs to work on your social skills.  The content of your post shows that you are aware of social norms, so don't blame aspergers for being offensive in this particular instance.

We are supportive of responsible tattoos. Getting a face tattoo is a huge step and it's not something that should be done lightly.

13 hours ago, Retard said:

And before anybody asks I'm not worried about potential job opportunities.

You should be. This is absolutely a tattoo that you'll regret down the line. Ten years (at the most) down the line, every time you look in the mirror, you'll think, "WTF was I thinking?" Also, you don't have a single tattoo and you think a good place to start is a big honking tattoo on your face? Really???

If you DO decide to throw common sense to the wind and get it anyway, make sure you get it from a professional, in a shop, from an artist that has lots of references and work on line that you can look at. Don't get if from your buddy in his kitchen. It's a tattoo that would be EASY to F*** up and you'll be wearing that mess on your face. There are a lot of really good artists that wouldn't do a face tattoo on someone with no ink. But, a scratcher will tattoo anybody, anywhere, any time.

On 2/10/2022 at 11:47 PM, Simong said:

What do you guys think to bepanthen. I have only a few tattoos, not too many. Most I got years ago which where don’t touch and just keep dry back then. Nobody put anything on them. Now my artist says bep and to be fair they have healed well I think. That then switch to Aveeno/ cocoa butter. I’m guessing you mean hustle butter and specialist stuff that costs £15 a tube. Can’t see how that’s necessary and looks like a way to make easy money by promising better results. I’ve always been sceptical.

Never tried Bepanthen. I've been using the same method for more than 10 years. These tattoo specific creams and potents are a scam. I don't want to put anything more ingredients on my skin than I have too. Besides the cost, as I said earlier, the more the ingredients, the more chance of a reaction to one or more of them.

Quit wasting your money on those after care products. It's total marketing bullshit. I (and many people I know) have successfully healed hundreds of hours of tattoos with a little A&D ointment for the first three days and a little Cocoa butter thereafter. Emphasis on a little. The more ingredients in the snake oil, the more chance you'll react to something.

On 2/6/2022 at 12:03 AM, Peaches Mulder said:

I have these show up on my old black tattoos after getting newer tattoos. In the past few years I have been getting inked on a regular basis. I would see maybe 5 bumps randomly on old tattoos and assumed it was my blood pressure or just scar tissue(never thought about a reaction to tattoo ink). They would disappear in a few hours. Two weeks ago I had a patch of them on an old tattoo that would not go away. Still didn't put two and two together. A week ago I had a large red ink tattoo done on my calf and the bumps exploded across my arms. My hives cover both arms(100+ bumps) but don't itch. Doctor says it is still an allergic reaction even though they don't itch. I had what is called a pseudolymphatous reaction. It is an inflammatory response that results in lymphomatous-appearing but BENIGN accumulation of inflammatory cells. Basically my bumps look like skin cancer but are not. They are likely permanent. High dose antihistamine and/or high potency corticosteroid cream will not work. Only surgery will guarantee a remission.

Please see a doctor if you are worried and make sure you are treating it ASAP. I hope everyone has a better outcome than I did. I'm not salty about it and I reassured my artist that they have no responsibility in this. I didn't realize the ongoing issue and there was no way the artist could have known.

I'd get a second opinion. I'm not a doctor, but I sure as hell wouldn't give up after two weeks.

5 hours ago, Asthma Inhaler Jim said:

thanks for the replies. I should have pointed out that detail. im not sure if ill go back to him. its unfortunate because the artist was a cool guy and the first tattoo he gave me was probably the best tattoo experience ive had so far. 

im kind of discouraged because this is the 3rd tattoo ive had some dissatisfaction with. as far as tattoo win/loss record im 2 and 3. to me it kind of feels like its unnecessarily difficult to plan out every detail and prepare for every eventuality. Ive had a tattoo artist in the past get mad at me for what he says was me not trusting him enough so i suppose that maybe caused me to be too trusting this time. 

 

 

Tattoos are no different than anything else, you have to tell the other party what you're looking for. When you go to buy pants, you wouldn't just say, "I want pants." You'd specify style, size, color, boot cut, low rise, worn, and anything else you want. Same thing with a tattoo. If you want an exact representation of something I'd just say like, "I'm looking for someone that will do an exact representation of this image, is that something you're interested in?" Or, "I've got something really specific in mind, are you comfortable working within those parameters?" Or, "The last tattoo I got was really well done, but there were some additional lines added and the colors weren't as close to the original as I'd hoped. Are you comfortable working with that degree of specificity?" And then show him the image you provided and an image of the final tattoo.

My artist would thank me for considering him, would but suggest I go elsewhere. And I'm OK with that. I let him know at a really high level what I'm looking for and he's exceeded my expectations on every tattoo.

I knew that detail might be overlooked and i thought about pointing it out to the artist before he began the tattoo but ...

But nothing. It's YOUR job to make sure the artist knows what you want. If you think they might misunderstand, you need to be perfectly clear.

Should i have brought in a better color reference? Is it my fault for not bringing up what i knew was a non obvious detail that might be overlooked? 

If a detail is that important to you, then yes you should explicitly point it out. An artist isn't a Xerox machine.

I sent him a DM about a month later saying id just like to let him know that there was a small coloring mistake in the tattoo he gave me but that id still like to get tattooed by him in the future.

I don't think I'd bust someone's balls then go back to them.

The artist should show you the stencil before you start. It's YOUR job to point out anything you don't like about the stencil. Same if they draw directly on you. It's on you to make sure an artist knows if you expect an exact copy of the image on your skin. Never assume anything. If you do all that and it's not as you specified, THEN it's the artist's fault.

Unless the cream had bacteria in it, it can't cause an infection. The infection has to come from someplace. On the other hand, the artist wiped the cream off, a layer of skin came off with it, and they tattooed you anyway? That's really irresponsible, if you are describing what happened accurately. I'd find a new artist and quit using numbing cream. It looks like some sort of allergic reaction to the cream, but I'm not a doctor.

Tattoos hurt. I'm old school, but I think you should earn your tattoo. I've got hundreds of hours in the chair, lots of very sensitive parts tattooed and I've never used numbing cream.

37 minutes ago, Simong said:

I think there pretty normal for good artists. Some wait lists are crazy long. If you really want it done by a specific artist then it is worth the wait.

I don't get the hurry. I've seen an awful lot of terrible tattoos and most of the time the story includes how their preferred artist was busy so they went to someone else. One woman got an awful coverup. After she left someone in the shop said, "That looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger crawling out of a tar pit." She wound up getting a cover up of a cover up of a terrible tattoo.

4 hours ago, Blackie said:

I’ve made inquiries at a few shops and gotten feedback from some artists directly ,unfortunately all the artists I am interested in are booked for the for seeable future.

Thanks

This happens with really top artists. It’s worth the wait.

You screen them the same way regardless of where they work - is their work solid? Do the have a lot of examples of good work? Do you know anyone that's been tattooed by them? Do they follow strict sanitary guidelines? Have you seen old examples of their work and how it holds up?

The big difference is, is it a studio, or are they tattooing in their kitchen?

17 hours ago, Clampy763 said:

That’s made me feel a lot better, I suppose it’s more noticeable to me as I’m looking at it everytime I walk past a mirror. I’m grateful for the feedback and will hopefully continue to heal okay 🙂 

The best advice my artist ever gave me was “don’t look at it through a microscope. You can find something wrong with every tattoo if you look hard enough.” I look at the big picture and love all my tattoos.

I’d ice that knee, but all tattoos don’t heal the same. I rarely get scabs but after going to the same artist for ten years, using the same healing method, I got one about the size of a dime, but really thick. Then I was gently washing it and it got caught on the edge of a washcloth and ripped off. OUCH. It took a month to really heal. All this to say all tattoos don’t heal equally. Yours looks fine. Give it 8 weeks.

On 1/6/2022 at 10:49 AM, oboogie said:

Just wear what you want to wear. My parents don't like my tattoos, either, but I don't hide them intentionally. If they see them, they see them. They know they are part of me, and they love me.

Reminds me of the old blues tune, "Nobody loves me but my mama, and I think she might be jiving me too."

No infection or allergy that I see. Wait 8 weeks from the date of the tattoo before worrying, unless it’s hot, oozing, or extremely painful.

3 hours ago, chrysanthemym said:

I know that there are tons of tattoo artists who do really well for themselves, so I don't doubt that it's a viable career option, but, I'd honestly love to get more tattoo artists' opinions on the craft/career as a whole and how it looks financially.

 

How exactly do you know this? It really goes against everything I've heard.

As @oboogie said, this isn't a site for artists to exchange tips, I'd suggest reading the rules. If you want to be a tattoo artist, talk with your own artist next time you get a tattoo.

16 hours ago, Star said:

Update on this, I went to the tattooist once the skin had began to heal & they said they didn't over work my skin or anything, tried to say it was because of my poor after care when I had proof of daily pictures of the after care and a witness to how well I took care of it, ive had hundreds of tattoos, I know the aftercare routine apparently the skin showed no signs of too much trauma.. even with the amount of blood & swelling, plus my constant remarks of how much it absolutely killed me off with the feel of it, they said they would of never over worked the tattoo or been heavy handed.. in the end I just gave up trying to get a recognition of what happened.. the main thing it's on the mend & I have alot of scars from the heavy scabbing despite not picking at a single one but I'm just glad my arm works again..

Why would they admit they did anything wrong? What's the upside for them?

You're only about three weeks in and it takes up to eight weeks to heal normal tattoo. I wouldn't be surprised if that continued to improve for three or four months. Just keep taking good care of the skin, a little cocoa butter ever day, but not too much. You might even want to try some liquid vitamin E.

1 hour ago, MPM said:

Thank you so much for your reply. Have been getting quite anxious about it. If it's okay with you may I ask Should I keep applying A & D ointment or switch to different ointment? 

I'd just put a touch of cocoa butter on it, too little is better than too much. I use A&D for three or four days, then switch to cocoa butter when it starts to peel.