SeeSea

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

It would be nice to ask if someone has never had a tattoo before, and to spend a tad more time talking about the process and putting them at ease. No one wants to feel like a piece of meat, and for something as personal as a tattoo for the first time, it can be a put-off. That seems to me to be a really easy bit of customer service that could put a dent in the Yelp ratings and get a repeat customer.

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

@Jnvlv - being tired doesn't matter to me, but getting cold has a huge effect so I have to stay warm (tea during breaks, warm clothing). Once I start shaking, the end is near. Shaking can be from slowly getting cold and also if you don't get some sugar in you for longer sessions. My guy says sometimes you just can't tell how you'll sit. You might have a fight with your partner and that could give you stress and make it a bad session, or it could give you some anger that can funnel into keeping you going. I'm not sure you can break everything down by basing it on everyone else's experiences, but keeping a log of what works and what doesn't work for you. I read somewhere here that hangovers definitely make it worse and sometimes food choices affect how your GI tract reacts. I have to be really careful about what I eat before and during or things can get ugly. My experience is longer sittings. The first 3 hours don't make much difference and I see that number thrown out a lot - three hours. For anything longer, that's when my planning pays off with the tea, candy, hydration, etc. Good luck!

I agree with @Pugilist - but I still wear the very thin shirts for quite a while. I use an aftercare product that is a little tackier than lotion. The shirt also helps keep the shedding skin contained too. Nothing like picking colored flakes out of a fluffy sweater O_O

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

Going in tonight for another session on my back. We're working up the right side this time. This is the healed pic from the last session.
A batch of brownies for the shop is in the oven now. MMmmmmmm.

Depends. Did he say, "I hope you don't mind but I'm staring down your pants at your tits dick while I'm tattooing you."
Or, "I hope you don't mind but I'm staring down your pants at your dick while I'm tattooing you because I think a panther would look great down there."

Yay!!! Welcome!
Thanks a good idea, too. Boy, I may have one of those in a box somewhere that can wrap around the waist and leave the back totally open. Maybe I didn't think of it because I started my back in February and have been thinking "fleece" rather than "summery dress"!

Just popping over to say a quick hello from Toronto - I'm a graduate student doing her PhD in history, married to the lovely forum member @Mark Bee . Both being tattooed has meant we have an arsenal of solely post tattoo/healing bed sheets and spent part of our honeymoon at the opening of the Great Lakes Shop in Chicago.
I got my first tattoo from a street shop called Rocky's in 1990 and my most recent was outlined by Dan Innes at the Pearl Harbor last Saturday!

for the ladies...kinda funny for a Snickers ad (sorry, a bit off topic):

http://youtu.be/0gjsoSY18kg

...and who's supposed to jump in here and say that this is a great opportunity to blast over it with a big black panther or skulls?

Go. No one knows that you do or don't have tattoos under your shirt/pants. I was nervous when I went to my first one, too, by myself, before I got a tattoo. Just go and screw feeling like you don't belong there. As for "plainskin" I think that's not a nice phrase, and I think that several people around here feel the same way about the term. Don't read into that. You are lucky with all the artists around you! Have fun with it!

Honestly this thread cemented my decision to join the forum (though I've lurked a bit over @Mark Bee 's shoulder previously)
I've always scheduled my appointments so I wouldn't have my time of the month during a tattoo as I lose all my ability to deal with pain then (no waxing ect... ).
As for clothes I have a couple of cotton/ jersey dresses from that have a kind of extended halter can be wrapped a myriad of ways (halter, strapless, one sleeved) that I've used while getting my back done. As for bras I cannot go without one - with my shoulder/ back piece I wore a bra with a removable strap and just used one strap to keep it all secure - I also used a super old soft tank top and wore it under the bra while things were still raw - it kept the elastic off my healing back.

I haven't seen a thread that focuses on gender-specific advice, information-sharing and support for the wonderful ladies around here. Little gems are randomly sprinkled here-and-there within other threads. I thought it would be a nice idea to collect that type of stuff in one place. Questions like, "what do you do about wearing a bra after getting a tattoo?" and "does it really hurt more to get a tattoo the week before and during your period?" And the empowering stuff like the wonderful thread about using tattoos to feel better about your body - especially the delightful discussion of beautifying the horrendous "batwings."
In addition to starting new topics here, when we find relevant nuggets of info elsewhere (I'm kicking myself for not making bookmarks of them), we can add those links here so we don't have to repeat everything or we can refer back to existing stuff.
About responding to existing content: When you find good stuff elsewhere, if it's part of a well-encapsulated or dedicated thread, it would be best to reply over in that thread so content is together (and put a link here if there isn't one already). If the good stuff you find is randomly spread through a larger or unrelated thread, then include the link to the first post where the good stuff starts, and respond here so your new info doesn't get lost over in an unrelated thread.
The boys are welcome, too, you know, because anything related to boobs and bras and the lack of bras surely has universal appeal, etc.
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So I'll start with the period question - does it really hurt more the week of and during your period? Have you dealt with it in any special way...rather than praying to the menopause gods or demanding a hysterectomy just to get more tattoos? :D
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Here's the start of a thread about bras and tattoos in the bra area: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/32-best-post-tattoo-care-page10.html#post51734

Finished this with Shige the other day ...
http://s22.postimg.org/w1oqen2gh/IMG_2948.jpg
http://s22.postimg.org/pds4s1iy9/IMG_2953.png
http://s22.postimg.org/67exov2gh/IMG_2954.jpg
starting again in August ...

Latest session, two and a bit to go!

When you started this thread @Delicious, I didn't think I had a moon, then I remembered I did have the faint outline of a crescent moon shaped jewel. Today Kim shaded it in along with some other stuff, this is a pic taken from the table:
(better pic now on Latest Lowdown)

By intense you mean AWESOME right?

I think alot of people over estimate the sterilization powers of hand washing with tap water and antibacterial soap. Clean does not equal sterile.
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I like the blue one better, but that's just me. Sorry.

I figured we all thought it went without saying