Yes. It hurts. A tatoo is a process involving a needle (or in most cases, a grouping of needles) puncturing your skin. Your skin is laced with a network of nerves that will be traumatized by the perforations involved. On the other hand it is not that bad. Many people have said it feels like a bee sting. This is inaccurate. Bees leave a toxin in your skin that makes for intense discomfort for a good 15 minutes. A tatoo does not do this. A tatoo is most accurately described sensationally as “someone scratching a sunburn”. A sort of irritating pain.
There are many factors that contribute to the amount of pain involved in a tatoo. The two primary catalysts are the artist performing the tatoo and the area of the body one is getting tatooed on. Certain artists are considered “soft” while others are named “heavy handed”. This is a reference to the combination of the speed of the tatooists machine, the depth of the “needle hang”, and the willingness of the artist to hit and re-hit an area of flesh. A person looking for an artist should not necessarily look for the softest artist around necessarily. Many times these tatooists run too soft and do not give very permanent tatoos.
The most sensitive areas of the body to be tatooed are the areas with the most nerve endings. Ignore the comments made by peers about bony areas being the worst or that fatty areas are the best. This has nothing to do with it. The most sensitive areas are the abdomen, neck, groin and the outside of joints (the “tendon areas”). The least sensitive areas of the body are the outer extremities. The outside of the arms and legs are designed to bump, abrade, scratch, and defend. These are the least sensitive areas of the bodies to be tatooed.
The worst places to be tatooed are the: genitalia, throat, stomach, ribs, neck and sternum.
Links:
Does it hurt? How much does it cost? - The Ultimate Tatoo Handbook
