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Comment by dekhn | Hacker News Reader

Are tattoos normally considered painful? I got my first one recently (a small shoulder tattoo) and it didn't hurt really, more like a cat's tongue rasping against the skin. I have heard my artist has a light touch, and it wasn't a very sensitive area.

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In my experience, as others have said, the shoulder is probably the least painful area to get tattooed, to the point where I also wouldn't call it painful. I'm halfway through one right now which runs from my chest/armpit over my shoulder and upper arm, and onto my back, and the shoulder was the only real reprieve. The armpit, chest, arm, and back (in that order) were certainly painful to varying degrees, even if they were tolerable.

I also got one not long ago, a round dial about 3 inches across, on my quads a few inches above my knee that was exceedingly painful, an area where the pain charts seem to suggest is not usually painful.

The most painful for me is when when the outline is done and they go back to do the shading/texturing and the skin is already angry. That's a good time to stop if the tattoo is sufficiently large.

Yes and no, the skin connects to the spinal nerve in regions known as dermatomes, there being 31 spinal nerves and 30 dermatomes, with left and right sides. Some nasty rashes get confined on a dermatome basis, to not cross the left-right axis, this being because the nerve roots are the problem, rather than the skin, per se.

Hence, you have a pain map of sorts, based on things such as the dermatomes. Utility of the skin also comes to mind, the hands, although 'tough' have a lot of nerves and, allegedly, a job stopper hand tattoo will be extremely painful. Same with the chest, which is 'underbelly' and not 'defended', whereas your shoulder will not have the same 'evolutionary' choices.

Coupled with that is the evolving technology, in the olden days, tattoo machines looked like they were held together with rubber bands, and people swore by these contraptions. Nowadays you have something more like a glorified electric toothbrush, with most artists just preferring the modern tools, that also hurt less. Aftercare has improved too.

Different artists will also impose a different level of pain. Pain also is 'in the eye of the beholder', for your first rodeo you probably had a certain amount of adrenaline going round, for the 'other shoulder' you won't have this 'natural pain killer' to quite the same abundance, so it might hurt more than you expect, rather than less.

Nonetheless, dermatomes, you need to go down that rabbit hole! I never knew of the things until recently.

Interesting. I have noticed there are a few spots in my body, where I feel sensation far from the origin (for example, my finger twinging slightly when I pee). I always wondered about the nerve mappings in that case.

It depends on a few factors.

1. The location of tattoo, some regions of skin are VERY sensitive.

2. The skill of the tattooer. How deep do they go, how fast do they pull, etc...

3. The size of the lines and shading A fine line tattoo feels very different that a block shaded piece. (One needle vs up to 7)

4. The style of the tattoo. Black and gray realism tattoos require the artist to go over an area many times. Going over an already inflamed piece of skin feels way worse than fresh skin.

I think their reputation is exaggerated compared to how painful they actually are, but yes, they have a reputation for being painful, and they can indeed be quite painful. You picked one of the easier places for it.

The worst I've experienced is on the elbow; it felt like my entire skeleton and nervous system were being jackhammered.

Approximate tattoo pain by location on body: https://www.healthline.com/health/body-modification/pain-tat...

A butt tattoo is painful? That seems very surprising.

There’s a lot of nerve endings, probably the same reason spankings are a thing.

The choice of `medium-light blue`, `yellow`, `medium-dark blue` (!?), `red` for the pain guage is definitely something.

I almost missed that there were 4 colors until the second chart

I agree. In a link at the bottom they replace the medium-dark-blue with orange that makes more sense https://media.post.rvohealth.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/v... but it den't show the body, just the scale.

The shoulder is a very easy place to be tattooed, which is why that area gets recommended for first-timers. Places with less flesh and more bone are much worse; I have tats on the tops of my feet, and those were agonizing.

Just thinking about that makes me a bit queasy.

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