Have you ever wondered what getting a tattoo actual means? What happens to your body and how it turns from a picture on paper to a picture on you? Well lets break it down for you!
First you have your tattoo machine which needs to be properly sterilized and "tuned", running smoothly and effectively.
So in order for your ideas to turn into your life long piece of art, a needle (of different sizes) need to penetrate the skin into the dermis. The tattoo needles go about 3000 times a minute into your skin, depositing the ink. Once the ink is into the dermis, picture your immune system sending little pacmen cells (macrophages) coming to eat the ink. Then those little pacmen get "stuck" in the gel-like substance under your skin, holding that ink right where it should be!
Is it Painful?
Of course tattoos hurt, this is such a common question. And it drives a lot of artists nuts, because needles going into the deep layers of skin obviously cant feel good right? Well, you'll be pleased to know some places don't hurt as much!!!
But why do some tattoo placements hurt less? Well simply put, certain places have less "stuff" between your skin and bones. Less muscle, fat, tendons etc. These things almost act as buffers, when the tattoo needles hit through the skin. And when you have thinner skin areas (hands, feet, shins, knees) the needles vibrate and scrape off the bones!