| Question: |
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Answer |
| 1: Does it hurt? |
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The sensation of
tattooing is more like an irritation. Many describe it as feeling like
a cat scratch or sunburn. Some areas on the body are more sensitive
than others, but rarely is it intolerable. We tattoo dozens of people
per week, and our tattoo artists can only recall one or two instances
where a person quit before the tattoo was finished in over the more
than 20 combined years that they have been tattooing. |
| 2: Where on the body hurts the most/least? |
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A common misconception
is that a tattoo will hurt more over bone or in thin skinned areas, and
hurt the least in fleshy areas. This is not true. It is entirely down
to the sensitivity of the nerve endings in an area. If an area is quite
sensitive to the touch, it is likely to be a sensitive placement for a
tattoo. A good demonstration is to run your fingernails on the outside
of your forearm, and then on the inside. You will feel that it is more
sensitive on the inside, and indeed it is more sensitive to tattoo the
inside of the forearm than the outside.
That said, don't let fear of pain affect your choice of where to place
your tattoo. You feel it once, and enjoy wearing it for life. So you
should place it where you want it the most. |
| 3: How long does a tattoo take to heal? |
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On most areas of the
body, no more than two weeks total, though the skin can be a little dry
for a week or so after the healing. More information is available in
the aftercare section. |
| 4: How much does a tattoo cost? |
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Please see our section on tattoo pricing. |
| 5: How small can I have my tattoo? |
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Tattooing the skin is
not like drawing with a pencil. There are limits to how small you can
tattoo a design in the skin. For intance, if you try to tattoo lines
too tightly together, they tend to blend together over time. Also, if
you try to shrink a design too much, you will have to sacrifice detail,
and for many pieces this is a bad idea and the final piece would not
look good. Some designs can be simplified and done smaller, but any
piece that relies on detail to look good should have enough size
allowed to accomodate the detailing. |
| 6: Can I swim with a healing tattoo? |
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It is best to avoid
chlorinated or lake water for the first week at least. During the first
week, the tattoo is more open and vulnerable, like "road rash", and
chemicals or bacteria in bodies of water can affect the tattoo more
readily during this time. |
| 7: Will tanning affect my tattoo? |
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As a general rule, UV
rays are damaging to the skin, and therefore not good for your tattoo.
During the healing period, avoid tanning and excessive exposure to the
sun. A sunburn will ruin a fresh tattoo. After it is healed, at the
very least expect bright colours to appear darker as the skin darkens.
As your tan fades, the tattoo will brighten up again. One remedy
against this is to use a good sunblock if you are exposed to sunlight
for extended periods, and if you tan you may wish to use a "lipstick"
type sunblock to draw over the whole tattoo, preserving the brightness
of the tattoo without producing an uneven tan on the surrounding skin. |
| 8: Where should I not get a tattoo? Will you tattoo hands, faces, necks, etc? |
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First, we ask that you
think hard before placing a tattoo in a visible area. A difficult to
conceal tattoo can affect your career choices, and we will decline to
tattoo your face, neck or hands if we feel it would not be in your best
interests. Some areas on the body do not hold pigment well due to
continual wear and abrasion. The hands are one example of such an area,
as are the sides and bottom of the feet, the toes, and crease points
such as the knees and elbows. In general we will not place a tattoo in
these areas because we want the piece to look good for life, though if
we do tattoo these areas we will not guarantee the work because of the
tendency to fade, and touch ups will be at your expense.
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| 9: I think my tattoo has faded. Can I have it touched up? |
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We do offer free touch
ups, though rarely do we actually have to do them. If you take care of
your tattoo properly, it should not be necessary. However, some areas
notoriously will fade. If you are getting a tattoo in one of these
areas (assuming there is no alternative placement), we will advise you
of this, but we will not offer free touch-ups on such areas. Some areas
for example are the sides of the feet, hands, and the pant line on the
waist. If you require a very minor touch up, we encourage you to wait
until your next tattoo so you can do them both at the same time. It
saves your time and ours. |
| 10: If I gain or lose weight, work out, or become pregnant... will it affect my tattoo? |
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For an adult, minor
weight changes will not usually affect your tattoo. Dramatic changes in
weight can distort more symmetrical designs such as lettering, straight
lines or perfect circles, etc. Also, the actual placement of the tattoo
can change due to dramatic changes in weight. For example if you gain a
great deal of muscle mass or weight, a tattoo centered on the bicep may
move towards the back of the bicep. If you plan to gain/lose a lot of
weight, let your artist know so this can be taken into consideration.
Pregnancy will almost always distort a tattoo on the stomach or front
hip area. Stretchmarks in particular can drastically distort a tattoo,
so we encourage you to take care of your skin during pregnancy as
advised by your doctor. If you are a teen and get a tattoo before you
finish growing, we will advise you on design aspects regarding how
growth will affect the design in later life.
In all these cases, if the change is minor, some re-working of the
tattoo can fix the distortion. If the distortion is dramatic, more work
would be required. |
| 11: I have a piece that needs to be finished/added on to that was done by another artist. Will you do this for me? |
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It
really depends on the piece. In general we will, but as artists have
distinct styles that can clash with one another, it is often necessary
to alter the existing piece so it flows together and looks as though it
was done by one artist. This may require only a little extra work if
the original piece was done by a good artist, however if the original
piece was done poorly, we will suggest either to redo the tattoo or
cover it up with another design. In all cases, we have to see the piece
before any decision can be made. |
| 12: Can I be allergic to tattoo pigment? |
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Yes.
Thankfully it is not very common, but a person can be sensitive to
tattoo pigments to a greater or lesser degree. A mild reaction usually
will result in a raised appearance and slight discomfort that will
subside over time as the body assimilates the pigment. A severe
reaction can require treatment by a dermatologist, sometimes with
removal being the final option. It is rare to have a severe reaction,
but please be aware that it is possible. Some pigments are slower to
heal, and the slower healing can be mistaken for a reaction. Red
pigments in particular can take longer for the body to heal. If you
have a reaction during the initial healing period, you may be allergic
to your aftercare product, in which case you should contact us so we
can suggest an alternative product. |
| 13: Do you offer tattoo removal? |
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No.
Tattoo removal is offered by lazer clinics and cosmetic surgeons. It
tends to be expensive, painful, and unfortunately does not always
entirely remove the tattoo even after repeated attempts. Please think
carefully before you commit to a tattoo! We are however skilled at
tattoo cover-ups. We can cover over an existing tattoo with a new
design. As a general rule, a cover-up tends to have to be at least a
little larger than the tattoo you wish to cover, and the colour tones
must be similar or darker. This does not mean you are limited to only
large, dark pieces though. With intelligent placement, our artists can
cover up practically anything with a colourful piece. Check out our
artist's galleries to see examples of cover-ups. And no, using flesh
tone pigment over a darker tattoo will not cover it. The darker colour
will be the one that shows through. |
| 14: Do you do cosmetic tattooing (permanent makeup)? |
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No. This
is a specialised form of tattooing which shares much in common with
conventional tattooing, but the techniques and pigments are rather
different. There are clinics that offer cosmetic tattooing, but we
cannot recommend any particular clinic for this purpose. If you are
interested in cosmetic tattooing, we strongly encourage you to fully
research any clinic that offers this service, as you should with any
tattoo studio or similar service. Ask to see before and after pictures,
be sure that the clinic offers a clean service, and be informed of any
risks or long term implications. You should take into consideration
that cosmetic tattooing is as permanent as any other tattooing and
always visible, and "shopping for the best price" rather than the best
practitioner is likely to result in visible, regrettable work. |
| 15: Do you do all-white pigment tattoos? |
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No. They
seem like a neat idea, but the visual effect rarely turns out the way
one would expect. White pigment will not show as white under the skin
because of the skins own pigmentation. In other words, for a colour to
be properly visible, the pigment has to be darker than your skin tone.
On a light skinned person, it will show as more of a "cream" colour.
Also, large areas of white are seldom consistent, so several sessions
would be required to get solid colouring. |
| 16: Do you do Blacklight/Glow in the dark tattoos? |
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No.
Until definitive safety studies have been conducted regarding these
pigments, we will not use them. We want to give you a tattoo you will
love, not something that is potentially carcinogenic! If you find a
studio offering these pigments, we feel that they do not have your
safety in mind, and it is quite likely that they are also lax in other
areas of safety and cleanliness. |
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