3.59pm
just last week, my husband and i headed back to kuala lumpur for a short trip to do our tattoos. it was the SG50 weekend. if you guys dont know or havent heard of SG50, its actually singapore's 50th year of independence. i heard it was a blast! unfortunately, we werent around to see/experience this epic (not to mention historical) moment. but oh well, life goes on doesnt it?
you see, on our last trip back to KL which was in june, my husband decided to get a tattoo. for years i was teasing him mercilessly, calling him chicken shit coz he didnt have the guts to do a tattoo. well well well, he surprised me in june by telling me he's going to be doing one! hahahaha he'd finally plucked up his courage and decided to get inked! he had to make an appointment via email beforehand with the tattoo shop (that he found online which was popular and positive feedback). they rarely do walk ins because they already have their schedule with people who had already made their bookings with them (via email) and you know that doing a tattoo takes time, depending on how big the design is etc, so as i said, no walk ins.
well, obviously for this 2nd round, we had to make an appointment with the tattoo shop and ours was set once we got back to KL (which was the day after we'd arrived). long story short, i decided to get a small one done and my husband got like a japanese design which incorporated waves and cherry blossoms (full sleeve, which means the whole length of his arm). his isnt completed yet coz they cant do his whole arm in one sitting as it would "stress" his arm and the healing process would take ages! thats why he's gotta come back and do portion by portion. bit of a long process for him, god and the pain!! ugh! and like i mentioned earlier, you cant rush these artists otherwise they'd do a bad job, which trust me, isnt what anybody wants.
anyways, i was raring to go. i couldnt wait to get inked but yet at the same time i was terrified, terrified of the pain and if i could tolerate it! its as though i was jumping into the unknown. thats why the fear. my dear hubby told me that it wasnt painful (between both of us, my threshold of pain was more than his) and when he'd done his previous tattoo (on his forearm), i was watching him and his reaction when the guy started doing the tattoo, my husband didnt blink or even wince in pain. so i thought "ok, it cant be that bad then could it?" thank god i kept my cool but i'll be honest with you, we definitely felt the "pain", "sting" whatever you wanna call it. i cant really describe the feeling. certain parts were kinda painful and certain parts weren't as bad. overall i can safely say, its tolerable on my part.
now, i'd like to share with you (in my opinion) on what you need to think about/do before getting your first tattoo, if you're planning to get one that is..
1) do your homework. when i say do your homework i meant think very very carefully about your design or wordings (ie font, size etc), where you want it placed on your body, what colors you want etc. you get what i mean. both my husband and myself (more so my husband) did alot of online research on tattoos and designs. dont do for the sake of doing and then later regret. to be honest, i cant understand why some people would wanna do a tattoo of a piece of sushi or a bowl of rice (well i guess that meant something to them, who knows!) but honestly, i saw those images ok! go google if you dont believe me. in my humble opinion, your tattoo has got to be meaningful to you, not just some random picture. so yeah, do give it some serious thought about what your design is like.
2) its important that you do read up on the tattoo artist/parlour/shop and see if they are reputable or not. you do not want to go to some place that's "dirty" or unhygienic! oherwise its you who would be paying the price, not them!
3) remember, before you get your tattoo, make sure that you are 100% sure of it because its gonna be staying on your body forever (well unless you want to get it removed by laser then its your call) and you gotta love it.
4) if you are of the faint hearted, my suggestion is dont do it. i was asking the tattoo artist if it was painful if i did it on my forearm (apparently, its the least painful part of the body to do a tattoo) and she was honest with me and told me that it depends on each individual and their tolerance level of pain. if any tattoo artist tells you that its not painful at all well then, i think you'd better walk away, because he/she is lying.
now im going to share with you some photos that i managed to take at the tattoo shop.
here's the design that i wanted initially, a cutesy angel holding a heart and smiling. yes, yes, i know its a bit cartoonish but i wanted a simple one to start off with coz i didnt know how "painful" it could be.
so here's my right hand, a clean "canvas". i was getting scared at that point in time and trying to be brave about it. bit too late to back out hahahaha
here's the stencilled on bit before the real work started. you will notice that the angel is not as cartoonish as the one i wanted in the beginning. my tattoo artist found that from somewhere and then she showed it to me and asked if i liked it, which i did of course and i wanted my name in korean/hangul (which i had emailed her when we made the appointment). so she incorporated both the angel and my name at the bottom. looks good right? it looks like a japanese/korean angel to me rather than that one i gave to her.
BOOM, the end result! not bad huh? that took less than half an hour to do. i told her i was satisfied with it. well thankfully i could take the "pain" and didnt black out! you know what else, i also wanted to add a cartoonish airplane but somehow it just didnt gel right with this angel, so i omitted it out. less is more in this case.
before we left, they gave us some cream to apply on our tattoos and told us to take care of it and not to scratch it as it may scar( it will get itchy at some point especially when its "peeling" stage, its as if you are shedding skin). and lastly, let me just say that its not cheap getting inked. be prepared to pay! there's no price tag and each tattoo varies in prices. like for my tattoo, i paid RM$200 and i think that once my husband's forearm is all done, it would probably cost him a few thousand bucks.
i found this general diagram (online) of the level of pain( as above) when doing a tattoo (depending on which part of the body you're gonna be doing it) although im not quite sure if its a generic one for both male and female or just for males. so lets just assume its for both sexes.
i found another diagram online which is for females that want to do tattoo and the pain level. please note that the area where i did my tattoo (around my wrist) has the most discomfort! wow imagine that! as i told you guys earlier only certain parts (around my wrist area) were kinda painful but generally its tolerable. im afraid i cant pin point exactly which part though, coz i wasnt brave enough to have a look . but a couple of times however, i would sneak very quick glances when it wasnt that painful, as the rest of the time, i was distracted just trying to breathe in and out and telling myself over and over again that it wasnt painful hahahahaha.
lastly remember this - its important to remain calm, cool and not panic. dont drink alcohol beforehand and dont do it if you are sick/ill. oh ya, if you are on blood thinners, then very sorry, dont think the tattoo artist will work on you (you should know why). so with that being said, i wish you all the best and be brave IF you want to take the plunge and get yourself inked!
ttfn
6.01pm
p/s here's my parents and mom in law's reaction to our tattoos -
my mom in law - "Eeeeeeeee ouch..not pain ah?" (closes her eyes and winces as if she was the one who did the tattoo and she hates any kind of pain inflicted upon her)
my dad - (grinning from ear to ear) "later when you go pick up your husband (as he was still doing his tattoo at the shop), i want to go along to see how a tattoo parlour looks like"
my mom - (after checking out the tattoo) "i want to do a peace sign but since im old and wrinkled, better not coz my skin is all saggy..so wont look nice!" (btw, my mom is very slim and only weighs around 50kg)
pp/s update on my tattoo (21/8/15)
picture above is when the tattoo was scabbing
this was when it was peeling off.
voila! done deal. a proper tattoo now. took approximately 2 weeks to scab, peel and heal. it was a bit itchy though throughout the process, just so you know.
