“Nah bruh, it didn’t hurt.” – The guy with three dots on the side of his hand.

I don’t know how to break this to you, but I will try my best to be gentle.

Getting a needle pushed into your skin at a high rate of speed for ANY amount of time is painful on some level. In fact, if I may so eloquently say so, it fucking hurts; sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.

Some people will say it depends on the placement. I absolutely agree. The roman numerals that adorn the sides and back of my neck didn’t hurt a lot, but they did hurt. Granted, they didn’t hold a candle to the intense pain of my shin or sternum, but I digress. Any tattoo I have ever gotten never put a smile on my face as it was being done. Not. Once. With that being said, everyone is different.

Let’s talk about pain tolerance for a moment.

I like to think I have a decently high pain tolerance. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think it hurts, it simply means that I can sit very, very still throughout the process. My tattoo artist, Q, has his head and palm done. He said it sucked, but didn’t stop or “tap out”. Thats a high pain tolerance.

Then, there are people like my wife, who delivered our second boy with her bare hands. WITH. HER. BARE. HANDS. For freaks of nature such as her (and as I have found, most women; you psychos) have incredibly HIGH pain tolerance. There are very few women with tattoos I have talked to that had a hard time sitting. They’re out there, the YouTube videos are hysterical, but those are very much the exception and not the rule.

If you are worried about the pain of getting a tattoo, I can’t think of a better quote than from Q: “It fuckin’ hurts, but you get something cool after.”

All tattoos hurt. Some more than others. It’s all part of the process.

So, the next time you see that person with the intricate tattoo, you don’t have to ask if it hurt. It did. I know it, they know it, and now you know it.

It hurts, but it’s worth it. Trust me.

xoxo

-Jake

P.S. : For those of you with palm tattoos, bottom of feet tattoos, armpits done, genitalia adorned (looking at you octopus girl), and other incredibly painful spots: Thank you for your service. You’re all psychotic, and I love that about you.

xoxo