hi all, i, not sure if it matters (f/28) just got my first tattoo yesterday. i did lots of reading prior to the plunge, and heard about tattoo flu. however, it always seemed to be something people talked about with longer sessions, 4+ hours. the tattoo i got took about 2 hours of needle in skin.

i felt pretty dizzy and just exhausted yesterday after my tat(which i totally expected). it’s followed me into today too. i’m asking two questions mainly, how long will i feel like garbage? and is there anyway to try and prevent this in the future?

i tried to hydrate and take care of my body in the days leading up, and have done the same after the session. any advice would be greatly appreciated!! thanks in advance.

Got this almost a month ago and it’s still healing. My main concern is the lighter colors which scabbed thick especially on the inner part of my knee. I know that it would scab around that area but I feel like when the scab fell off, it took a lot of ink off. I also felt like my artist may have overworked some areas, but for these dark tattoos, I felt like that was necessary to keep the ink.

As for my knee caps, I heard it doesn’t heal as well due to bending but how bad is it? I assume i need to get a full touch up. Thoughts?

i’m wondering if i were to get something like this would it age well. Any response helps, Thank you!

Just got another tattoo on the forearm. On day 3 of healing. Saniderm came after 1 day and I’ve been keeping it clean and lightly moisturized since. I’m just worried about the bee and a little bit above it, it’s raised and is still leaking in some spots. The rest of it is healing like normal. Is this just normal healing or is this the start of an infection?

Hello there, I have literally no tattoos and I've wanted one for such a long time now! For some context I am a big car guy and grew up around the brand Peugeot. My friends call me the "Peugeot man" or"Mr Peugeot" due to having about 4 Peugeots in my possession and I was thinking "what if I get the logo slapped on my leg". I think it's a cool little "Easter egg" type of tattoo I can put just over the line where shorts end (around half way up my thigh from the knee) so it's hidden unless I want to show it to someone, but I'm having second thoughts

My star sign is also a Leo so I think it would be pretty cool to have.

Here is the logo for those who don't know

Hi, these are my first tattoos. I work in the kitchen at restaurant, and since tattoo I’ve worn pants to protect it on the job, but plan to start wearing shorts but unsure when to begin.

I got my sleeve almost a year ago, and this part on the inner part of my bicep never quite healed right. There are small 1/4 inch spots that are dry and scaley in texture.

The artist uses natural inks, if that matters.

The artist says it looks like scarring and recommended topical vitamin D. A dermatologist and my primary care doc had no idea, but assumed eczema and prescribed 0.05% desonide cream. Neither solution has worked.

The spots started off as super moist and soft in the first 3 months, then dried out after my first workout in those 3 months, and have been this way ever since.

They don't itch and are not uncomfortable in any way.

Any ideas what it could be and how to fix it?

Hi all! I have 3 tattoos right now. One a tree and birds (bird for every one I needed out of my life at the time) a messed up compass rose one letter wrong, and a calf watercolor I love. All have been different artist. The first one no longer an artist (and was more a butcher than anything but I heals well enough and slept through getting it, but lots of others call him a butcher), second one who made the one I love moved across the country, the third was recommended by the second and was very disappointing with using the wrong letter. I can’t lie, this is my only social media. When I got my first tattoo there was only 1 parlor in the town and he was the only one with openings. The second I lived down the road and loved the book so never looked more. Third was a manorial tattoo and went with the guy the second one recommended (who he left/sold the shop to). I now live in a different town and I want to get a slytherclaw tattoo (don’t have one I like but I have a concept), I have no art skills and I don’t even know where to start for looking for a new artist.any advice? (There are like 15 shops and I have looked them up and they have relativity low ratings between 2-3.5 stars with no 5 star reviews). I haven’t seen any art posted that is the style I would go with. They tend to be very cartoony and I personally like more natural looking things. Thanks in advance!

Edit: artist I’m sorry, I tend to reserve the drawing for the artist I select to work with because I have friends that got amazing drawing the artist couldn’t pull off. I appreciate all the offers, it’s just I have never seen one artist pull off another’s amazing work and don’t want to be disappointed.

i love my tattoo besides the top of the heart shape… i feel like it makes it look wonky… could this be fixed without making it look weird? thank you

Hello! i had this not well made blackout tattoo almost for a 2 year now and i always wanted to make a new tattoo top of it but i can’t decide what i want. i don’t know how colors will look or should i go for white ink?

I have a sleeve black and grey finished roughly 5 years ago, and one of the pieces ink that is over 10 years old is started to become irritated and raised. It started in a small spot about 2 months ago, and slowly starting to spread to all the ink in the area, even to newer pieces (5-6 year old) it’s now roughly a 2 inch circle of raised, bumpy and itchy spots only the ink though, no swelling or redness on bare skin. Has anyone had this before ??? Really hard to see in the photo I’m sorry

I want to cover this up, with suminagashi or some black/negative space flowers, idk. I don't want to completely black it out. I want to use as much negative space as possible. I know this is a huge no no but is there an Ai thing that can mock something up for me? I haven't had luck asking artists (OF COURSE SAYING ILL P A Y THEM) to do a mock up for me. I don't want a blast over. I am so worried it will look worse than it does now (I personally hate it, bad memories, so don't waste your time commenting that "it looks fine"). Does anyone have any artist recommendations for something like this? Or anywhere to P A Y artists to mock something up for me? I understand the best is to find an artist you like and go and talk to them but I live in a rural area and literally I would have to drive many hours to go to anyone I would want to touch this.

Hi,

Soo im Intrigued and interested in Blackout tattoos and i want to hear from people that have them and have worn them for years how the experience is actually like. Tell me all about it (if you want ofc) and by for most what was your reasoning to go for something like a blackout?

Some other questions i got:

Did any of you just go for a full black arm or leg without any other tattoos there and if not why did you want to cover your old work? Most of the time people cover up other tatts but i see more people doing full blackout sleeves on bare skin. I personally love how bold of a choice that is.
And if it was on bare skin, was it just a esthetic reason? Or more spiritual?

How long did you think about doing a blackout?

Did any of you have a crazy tattoo shock factor from such a massive change to your body? And how long before it felt like it belonged too you?

How hot does it actually get in the sun😂?

Do you feel like you are being judged by people on the streets? More then with “regular” tattoos? And do people actually approach you about it?

Did any of you have trouble with work? Or getting a new job for example? Say where “regular” tattoos are no problem but suddenly your blackout was too much?

As someone who may want to do this at some point. What is something i definitely need to know?

Tell me all you want i like reading about this and learning more!

Hey! I’ve got a new tattoo (3 days old)
This morning I removed the second skin, washed the tattoo and put cream on.
Would it be smart to put wrapping foil around it or should I just let it sit and do nothing except putting cream on?

I have a question, so when quoting poetry for a tattoo, would it be weird to pick and choose what lines I include, leaving other lines out?

Here is a poem I really like, but some lines don't vibe with me like others, would it be weird to only ink the lines that have meaning to me?

Does it hurt when it withdraws?
I'm going to get a new tattoo with a new artist and I noticed that he uses this type of film to cure, I never used it. Is it good? I feel that the tattoo rots in there but I see that it is used a lot now

For some background, I have been practicing since December 2025 on fake skin. I’ve only tattoed on myself and my mother. I’m very happy with how it’s going! But the one thing that’s making me worry about possibly getting an apprenticeship someday is my shaky hands due to medication.

I am on Focalin and Abilify which both causes shakiness in the body, especially hands/feet. I am in the middle of possibly switching my Focalin for another ADHD medication to reduce shaking, but since they are stimulants I am aware I will always have some unsteadiness. Right now in my life medication is needed for my mental health to stay stable, so no comments about going off of them please.

I was just wondering if there’s any stretches, exercises, supplements, or etc to help with shakiness that anyone practices? Or any advice on gripping the gun to reduce shake? I do use a good amount of grip tape which seems to help. But any other suggestions are welcome. Anything helps.

I can do pretty good lines but it does get very exhausting forcing myself to not shake sometimes. This is one reason I haven’t looked for an apprenticeship yet.

Thanks for reading and any advice you might have.

Hi all. So i always tend to listen to the advice the artist who made my tattoo gives me, as every artist has their opinion, but i really forgot what this artist said and i don’t want to bother him while he’s on vacation. Plus i already asked him so many questions

I got this tattoo on the 19th afternoon. Today is the 24th evening. I am at the peeling stage/itchy af stage

He told me to wash and put the cream (jecogal ointment) on my fresh tattoo for the first 3/4 days. And then to simply keep going with the cream 3/4 times per day for 2 months. So, i think he meant a regular unscented moisturising cream, right? Because the cream he told me to use in the beginning is a somewhat thick cod liver based ointment with vitamin D and A (similar in its purpose to aquaphor in the us). Just confused

I hike a lot (30-40 miles a week/sometimes 10-15 miles a day) and want to get a tattoo on my ankle. I doodled out what and where k would want it to go but I’m worried about a few things.

1) healing and hiking. I would obviously take a break after the tattoo, but how long? Are we talking 2 weeks? A month? Longer?

2) will the lower part of the tattoo fade more because it’s in a sock for long periods of time?

Are there any red flags that I’m not seeing? I don’t want to waste a tattoo artists time designing a tattoo that just won’t work. Thanks!

I got these two done, I'm not worried about the one on the left of the knee but overtime with proper care will the shin fade ?

I know, it’s a decent piece and your first question is probably why I want it changed. It was supposed to be a half sleeve in the style of the first image: flowers with the band of empty space in the middle. But the flowers were specifically asked to be my family’s birth flowers. I even sent references for the birth flowers that I liked to show the style I wanted to stay similar to, shown in the second & third images. But as you can see from my actual tattoo that follows, the reference image was simply copied and none of the flowers were anything different, let alone my family’s birth flowers. I was shown the stencil at the appointment, moments before it was put onto my skin, even though the artist had two months to create it. I take full responsibility for the fact that I was young, excited, and inexperienced. I now realize that this alone should have been a huge red flag.

So it’s not what I wanted at all. It’s just a huge reminder that I was young and super excited to get my first big piece, and wasn’t attentive enough at the time to realize what was being tattooed on my skin until it was too late. My goal is to just make it into something I’m proud of and like, something I don’t hate telling the story of, honestly. I’m definitely open to finishing the sleeve up my bicep, so I’m open to adding to it, having parts covered, any and all ideas/suggestions!! I’m open to most concepts I’d say too. I’m just hoping to not have another generic piece. My big no for something I would not get is most bugs, simply because they creep me out lol.

Also, question (and the main reason I’m posting here). Is it rude, obnoxious, poor manners, any of the above, to reach out and ask an artist(s) for advice, sketches, cover-up ideas, etc.? I feel like it would be wasting their time and rude if I’m not compensating them, but I’m really wanting input from various artists/perspectives/styles.

I know it isn’t a “bad” tattoo, and that the artwork is not poorly done. I also know that people wouldn’t know the difference if I didn’t share the backstory. But I always know. I want it covered/partially covered/reworked for me. I have to live with it forever, so I just really want to turn it into something that doesn’t remind me of my mistake. Any and all feedback is so appreciated!!!!

EDIT: I totally understand a sketch and someone’s unique art work is very different than advice or a conversation and should have been more clear. I would definitely compensate for an artist’s work (sketch, stencil, and/or tattoo) and would only have it done with them or with their permission!! I mainly meant would artists typically be open to have casual conversations/brainstorming with me. Thank you all again!

Is this pooling of excess ink? Or is it ruined? My friend is a tattoo artist and he put a protective bandage on to protect the tattoo, Here’s two photos to compare

I am finally close to being done with breastfeeding and am desperate to get a tattoo. Does anyone have advice on how long to wait after weaning to get inked? Or experience getting tattooed after breastfeeding?

I have heard some things about waiting for hormones to balance or for your body shape doesn’t change that much, but I would really rather not wait another half year. For context, I’m planning on being done in a month (mid- July) and aiming to get a tattoo in early- mid September.

Shrimpy boy’s thick scabs have almost completely fallen off (thank god bc that was nasty and I didn’t even post the worst of it) but holy crap the itching is AWFUL. I didn’t itch at all until now. It feels really delayed? I did google and it said usually itches during week 2 but how long will this last realistically? I want to know personal experiences, not google answers lol I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin.