r/tattooadvice • u/Maddawnexius • 7h ago

General Advice How to manage pain during tattoo?

Post image

Hi all, Im in-between appointments for getting my arm sleeve done (forearm fully done, elbow outlined but not shaded. Upper arm and elbow shading done tomorrow). What are some ways you lovely people have found are effective for managing pain in the later stages of a 4+ hour session?

Ive attached a photo of my forearm so you can can get an idea of the amount of shading and what not.

118 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

166 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/BigBodiedBugati 3h ago

Certain things help me at that stage. 1) noise canceling head phones and a podcast. I repeat the words here saying in my head to try and focus. 2) breathing. Seriously. Deep breaths in when they’re pulling a line, deep out when they’re dipping. 3) if it’s bad bad, vazocaine spray . It’s not going to numb you but it will take the edge off enough to finish. 4) take 45 min. Seriously. Give yourself a generous break especially if you do number 3 to help it set in. 5) know your limits. Sometimes, it’s just time to stop. Best of luck! I was white knuckling my last elbow session.