How To Tattoo

If you are considering getting a tattoo, it helps to first understand how the tattooing process works. After you understand how to tattoo, then you can make a more informed decision about whether or not you want to follow through with getting one.

A tattoo is best done by a professional using professional, sterilized equipment. Your best bet is to visit a few tattoo shops and see for yourself how clean the shop appears and witness the kind of work they do. Speak to some of the tattoo artists and ask them important questions such as how long have they been in business. Ask to see samples of the work they have done.

Another question of extreme importance, make sure you find out how the shop sterilizes its equipment. Make sure they use new, sterile needles every time, and be sure they autoclave all other types of equipment. This will ensure sterile instruments that eliminate the spread of diseases such as AIDS or other diseases spread by blood or bodily fluids.

As for how to tattoo, the process involves the use of metal needles to imprint ink below the first layer of skin, into the dermis area. By placing the ink in the dermis area, you will obtain a permanent marking. A sterile needle is used to get underneath the skin and deposit the ink.

The tattoo artist will first put on clean latex gloves and shave and clean the area to be tattooed with alcohol. Next, a special transfer paper outlining the tattoo is applied. The artist will then collect the appropriate inks to be used on your design and load them into his tattoo machine. A set of tubes assists in guiding the needle, holds the ink in a reservoir, and gives the artist a gripping surface. Movement of the needle is usually controlled by an electric foot pedal. The tattoo gun is an electromagnetic coil based piece of equipment that moves the needle up and down, sometimes as many as 80 to 150 times per second! This up and down, up and down process is what creates your design.

The next part of the 'how to tattoo' process involves outlining your design and changing needles to achieve different colors or thicker lines. Your skin will then be wiped clean of any blood and fluids, and the artist will apply petroleum jelly to the freshly tattooed site. For a period of about two or three months, some ink will remain in the epidermis area as well as the dermis. Over time, the pigment leaves the epidermis but remains in the dermis area underneath, permanently.

There are actually some kits available for at home tattoo application, but I would strongly caution anyone about using these at home kits. Serious risks and complications such as hitting important veins and severe infection can occur. The best advice is to stick to a professional with sterilized, sanitary conditions and equipment. It's far too risky and dangerous to attempt to do this yourself, and chances are, an inexperienced person could really make a mess of things, not only risking their health and safety, but also by creating a permanent mark on the body they will most likely regret later. The professionals know how to tattoo and they make their living by doing it.