If you are thinking about getting your first tattoo, here are a few things to think about:

1.      What body part? Make sure it is one that is able to be covered—as much as we don’t like it, tattoos will never be completely accepted as works of art (unless you can frame it and hang it on a wall), so you don’t want to interfere with your future job, spouse, political position… you know, that kinda stuff.

2.      What design? Try to choose a design that will fit your body. Your tattoo artist should be able to assist you with this—You don’t want a long skinny tattoo on a nice round body part. Same goes for nice beefy round tattoo on thin, straight body parts.

3.      Which artist? Check out lots of artist before you settle on one. Look at their photo albums. Make sure the artist doing your work is the one that has done the photos you are looking at. There are only 2 reasons for a tattoo artist not have a photo album—either their work is not great stuff to look at, or they are not proud of the work they do. If you are not comfortable with an artist, or if you get the feeling they don’t want to do the work, they may not be the artist for you—keep looking. You will know you have the right one when you find them!

4.      How much money will this cost? Don’t settle for a tattoo that is not exactly what you want because you are working on a budget. If you have to wait to save the money for the perfect tattoo, it will be worth it in the end. Also, most tattoo artist can work with your budget. If you can’t get it all at once, you might be able to get the outline in one session and the shading and/or coloring at another session. Every tattoo artist works at a different pace, but you can expect to pay $100.00-150.00 an hour for work. Trust me, some charge more and some charge less—look at their work, and choose THAT way. Don’t just go by how much they charge!

5.      How long before I can get a tattoo? Usually, you have to wait a bit to get an appointment with a reputable artist. Use that time to your advantage: Do a lot of research, pick the perfect design (or have an original designed for you—to me, there’s no other way to get a tattooed than with an original design), prepare yourself mentally, save up the money. Make it and event you’ll never forget.

6.      What sort of aftercare is involved? The tattoo artist is responsible for putting on a nice clean tattoo in a sterile environment. Your responsibility is to keep it clean after that. The first 48 hours are the most important: If you keep it clean and out of unsanitary conditions, it will take care of itself after that. The whole healing process takes 7-10 days. We suggest washing the new tattoo with fingertips and baby shampoo 3-4 times a day for the first 2 days. Each time it is washed, apply an antibacterial ointment (such as bacitracin). After the first 2 days, the washing only needs to occur once or twice a day, and the client can switch from ointment to hand lotion. ALL tattoos go through an ugly stage, so the thing to remember in the healing process is: DON’T PANIC! (Which is a pretty good philosophy of life, too!) Some tattoos scab, some get rashes from the ointment. Some stay dry and flakey. Always know you can talk to your tattoo artist about anything going on with it—they have seen it all, so they should know right away what is happening to your tattoo at any stage of the game

7.      How can I keep my tattoo from fading? The main reason that people’s tattoos fade is that they abuse their skin on a daily basis! The sun, tanning beds and time the biggest abusers of tattoos. If you take good care of the skin that your tattoo is in, the tattoo will always look crisp and keep its color. Tan it to death for even one season, and it can look 10 years old for the next swimsuit season. Multiply that by about 10 years of abuse, and you’ll have one of those old World War II tattoos in no time!