What Everybody Ought to Know Before Getting Your First Tattoo

You want a tattoo. You really want a tattoo. You've been wanting one since the eighth grade when the class bully showed up with a skull and crossbones across his arm. You never did figure out how he got it, but he was a little more hip in your eyes ever since that day. Your mother is pleading with you to not do it but you're dead set on getting this thing and you want it done now. Well hold on there for one minute, you've waited eighteen years surely you can wait five more minutes. There are some very specific things you need to know before getting your first tattoo. So before you run out the door and straight to the nearest tattoo parlor take that five minutes and read this. You'll thank me in the long run.

What's the most important thing when you are considering getting a tattoo? Most people would say cleanliness and hygiene and while those are definitely important you actually need to get to that step before its an issue. You are going to need some artwork first. Now this is so important, especially when you are getting your first tattoo. One, the design is going to be on you for a very long time. When I say very long time I mean the rest of your life, choose it carefully. I'm still sporting faded stars due to a bad decision in a Kentucky tattoo parlor when I was nineteen. Pick something you can live with. Number two, you've never had a tattoo before, you have no idea what it feels like. Unless you have a very high pain tolerance I would not pick anything extremely elaborate. Start small and build up. Remember this is just cautionary and you have every right to ignore everything I say. But please don't come crying to me when you have a Playboy bunny on your shoulder and no matter how hard you try it just doesn't match your wedding dress, get the picture? Use good judgment, I assure you, you know what that is.