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Yay! I'm back!
After a 2-year long hiatus from blogging, I apologize to my loyal readers and followers. But now, I am back!
I haven't written anything since I gave birth to my second baby, and it has been a really tough journey for me. But let's save that story for another post.
So, what could be better than posting about my first tattoo experience for a coming back post right? Well, I myself think it's quite interesting so I hope you would to!
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| Getting inked by Jajan Amosco at Whiplash Tattoo in BF Paranaque. Photo by Tracy Quintos. |
Just a little background story on my obsession about getting a tattoo. I have been wanting to get one since I was in high school. YES. High School.
But getting one at that young age, would be foolish, and not to mention, expensive for me who only had an allowance of PhP 50/day. As a teen you tend to make rash, impulsive decisions (think Claudine Barretto getting a Mark Anthony tattoo), so I decided to wait. Yup! My impatient younger-self decided to wait.
When I was in my senior year of HS, I became obsessed with butterflies, and I wanted to get one tattooed. But then again, what if I don't like butterflies anymore when I get older? Ok. So I waited again.
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| Photo courtesy of Google Images |
Then in college, I was in a serious relationship. When he got a HUGE tattoo across his back, I wanted to get one too. Sort of like a matchy-matchy sort of deal. Even though he advised against it, I really really wanted one. But his tattoo did not mean anything to me at that time, so why get one? I definitely was NOT getting his name etched on my skin forever. The idea of tattooing a boyfriend's name or a crush just did not sit well with me. So again, I decided to wait.
Fast forward to about 16 years later, I since got married and had 2 children, and the desire to get a tattoo was back with a vengeance. Then I thought, what better design than to tattoo the names of my kids? My best friends have the names of their kids tattooed and I just love it -and yes, just a teeny bit jealous!
So it took me about a couple of months of research on the perfect font, look, design. I wanted something minimalist. Something not IN YOUR FACE kind of deal because Raul (my husband) did not like tattoos. Not that he has anything against them though, it just was not his thing.
I saw this photo in Pinterest and I really loved how everything was minimal, and yet very artistic. It took me a while to find the font that I really loved and finally came up with one that I thought I liked.
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| Photo credit to owner on Pinterest |
I designed this infinity tattoo on Photoshop and looked at it every night for like a week. And during this time, I was doing my research on the right tattoo artist to pull of the requirements I wanted in my tattoo.
After a week though, I decided that the infinity tattoo was something I would get tired of after a while. So then I came up with something more minimalist. I designed 2 tattoos:
I decided to go with the latter and did my research. If I wanted it to come out this way, I had to have it done with a single needle tattoo... But after talking to several tattoo artists online (joining a couple of tattoo forums), they told me that a five-needle would make this look nicer and would last longer.
The next was finding the right tattoo place. I got in touch with a total of 8 tattoo places and 3 artists directly, and spoke to several friends who have tattoos, and most of them recommended Whiplash Tattoo in BF Homes.
I got in touch with them by sending a Facebook Message, and email, and a text message, because I was that annoying and just overly excited. They replied right away and I love the fact that they engage with their clients and they answer a lot of my questions, even the really stupid ones. It was a match made in heaven.
When my appointment was set, I had about 4 days to search for more designs and really think about which one I really really wanted. And it always came back to that minimalist design. So this was it!
I went with my friend Tracy. Her being sort-of an expert on tattoos having 11 of them herself, she indulged me and went with me to boost my morale while having my first tattoo.
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| Photo credit: Anton Aguila |
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| Photo credit: Anton Aguila |
I got to Whiplash at 15 minutes to 5PM. If you guys are thinking about going to Whiplash, they advise you to come 15 minutes before your appointment because they can get pretty full. I was informed that Jajan Amosco would be the artist to be working on me. I had that 80% excited and %20 scared feeling. Or could be in reverse?
They first did a carbon thing of my design, and discussed with me the size of the tattoo. I really wanted it to look like this:
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| Photo credit to owner on Pinterest |
But having the tattoo at this size (which is a lot smaller than with what I ended up with) will make the tattoo unreadable in time. They have to give a little allowance on spacing for a little bit of ink bleeding, so an inch in height would be advisable.
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| Photo by Tracy Quintos. |
To be honest, I was quite intimidated with the size of the tattoo, knowing full well that Raul did not like them, but in my heart, I was really happy, so, I went with it. We only live once right?
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| Photo by Tracy Quintos |
Having gone through 2 cesarean surgeries giving birth to my kids, I wouldn't say that getting a tattoo was nothing compared to it. But it was still quite painful. Specially when the artist needs to go back and fourth a certain line to get it right.
Don't mind my face though, it's not as bad as it looks.
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| Photo by Tracy Quintos |
Half-way done!
By this time, I can already feel the sting. It kind of feels like scratching yourself with a fine pointed object over and over again. Mine wasn't too bad though since my artist took only about 10 minutes. He's amazing.
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| Photo by Tracy Quintos |
They wrap the area with seran wrap to protect it for a couple of hours. I wasn't able to take a photo of that though because to be honest, I was kind of dazed with the whole experience because I can't believe I finally got one!
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| Photo by Tracy Quintos |
My friend advised me to be careful of my new ink while I slept so that I wouldn't scratch or damage it in my sleep. And with that, I slept on my Lazy Boy.
In my experience, I'm really glad I waited. I am very happy with my tattoo, and I am very happy with my tattoo shop of choice. People there are not pushy, and they really tell you what looks good.
I had planned on getting another one but I could only handle one at a time. I wanted to see how I healed first before getting another one.
Next would be, do your research. There are a lot of talented tattoo artists out there and you should find one that suites you and your design best. Each tattoo artist have their own specialties in terms of work, so do your research and get in touch with them. They will talk you through the whole process.
Lastly, ask friends who have tattoos. This definitely helped me a lot when it came to choosing the design I really wanted and the artist that I was comfortable with. So ask, ask, and ask!
If you are anything like me who is a major hypochondriac, I got paranoid when I got home because I did not ask my artist if they used disposable needles. I did not see him open a new one too so I kind of obsessed about that. But Tracy put my mind at ease, and so did Whiplash. I got in touch with Whiplash and told them about my concern and they did confirm that they do use single use, disposable needles.
If you guys wish to know more about Whiplash Tattoo, CLICK HERE to go to their Facebook Page.
Do you have a tattoo or thinking about getting one?
Tell me about it! I would love to hear about
your journey!
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