Growing up in the nineties, I saw the rise of tattoos and body piercing and thought they were so interesting, something that me, being an individual HAD to have. But something my very conservative old timer parents were NOT. Having two lobe piercings was enough for them. My father disliking body mods so much hated my second lobe piercing terribly. I wanted so many different mods throughout my teen years that I was forbid to have, eyebrow, industrial, lip etc. Living on Long Island there were definitely the skeevy New York City places that would mod an underager but I was way to scared to even take the chance with my parents.
At A Glance Author Lisa Contact Lisa@bme.anon When It just happened Studio Whatever Tattoo Location St Marks Place, NYC When I was sixteen, some of my friends from school started getting tattoos. That is when I really started to consider getting a tattoo. I would draw out so many designs I wanted and I thought about it a lot. I knew I did not want to get a tattoo underage because of the health risks and that a place that tattoos underage to begin with is pretty skeevy. I knew that when I turned eighteen that is when I wanted my tattoo. I had drawn out so many sketches since I was sixteen, and the ones that I always loved were of stars. I know, I know the star tattoos are SO cliché, but I loved the way they looked, especially after seeing some photos here on BME I knew that's what I wanted.
The few months before my tattoo I went through so many different ideas in my head each week I had a different idea of what they would look like and where they would go. A few weeks before my birthday I finally decided a place, my inner wrist. I think inner wrist tattoos look so great. Every wrist tattoo I have seen I loved. The only thing I was seriously worried about was the pain. I have heard it is one of the top three painful spots for a tattoo. Me being very skinny and having a very thin wrist did not help at all.
The week before I was set to go in for my tattoo I finally drew up the design. I drew three stars (just the outlines) cascading going from big to small down the lower right side of my inner wrist. I had been thinking about it almost every night, getting myself psyched up for it. I was not really worried about much but the pain. I did a lot of research; I looked up what I should look for in a parlor, what to expect and of course endless nights surfing BME. The night before I went out to party with some friends for my birthday. One of my tattooed friends that I was talking to told me the wrist is supposed to be pretty painful, even though she doesn't have her wrist tattooed she said I should be fine. Since she has a lot of other tattoos I took this to heart. I decided to go to Whatever Tattoo in NYC because I had once gone there with a friend who was getting pierced. I liked the clean atmosphere and reputation so I decided that was where I will get my tattoo.
The morning of my birthday I rounded up my two good friends and we hopped on the train to get into the city. I did not start getting nervous until we got off the subway and started walking up St. Marks Place. I almost had second thoughts especially about the so-called painful wrist placement. I went inside and told the artist what I wanted done. He made up the stencil and called me into the small tattoo room in the back. First off I was very pleased, the needle and other items used for the tattoo were individually sealed in a sterilized packets and everything was very clean. I put my arm up on the table as he prepped up, he put the stencil on and made sure that was the placement I wanted. This is when I got REALLY nervous. I held my friend's hand and then he started the first line. I'm not going to lie, it did hurt, but definitely not as much as I expected. For some reason because of the pain in the odd spot my hand shook a little when he was tattooing. Before I knew it he had already tattooed the first two stars and only the bigger one was left. There were a few lines that came closer to my vein that hurt more than the others were but before I could even focus on the pain he was finished! I couldn't believe it; I just got a tattoo. He put on some ointment and a bandage and gave me aftercare instructions, and then I was out the door. I was so pleased with the work, straight lines and the design was exactly what I wanted. I'm so happy with my new tattoo, don't believe the wrist myth because it really was not that bad. I couldn't be happier and I cannot wait to go back for my next tattoo.