This article was co-authored by Michelle Myles and by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Michelle Myles is the Co-owner of Daredevil Tattoo, a tattoo shop located based in New York City's Lower East Side. Michelle has more than 20 years of tattooing experience. She also operates the Daredevil Tattoo Museum, co-owner Brad Fink's personal collection of antique tattoo memorabilia that he has amassed over the last 27 years of tattooing.
There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
Not all tattoos are created equal when it comes to pain—some parts of your body are much less sensitive than others, and different parts of the body have distinct numbers of nerve endings. On top of that, the areas close to bones or vital organs also tend to be more painful than others. To help explain, we spoke with veteran tattoo artists Michelle Myles and María Fernández González to get the lowdown on the most and least painful locations for tattoos, what you can do to cope with the pain, and how you can prepare ahead of your first tattoo to make this process as painless as possible.
Where is the least painful place to get a tattoo?
- Forearms
- Upper arms
- Shoulders
- Outer thighs
- Upper back
- Calves
- Buttocks
Steps
Expert Q&A
Video
Tips
-
There are numbing creams you can apply to your skin before getting tattooed to minimize the pain, but they come with risks. The effects aren’t nearly long enough to last for a longer tattoo, for one. The bigger deal is that they often make the skin too soft for the ink to take correctly.[11] If you are interested in numbing cream, talk to your artist first before using them.Thanks
-
Tattoo removal is known to hurt a lot more than tattooing, but the difference isn’t nearly as wild as most people expect when they get ink removed.[12]Thanks
References
- ↑ https://healthnews.com/beauty/skin-care/tattoo-pain-chart/
- ↑ https://www.hippocraticpost.com/aesthetic/expert-reveals-the-most-painful-places-to-be-tattooed/
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7767267/
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9345212/
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7767267/
- ↑ https://theconversation.com/do-men-have-a-higher-threshold-for-pain-or-are-they-just-a-bit-emotionally-repressed-25681
- ↑ https://www.thelist.com/716418/heres-what-you-should-know-about-overworked-tattoos/
- ↑ https://www.ktrewtattoo.com/post/8-frequently-asked-questions-about-stick-and-poke-tattoos
- ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7767267/