Testimonial - Peter & tattoos

Peter is a 30 year old young man who works in logistics. He speaks with us here about his tattoos and how he takes care of them.

Hello, Peter. Can you tell us the circumstances of your first tattoo?

I got my first tattoo when I was 18. Now, I have 4 tattoos. I got tattoos because I wanted to be different from other people and to keep on my body some things that are important to me.

How do you choose your tattoos?

It is all about things that are important to me. For example, one of my tattoos represents the name of my graph’s group. Another is the number “4” because I was born on January, the 4th. And one of my favorite tattoos is the one that I have on my shoulder. It’s a friend of mine who designed it. His drawing was then published in a magazine. Now, I want to have a new one. And I have a lot of ideas!

How do you choose your tattooers?

For my first tattoos, the tattooer was a close friend who wanted to become a tattooer but who did not make it, unfortunately. But, now that I want to get a new one, I am actively looking for a new tattooer. I research on the Internet, ask my friends and also search on Facebook. Many tattooers have their own pages on Facebook where you can really see their style. For me, it is not a problem to travel abroad to get a tattoo. For instance, I am hesitating between a tattooer in Dijon and another one in the Netherlands. I look at the tattooer’s style and their waiting lists… Because I don’t really want to wait for 3 years to get a tattoo! Now I am also very careful about the hygiene. I do not want to take any risk. I will not go to a tattooer who does not clean his tools, or who does not wear gloves.

Have you already experienced complications after getting a tattoo?

Yes, for the one I have on my forearm. I hurt my forearm just after getting the tattoo. Unfortunately, I did not take care of the wound. It took forever for my skin to heal, and because of this, the design of my tattoo changed.

Do you have any advice to give to people who want to get their first tattoo?

It is necessary to treat it just like you would treat a sunburn. You need to moisturise your skin. You can put for instance a moisturising skin care product such as Skintifique Hydrating Gel. After a new tattoo, your skin needs moisturising several times a day. With good moisturising, you will not suffer from tingling or itching. During the first year, you also need to pay attention to the sun. It is something that I did not do and I regret it a lot. My skin did not heal very well and now I feel much more the sunburns. A tattoo is something that we keep all our life. Thus, it is necessary to take care of it from the very beginning. It’s a pity to damage a tattoo. Indeed, it is a lack of respect to the tattooer and to yourself.

Does it ache? Is it really very difficult?

Yes, it aches. And at the beginning, for the pain is barely bearable. Then, you feel as if your skin got burnt. For example, the one that I have on my arm ached quite badly during 2 days. It was then unpleasant during 2-3 weeks but also because I did not take care of it.

During the procedure, the most impressive thing for me is the noise. The machine makes quite a lot of noise.

Is there a part of your body where you don’t want to get a tattoo?

I am not particularly keen on tattoos on the head or the face and also on the hands and neck. According to my experience, it is very difficult to get a job with visible tattoos nowadays. Thus I am going to keep my tattoos under my clothes!

Do you plan to stop one day?

No, I want my body to be like a comics book! I am going to get more and more until I have no more space on my body! It’s going to take a while I think!

Thanks a lot Peter for sharing this!