The Neon Magician Tattoo Studio

There are a few things you can do to ensure an easier time for both of us during (and after!) your appointment. Potential benefits to putting intention into prepping for your tattoo session include:

• Better healing
• Less pain
• Shorter tattoo session duration / quicker completion
• Fewer touch ups
• Less inflammation and swelling
• Better overall recovery in the days following

There are a lot of things I could recommend, but the main ones are all things we’re regularly prescribed for ‘better health’ in general:

For several days leading up to your appointment:

• Hydrate well
• Eat balanced, nutritious food
• Get plenty of rest, especially the night before!
• Try to avoid anything that causes much inflammation, like alcohol, refined sugars, smoking, and allergens
• Stay up on your meds, vitamins, etc.

In the hours leading up to your appointment:

• If you’re comfortable and familiar with shaving the area yourself, you may find yourself with fewer ingrown hairs or less irritation from shaving before your appointment. I have disposable razors, which get the job done as carefully as possible, but honestly, I’ve personally had a better time with my ‘nicer’ razor at home so I give my clients that option whenever it seems suitable.
• Pack headphones, a book, and / or a tablet or laptop that you can bring to entertain yourself with. I have wifi and areas to prop your stuff so you can enjoy it (for most positions, anyway).
• Pack some snacks that are high in protein! I keep some cheese and crackers, popsicles, etc. on hand usually for clients but you know what you like best.
• Eat a fabulous meal. Seriously, get lots of nutrition in, fiber and protein, all the things. Don’t be a ding dong like I was last time I got a big tattoo and assume you’ll do just fine with half a Jamba Juice smoothie, and then spend the next 8 hours in trembling agony because your body is in shock. No amount of Tootsie Pops or cheese sticks from my mini fridge are gonna fix that!
• Avoid really caffeinated things, stimulants, and cigarettes. I don’t want you getting a caffeine headache, so take care of that if your body’s pretty used to it, but try to avoid anything that’s gonna make it harder to relax.

Things I can help you with via the prep kit I offer, but that you can handle of yourself if you have the supplies:

• Exfoliate the area gently the morning of your booked session
• Use a gentle moisturizer with hyaluronic acid for a few days leading up to your appointment

Keep in mind that where you’re at hormonally can also influence your pain experience. Not that there’s much to do about that…

Things you can prepare for mentally that help:

• Knowing what kind of media is soothing and comforting. If you have comfort shows or music you like to listen to when you’re under the weather, keep it in mind!
• Breathing exercises can really help with both pain and relaxing for twitchier areas. Stress can also cause inflammation, so keeping your cool can literally aid your skin in staying chill. If you’re not familiar with relaxing breathing exercises but want to know more, hit up YouTube or ask me and I’ll share my limited knowledge on the subject. 🙂

This may seem like a lot of stuff, but most of it is pretty much just common sense — take care of yourself, eat / sleep / hydrate, and bring things you think will help keep your mind at ease (and off the tattoo, unless you find the pain meditative and you’re into that sort of thing).

And remember, if you need to reschedule you can do so through my website (you should have a link in your emails too), and if for whatever reason, you need to tap out during the tattoo, we can usually break it into smaller sessions! Just let me know if you think you’re gonna have an unusually hard time and I’ll strategize my progress on your tattoo in a way that will set us up for success (like getting the whole stencil laid in first versus working more in-depth from the bottom up, for example).

Is there anything I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments below!

With love,

Erin