I've been lucky enough to not have many clients use numbing products ahead of there tattoo session. I say lucky enough only because my experiences with clients numbing haven’t worked out so well. In the dozen or so times I’ve had clients decide to numb before hand, healing has been a slower progression, a couple of clients had skin reactions, and more than a handful of times the numbing stuff used made it hard for the skin to take in the ink. After all that being said you would likely think I’m against it, but even with these not so good experiences I’m still not completely opposed. I will still take on a client that numbs if this is what truly makes them comfortable or gives them the peace of mind they think is needed to handle the pain. There’s also a part of me that's curious and hopeful to have a client use a numbing product that ends up not affecting the heal time, causing them a reaction or prevents the saturation of ink into the skin. Finding the right product for most skin types, that delivers the numb the client is looking for with minimal disruption to any part of the tattoo process would be a good thing. The concept really is genius, but only without the drawbacks. Especially for those clients that long for a tattoo, but question there ability to handle the pain in full force. Enhancing a clients experience to minimize any discomfort can only be a good thing, but I have yet to come across the right stuff. Lastly, what should you do if you decide to use a numbing product before your session? And, what should you do if you ended up using a numbing product and looks like something may have went wrong?
First, definitely inform your tattoo artist of your intentions to use a numbing product. Its important to inform your artist upfront, some artist may have a preference that you do not numb, while other artists don't mind either way. If something appears to be going wrong after your appointment, reach out to your artist with your concerns. It may just be what you are experiencing during the aftercare process is common and completely unrelated to the numbing product at all. Your artist will know best what may be the issue and if they don’t they will refer you on to a doctor or dermatologist for specialty care. I can’t stress enough to not wait and ignore possible adverse reactions. The longer you wait, the worse off things may become, so trust your intuition if you feel like somethings not right.
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