this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
12 points (100.0% liked)

Comradeship // Freechat

2173 readers
72 users here now

Talk about whatever, respecting the rules established by Lemmygrad. Failing to comply with the rules will grant you a few warnings, insisting on breaking them will grant you a beautiful shiny banwall.

A community for comrades to chat and talk about whatever doesn't fit other communities

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
12
Thoughts on temporary tattoos? (lemmygrad.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm planning to get one for a few weeks on my arm, so if anyone had it, how was the experience and did it hurt during the process of getting one?

I don't know anyone who had tattoos in general so I had to ask. I want it to look really nice and have it for a week or so.

top 18 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The peel and stick or water apply type ones last a couple week, they don't hurt because you're basically applying a sticker to your skin. It's a decal. We put them on kids. Totally safe.

Henna or "black henna" is basically just paint applied to the skin. It's not FDA approved and coloured hennas have adulterants added that can cause pretty serious allergic reactions.

Those longer term ones that market themselves as lasting multiple months or longer are done with "shallow needles" or by cutting into the skin often use toxic dyes and can absolutely be permanent. Lots of people find that the tattoos don't go away, and just become an extra shitty looking permanent tattoo. "Ephemeral" tattoos and the like are a total grift.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

in some sense aren't all tattoos temporary?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is anything truly temporary? Matter cannot be created or destroyed, so in a way everything always was and always will be

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Matter still decays over time and will at one point cease to exist. Newton's second law is not a steadfast physical rule, it is an assumption made under classical mechanics to simply streamline physics, as the amount of matter that disintegrates, is annihilated, or decays over a "small" period of time in a given system is so small, that is makes little sense to take it into account.

However, it is still decaying, and at one point all matter will have decayed away or be annihilated.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fuck, that's depressing

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

something will find a way to grow with what is left, the cycle is never incomplete

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not really, insofar as temporariness is counterposed to permanence. This view comes from a misunderstanding of the concept of permanence: what is permanent is not necessarily eternal. Permanent is more like enduring, in the sense of lasting indefinitely, until further notice, or until longer than one could reasonably be expected to need it.

When we compare a tent to permanent housing, for example, we are not comparing it either to a structure which will stand for thousands of years or a home from which the occupant will not be allowed to move away for their lifetime.

Same thing with 'permanent' vs. 'dry erase' markers and so on. Tattoos are only temporary in the completely trivial sense that everything is.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Comrade, you've gone full philosophical on us.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Please forgive me! I've had this illness my entire life

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

No need for forgiveness comrade, philosophy sets the mind free, like socialism and communism set the workingclass free.

(Yes I know that socialism and communism entails a lot of philosophy and isn't only purely economical)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Henna is generally safe (it's just paint on your skin) but black henna -- or any other color -- can be dangerous due to allergic reactions.

Tattoo ink contains metal which is why your body doesn't break it down, it can't attack metal. Normally tattoo artists use safe inks but it still pays to know yourself before you go get one. For example my tattoo sometimes swells just a little (only noticeable if I run my hand over it) and it might be an allergic reaction, or bc of humidity or heat idk. It's not very problematic but it still pays to know how your body is going to react to your tattoo.

I got one on my shoulder (deltoid) and I honestly didn't feel anything during the process, which lasted 2 hours. Just felt like I was scratching an itch. But other places can hurt more.

Don't drink alcohol before or take anything as it can actually make it hurt more. But your artist will have dealt with first time clients before, they'll help you get through it if you tell them it's your first.

Also for a "real" tattoo you shouldn't expose it to the sun for a full year once you get it and rub vaseline on it for the first 3-7 days I think it was. Keep it moist and protected at all times for that period.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Tattoo ink can absolutely trigger your body's immune response and cause severe reactions. This can happen out of the blue as well, as your immune system could detect the "foreign invader" at any time, and trigger a multitude of responses to try and destroy the threat.

Its very common for people to get a regular sickness, and because their immune system was in an elevated state, it all of a sudden detects the tattoo and attempts to destroy it by causing severe inflammation and other immune responses.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yep, all the black ink on my nearly-complete traditional sleeve (so.... lots) had a spontaneous granulomatous reaction this year. They were all at least a few years old.

It's currently healing thanks to a topical steroid, but I have yet to see if it stays away for any significant length of time. I can't even have them removed (not that I want to), lest the ink enters my bloodstream and lodges in some gland somewhere. Black ink reactions are super rare; my derm had never seen one in person.

My artist even uses one of the few approved-in-the-EU inks, go figure.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If it's a hammer and sickle tattoo, it's not the ink, it's the spectre trying to break through into this world. Maybe that's what you can feel sometimes? If it can't find a way in, it'll come through your fingertips. Do you find that it subsides a little when you're typing for prolewiki?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

So I'm just gonna have to cut short on wine before I get it.

Thanks for the tips, I was worried that it might hurt.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I want it to look really nice

My advice would be to solve this first. Find a tattoo artist whose work you like and get in contact. The consultation part of the process is free where I am, and I'm pretty sure that's the case the world over. You can discuss the design of your possible tattoo and the different kinds of temporary tattoo you can get; they'll answer all ofyour questions so that you're completely clear on what will happen if you go through with it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Better than perm ones