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Anyone got one? Any recommendations for shops in the London area. ? Ive never felt the need to get one, just never appealed, but thinking of getting one now. Just for shits and giggles basically. Nothing profound. I turned 50 this year, and theres plenty of things I havent done in my life, but a tattoo seems tempting. I had a bald skip driver turn up yesterday and he had a whole tropical island on his head with palm trees and coconuts and a sunset. He seemed pretty happy in life too. Anyone regretted a tattoo.. ?
Tried the numbing cream for the first time last week as I'm getting my chest done at the moment and the previous two sessions were bloody miserable, by far the most painful tattoo I've had. When it works it works beautifully - I didn't even know the artist had started because I couldn't feel anything. How effective it is depends how good your coverage is and it's most effective on the parts that matter least (i.e. the bits of your body that are good at absorbing it and going numb are the same ones that feel fine getting tattooed anyway).
I'll probably give it a go again. Someone mentioned it wearing off - the way you fix that is that you apply it and immediately cover with cling film, then expose a section at a time when it's getting worked on. That stops it evaporating off and keeps the numbness lasting longer. You get about an hour out of it anyway, so for smaller pieces you won't need more time.
To address the original question, for London shops I went here a couple of years ago and had a good experience: https://www.redpointtattoo.com
Rates were pretty high compared to what I'm used to but the work was very good. There's a lot of different artists working out of there plus guests, so worth checking that who's available will do what you want.
Would also add a recommendation for the Second Skin type products for healing. I've been getting tattooed for nearly 20 years now and using that has made things massively better and easier.
IF I get a tattoo, theres no way im getting numbing cream. If im gonna do it, I want the whole experience, pain and all. :)
When I was working at a very large US software company, there was a sales director with whom I used to play football. He was a great salesman, very slick and professional, a tough competitor on the pitch, and a good laugh to boot.
We were getting changed before football one day when he turned his back to me and took off his shirt. Man alive, the tattoo on his back! Almost the whole of his back was covered with a black tattoo of a dominatrix! Wow!
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
Growing up with punk and metal culture, I always thought I'd get one. I had an idea for one maybe 30 years ago and just needed to get someone to design it. One thing I was always going to do was live with the design for six months before getting it tattooed. Make sure I didn't get bored of it.
Anyway, it never happened and it's just as well. 99% of tattoos are shit.
Thing is I've watched every episode of Ink Masters and watched all the London/Miami Ink programmes back in the day. I love the culture of tattoos and the technical application aspects. But in real life, almost everyone's tattoo is shit. Even the good ones.
What really annoys me are the younger women in my office over the years. They'll have something like an anchor on their forearm. So I'll be like 'what's that about' and it's like 'oh, it's for my grandad, he liked boats.'
Er... okay...
One of my best mates got his first tattoo back in the 90s in Croydon. I went with him. Despite my advice, he picked something out of a book. It was a tiger. Fking thing looked like it was done in felt tip. Also, the tiger appeared to have Downs Syndrome.
Anyway, inexplicably he went back and got an eagle done on the other arm. Almost as shit. Then he got the tiger added to. Still shit. And then, years later, he went back again but this time it was all new management and artists. He got a sleeve around the eagle. Pretty much freehand. That was actually decent work.
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
I haven’t got any tattoos,and I probably won’t ever get any.If I did succumb I think I’d get some lyrics from a song that means something to me. I think they are addictive to certain people who have some and then want more and more.I suspect some people who can least afford them spend too much money on getting them.Once the tattoo shops start going out of business we can say we’re in trouble in this country.
I'd say only get something that has real, long lasting meaning to you.
I became obsessed with the Yin Yang sign when I got into meditation and eventually got it on my back in my mid twenties after years of considering it. I love it.
Got it on a fleshy part just inside the shoulder blade. No pain at all and it's a nice private spot.
IF I get a tattoo, theres no way im getting numbing cream. If im gonna do it, I want the whole experience, pain and all. :)
If you're getting something on your forearm or shoulder you'll be fine. 18 years in when I've started moving on to rougher bits of the body, I'll take all the help I can get!
Not for me but if other people like them it’s their choice . Everybody especially young people have them and they seem be very popular with the fairer sex. I did say to my daughter the other day though that if she didn’t get one she would stand out from the crowd as an individual as everyone else seems to have one . The tattoo industry should be eternally grateful to Minnie Mouse soundalike David Beckham . He’s made it take off in the last few years.,
Lady on the park & ride bus the other day, obviously suffering from severe alopecia, had some very artful & colourful floral designs tattooed on her head. I can see exactly why she did it - to compensate for, and to draw attention away from, her hair loss. I could only feel sympathy in her case.
Regarding an earlier post, I would think very hard about getting the motorbike if you’ve not ridden for several years. Even the simple spills which you laughed off as a youngster and which left you with a few bruises can cause major medical complications as you age due to more brittle bones and thinner skin. In the countryside around where I live there barely seems to be a weekend goes by without an older rider getting killed. Much as I like bikes, and often as I am tempted to go in for a classic silver Honda CB250 SuperDream like I had in the 1980s when I see one come up for sale, I know I won’t do it because you just can’t fight the accident statistics.
Tried the numbing cream for the first time last week as I'm getting my chest done at the moment and the previous two sessions were bloody miserable, by far the most painful tattoo I've had. When it works it works beautifully - I didn't even know the artist had started because I couldn't feel anything. How effective it is depends how good your coverage is and it's most effective on the parts that matter least (i.e. the bits of your body that are good at absorbing it and going numb are the same ones that feel fine getting tattooed anyway).
I'll probably give it a go again. Someone mentioned it wearing off - the way you fix that is that you apply it and immediately cover with cling film, then expose a section at a time when it's getting worked on. That stops it evaporating off and keeps the numbness lasting longer. You get about an hour out of it anyway, so for smaller pieces you won't need more time.
To address the original question, for London shops I went here a couple of years ago and had a good experience: https://www.redpointtattoo.com
Rates were pretty high compared to what I'm used to but the work was very good. There's a lot of different artists working out of there plus guests, so worth checking that who's available will do what you want.
Would also add a recommendation for the Second Skin type products for healing. I've been getting tattooed for nearly 20 years now and using that has made things massively better and easier.
Having had laser the actual tattoo is like being brushed with a sponge! My last tattoo was an 8 hour session with an hours break in the middle, the worst part was the first 15 minutes after the break. Once they have been going for a bit the arm tends to numb up if its own accord.
I went through a phase of thinking a spiders web on my elbow might have looked cool, but it probably wouldn't and I doubt I'd have handled the pain too well.
Speaking of pain, a very long time ago I worked in the Priory, and we had a household name come in for a bit of an issue. I won't get into it obviously.
Anyway he had the idea while he was in there to put a nice scrolley design across the rear of his shoulders. I was sent with him to the tattoo parlour and the first half went just about ok, but he couldn't handle the pain to get the other side done.
I even went out and got Chinese food to see if that would help (the tattoo artist's idea not mine). He still couldn't handle it and we ended up having to leave with only half of it finished.
A couple of years ago I did a bit of a Google to see if he'd ever got it finished (nothing pervy obviously) and could not find a single image of the poor man's back - which leads me to conclude that he's still walking around with half a tattoo on himself.
I went through a phase of thinking a spiders web on my elbow might have looked cool, but it probably wouldn't and I doubt I'd have handled the pain too well.
Speaking of pain, a very long time ago I worked in the Priory, and we had a household name come in for a bit of an issue. I won't get into it obviously.
Anyway he had the idea while he was in there to put a nice scrolley design across the rear of his shoulders. I was sent with him to the tattoo parlour and the first half went just about ok, but he couldn't handle the pain to get the other side done.
I even went out and got Chinese food to see if that would help (the tattoo artist's idea not mine). He still couldn't handle it and we ended up having to leave with only half of it finished.
A couple of years ago I did a bit of a Google to see if he'd ever got it finished (nothing pervy obviously) and could not find a single image of the poor man's back - which leads me to conclude that he's still walking around with half a tattoo on himself.
A bloke I used to work with had a virtually full size tattoo of Denis Wise on his back,and he even got him to sign it and got it added in ink.He never had any tattoos until he was about 35 and then couldn’t stop.He died from a heart attack in his very early 40’s.
The wrestler Cody Rhodes has one of the worst tattoos I've ever seen (it's his logo, his father Dusty Rhodes was the American Dream, so he's the American Nightmare). He's done interviews where he's said it was way bigger than he thought it would be and he should have done better prep beforehand. But the still from a documentary that was being shot about him when he sees it for the first time is so good
I've got a few, including some punk stuff and qpr tats on my arm, shoulder and inner lip. Had one done from an lp cover, a skull in a union jack. It was from an anarcho-punk compilation, it was supposed to be in black and white, but I was talking to mates, looked down and the tattooist had coloured in. Anyway, a few years later and C18 were apparently using a similar design as their logo, which led to some jolly japes. Still gets the occasional funny look in London- it's just viewed as a design over here - and my wife would like me to get rid, but I'm too pig headed.
A bloke I used to work with had a virtually full size tattoo of Denis Wise on his back,and he even got him to sign it and got it added in ink.He never had any tattoos until he was about 35 and then couldn’t stop.He died from a heart attack in his very early 40’s.
Thanks, that's useful info. Given the risk, I'm deffo not getting a tat of Dennis Wise now.
Back in the mid-90s, I decided to get a tattoo of the QPR badge on my arm. Someone recommended a new tattoo and piercing place just off Glenthorne Road in Hammersmith so I wandered down there. When I told them it was a football tattoo, they reacted as if I'd just curled out a massive turd on the counter. That always struck me as a bit strange given some of the other stuff they would have been willing to do.
"How can we help you today, sir? You'd like us to pierce your nutsack with a metal stud, yes sir, certainly sir, step right this way."
"What's that you say? A tattoo on your arm with the crest of a local football team?!? GET OUT & NEVER DARKEN MY DOORWAY AGAIN!!"
Anyway, someone else recommended a place over in Hillingdon so I got the 207 bus out there. When I told them I wanted a QPR badge, they had a whole booklet showing various different versions. I got the current badge at that time (picture 3 shown below) but I didn't know how much it was going to hurt so I just got the letters from the middle, not the round bit on the outside.
I've never regretted it for a second, I only wish I'd got it done bigger and got the full badge.
I've also got a big lobster on the top of my other shoulder, no particular reason, I just think lobsters are cool.
Been wanting to get more tattoos ever since, loads of music-related ones that I've thought of getting. But what if I get a tattoo of one of my favourite singers or album covers & then in a few years it comes out that the person was a massive wrong'un?!? There must be people out there with a tattoo of Gary Glitter or Lostprophets or Noel Edmonds.
I'll probably get Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of London Calling one day. But I might wait until he dies, just to be sure nothing awful comes out about him.
Back in the mid-90s, I decided to get a tattoo of the QPR badge on my arm. Someone recommended a new tattoo and piercing place just off Glenthorne Road in Hammersmith so I wandered down there. When I told them it was a football tattoo, they reacted as if I'd just curled out a massive turd on the counter. That always struck me as a bit strange given some of the other stuff they would have been willing to do.
"How can we help you today, sir? You'd like us to pierce your nutsack with a metal stud, yes sir, certainly sir, step right this way."
"What's that you say? A tattoo on your arm with the crest of a local football team?!? GET OUT & NEVER DARKEN MY DOORWAY AGAIN!!"
Anyway, someone else recommended a place over in Hillingdon so I got the 207 bus out there. When I told them I wanted a QPR badge, they had a whole booklet showing various different versions. I got the current badge at that time (picture 3 shown below) but I didn't know how much it was going to hurt so I just got the letters from the middle, not the round bit on the outside.
I've never regretted it for a second, I only wish I'd got it done bigger and got the full badge.
I've also got a big lobster on the top of my other shoulder, no particular reason, I just think lobsters are cool.
Been wanting to get more tattoos ever since, loads of music-related ones that I've thought of getting. But what if I get a tattoo of one of my favourite singers or album covers & then in a few years it comes out that the person was a massive wrong'un?!? There must be people out there with a tattoo of Gary Glitter or Lostprophets or Noel Edmonds.
I'll probably get Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of London Calling one day. But I might wait until he dies, just to be sure nothing awful comes out about him.
"I've also got a big lobster on the top of my other shoulder, no particular reason, I just think lobsters are cool."
Now thats what im talking about! :)
I dont want skulls or the devil or anything. Just something a bit random , just a bit of harmless fun. I was thinking 90s record labels. There were some really cool logos from the rave era plus 90s House.
Btw Hucker picture 3 is the best one i reckon. If i was gonna get a QPR tat it would be that one.
I've always wanted one, but the idea of permanence scares me (some I may have gotten in my younger years would've included lyrics from artists I now know to be paedos) and I'm not great with needles.
My wife has quite a few, all on her arms. I think they look hot
Having had laser the actual tattoo is like being brushed with a sponge! My last tattoo was an 8 hour session with an hours break in the middle, the worst part was the first 15 minutes after the break. Once they have been going for a bit the arm tends to numb up if its own accord.
I got Chat Gpt to design me a hand tattoo using my favourite things. QPR, Bob Dylan and British maritime (which is a very tattoo thing to get tattood).
It was a very interesting design but probably too detailed to make reality. Give it a go though if you're looking for a personal design.
I dont have any tattoos. I came close in 2009 on a trip to NYC but just didnt have the time. My dad told me only idiots get them and he's still around so not to disappoint him, I've so far refrained.
A bloke I used to work with had a virtually full size tattoo of Denis Wise on his back,and he even got him to sign it and got it added in ink.He never had any tattoos until he was about 35 and then couldn’t stop.He died from a heart attack in his very early 40’s.
Someone my mate knows has a tattoo of Muhammad Ali standing triumphant over a floored opponent which covers virtually his entire back .
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
"I've also got a big lobster on the top of my other shoulder, no particular reason, I just think lobsters are cool."
Now thats what im talking about! :)
I dont want skulls or the devil or anything. Just something a bit random , just a bit of harmless fun. I was thinking 90s record labels. There were some really cool logos from the rave era plus 90s House.
Btw Hucker picture 3 is the best one i reckon. If i was gonna get a QPR tat it would be that one.
Back in the mid-90s, I decided to get a tattoo of the QPR badge on my arm. Someone recommended a new tattoo and piercing place just off Glenthorne Road in Hammersmith so I wandered down there. When I told them it was a football tattoo, they reacted as if I'd just curled out a massive turd on the counter. That always struck me as a bit strange given some of the other stuff they would have been willing to do.
"How can we help you today, sir? You'd like us to pierce your nutsack with a metal stud, yes sir, certainly sir, step right this way."
"What's that you say? A tattoo on your arm with the crest of a local football team?!? GET OUT & NEVER DARKEN MY DOORWAY AGAIN!!"
Anyway, someone else recommended a place over in Hillingdon so I got the 207 bus out there. When I told them I wanted a QPR badge, they had a whole booklet showing various different versions. I got the current badge at that time (picture 3 shown below) but I didn't know how much it was going to hurt so I just got the letters from the middle, not the round bit on the outside.
I've never regretted it for a second, I only wish I'd got it done bigger and got the full badge.
I've also got a big lobster on the top of my other shoulder, no particular reason, I just think lobsters are cool.
Been wanting to get more tattoos ever since, loads of music-related ones that I've thought of getting. But what if I get a tattoo of one of my favourite singers or album covers & then in a few years it comes out that the person was a massive wrong'un?!? There must be people out there with a tattoo of Gary Glitter or Lostprophets or Noel Edmonds.
I'll probably get Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the cover of London Calling one day. But I might wait until he dies, just to be sure nothing awful comes out about him.
Almost the whole of his back was covered with a black tattoo of a dominatrix! Wow! 
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