Pretty boy

Today I got my chest tattoo finished.  I was in the chair for five and a half hours, and by the end the pain was *brutal*.  The first four hours weren't bad really, the pain was real, but I was able to chat and think and everything was fine.  In that last hour there was little space in my brain for anything but coping with the pain and I was clenching the chair with one hand with all my might, twitching like crazy, and breathing hard.

It was worth it.

So pretty!

The artist did a superb job and the final product is very much what I had envisioned. 

I also learned some interesting things about where I can easily get tattooes.  Stomach isn't so bad, pecs are easy, the centre of my chest right on the sternum is rough, and the sternum right below my throat is BAD.  It felt like my whole chest was shaking and I was being choked at the same time.  Thankfully there wasn't much work up there, but wow it was not good while it was happening.

And now that I have mapped my pain reactions for my chest, I will never need to use that knowledge again.  Hurrah for learning!

I have some things to consider now.  My chest did not like being shaved and it broke out in acne substantially.  How much to blame the shaving and how much to blame the moisturizing for the tattoo... hard to say.  But some people have expressed a liking for the shaved chest look, and it definitely will show off the new tattoo to good effect, but if it means having to deal with terrible skin on my chest forever I definitely won't shave again.  I suppose I will have to wait until the entire thing is healed properly and then test and see what I want to do in that regard.

I still don't know why a flaming tree is the thing, but man, it sure is the thing.