Can You Drink Alcohol Before or After Getting a Tattoo?

Can You Drink Alcohol Before or After Getting a Tattoo?

Is it bad to drink the night before getting a tattoo? Or, is it OK to drink after getting a tattoo? Everyone sees the rules plastered on the walls of each tattoo shop with some variation of no alcohol allowed, no drunk clients, sober customers only, but what defines that, and why is it necessary? Believe it or not, more than legality goes into these rules. The amount of alcohol in your system actually affects the tattooing process! This article answers everything you need to know about how you can drink alcohol before or after getting a tattoo.

 

Drinking the Night Before a Tattoo

Drinking before getting a tattoo leaves a lingering effect that artists hate. First of all, legally speaking, artists never tattoo someone who looks the slightest bit impaired. Someone who received a  tattoo while drunk may press charges against the artist or their shop, since they never gave proper consent to the tattoo. It causes all sorts of problems in that regard, but also leads to a high amount of tattoo remorse. Artists try to avoid client dissatisfaction like the plague, and any time it happens, they feel down about it themselves. Lastly, drunk tattoo designs look horrible. We go into more depth in our complete tattoo guide.

So, let’s say you have everything planned ahead of time, and you set it up so that your tattoo looks perfect and your artist okays it. Well, why would the artist dislike your choice to consume alcohol before the appointment, just to take off a little of the pain? In actuality, alcohol thins your blood and causes a lot of bleeding during the inking process. This makes a gigantic mess, on top of adding an extra challenge for your artist to handle. You want your artist to see your tattoo clearly, not clean it every few seconds just to figure out their progress.

How to Thicken Your Blood Before a Tattoo

Okay, you know not to tattoo while drunk. How can you alleviate some residual effects of alcohol in your system? Simply put, eat a healthy diet! On top of anything that helps you with hangovers, proper nutrition helps your body handle alcohol and the stress of a tattoo. Vitamin K1 and K2 help by promoting clotting in the event of a wound—like a tattoo. Doctors use it in treatments to prevent excessive bleeding from certain poisons and medicines. It works just as well on alcohol! However, it takes time for your body to absorb vitamins, and supplements usually offer K1 without K2. Eat leafy greens to increase its bioavailability!

 

Many concerned internet citizens will insist that jello thickens your blood up for a tattoo. That’s the silliest thing, albeit a very tasty way to prep for your new art piece. For more information on how to prepare for your tattoo, check out our ultimate tattoo care and tattoo aftercare guide.

 

Drinking Beer After a Tattoo

Can you drink alcohol after getting a tattoo? Once everything winds down and your tattoo looks awesome, why not settle back and enjoy a nice, refreshing beer at the end of the day? Well, unfortunately, alcohol after tattoo work still causes excess bleeding. During stage one of the tattoo healing process, your tattoo takes about three days to finish clotting. Alcohol makes that take longer, and sometimes keeps the wound open and prone to infection. For drinking after getting a tattoo, wait at least 48 hours after you receive the tattoo to drink. If you give in to temptation, expect a big mess to clean up whenever you rinse your tattoo.

 

Alcohol and Tattoo Healing

Continuing to drink while your tattoo heals further extends the healing process. In order to process the alcohol, your body diverts resources to your liver. While not deadly or anything, this means your skin will not repair itself to the fullest. A tattoo normally takes three days to finish stage one of healing—the most important and vulnerable stage—and then several more weeks to finish stage two. If you want to take it safe, skip the beer until the tattoo stops peeling. After that, drink to your heart’s content! We go over much more information about the healing process—and how you can speed it up—here.

Drinking Before and After Getting a Tattoo

In the end, drinking before and after your tattoo poses a risk to your artist and your healing process, but helps cope with the pain a little bit. Of course, topical anesthetics work better for that, but to each his own. Always err on the side of caution when it comes to your body. Cut back your drinking before your appointment and wait until your tattoo scabs over before going back. This keeps you in good spirits, your skin healthy, and your tattoo looking better, faster.

Sara

InkDoneRight

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Tattoo Convention Deauville France 2017

Music Tattoos

Music Tattoos

Anyone with a pair of working ears knows that a good rhythm reaches the heart better than visual art. Music influences our emotions—with somber tunes causing a bit of wistfulness or with peppy pop music picking up our spirits. The visual comfort of music-based simulations and the vibration of loud music through our bones makes it something we feel on many different levels of our senses. By inscribing yourself with a music tattoo, you carry a permanent connection to this amazing language of sound. Today, let’s check out this gallery of amazing music tattoos and talk about their meanings!

 

Music Note Tattoos Meaning

Music tattoo designs use the G clef (also called the treble clef) as their subject most often. The symbol represents a very, very stylized G. It assigns the location of the G note on the scale. Similar clefs include the Alto/Tenor clefs, Bass clefs, and Octave clef. Music note star tattoos combine the whimsical experience of music with the radiance of the stars. Of course, it may also reference ‘pop stars.’ Incorporating a music note heart tattoo means that you love music with all your heart. Music tattoo ideas for guys look about the same as girl tattoos, since music notes represent music, not anything intrinsically ‘girly.’

 

Music Note Tattoo Designs

Music tattoos on the wrist show everyone your love for music immediately. Small music tattoos like tiny music notes, little treble clefs, and song notation all contribute to both a visual and musical testament. Clever musicians may even recognize the notes of your song and ask you about it! For an alternative way of depicting music, using references to digital music looks unique and creative. A sound waveform captures a fleeting moment of the song (or even simply words), while also resembling a mountain. Controls for music players (both digital and analogue) show how you perceive life—as a song that plays out.

 

Music Tattoo Sleeve

Small music tattoos for guys and girls look great, but what about sleeves? Music note tattoos that wrap around the arm allow for greater detail. An entire song wraps around an arm, if you opt for music notation. However, music notes and their song sometimes give way to the actual singers. That is to say, instruments! Or literal singers. Take your pick. Huge guitars, microphones, violins, piano keys, and more all fill up music-themed half sleeve tattoos. A single stylized instrument also works for music tattoos on the forearm.

 

Beautiful Music Tattoos

Music note tattoos behind the ear show that you constantly listen for the tune of the world around you. Tattoos of music notes and symbols all depict wonderful sights and sounds to the people around you. Many people take for granted the amazing world we live in, sticking to their phones and tablets instead of experiencing their lives. On the other hand, music overcomes many of our senses. With vision, touch, and hearing all covered, you connect your life to the great intricacies of the world through music tattoos!

Related: Full Tattoo Aftercare Guide

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Space Tattoos

Universally Beautiful Space Tattoos

In this vast universe of wonder and mystery, space captures the imagination of many. I include myself among them, and I’m incredibly excited to combine that with tattoos today! I go over many different ideas for space tattoos, subjects of space tattoos, styles for space tattoos…really, just everything space tattoos. When we look up at night and see the huge sky of twinkling stars, we feel small in this endless universe. However, a space tattoo connects us to the cosmos, and helps us feel at home in this web of infinite galaxies.

 

Space Tattoo Ideas

Narrowing the huge amount of space objects to depict in your tattoo proves difficult, especially for space lovers! The solar system works spectacularly to show off your connection to the worlds around us. Serene comets, dusty galaxies, and colorful nebula all show others your love for space in an instant. Throw in some astronauts, space shuttles, or rockets for added effect. What does space inspire in you? Then, capture that emotion in the design.

 

Simple Space Tattoos

Even minimalist space tattoos look spectacular. Solar system tattoos drawn in the old astronomer star chart style show a connection to both space and history. Black and white tattoos of the solar system also remain recognizable—especially with little details like Jupiter’s stripes or Saturn’s rings. Combining them with geometric patterns, artists put a little traditional tattoo work into space tattoos. Black and white also works wonders for space-themed doodles.

For simple space tattoos, skip the flowery clouds and twirling galaxies. Instead, pick a subject, and only show that subject. Seeing as math and astronomy fields intertwine constantly, consider showing a bit of the science behind your subjects. The circles of an orbiting planet, its movement and connection to close bodies, and its relation to the stars all for distinct shapes that really bring out the lines of your tattoo.

 

Colorful Space Tattoo Sleeve

No matter your idea for a space tattoo, finding an artist remains your top priority. Every artist in the world uses a different style for space. Some make it realistic, with beautiful swatches of nebula clouds. Others use line work and pretty designs that resemble something from a fairy tale book. Still others throw in vibrant colors and exaggerate the appearance of planets—especially Neo-traditional artists. All of them look awesome, but obviously, you need to seek out the one that matches you most. Honestly, it’s hard to go wrong with space tattoos… Although, to be honest, I might be a little biased.

 

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The Universe of Space Tattoos

I struggle to find the right words to describe the wonders of space, and so do cultures around the world. In Navajo language, hózhóni describes the feeling of living in a sacred and beautiful world. On the other hand, in English, occhiolism describes the feeling of realizing your epic story and tale makes up but a drop on the Earth, and even less in the ocean of the universe. Perhaps the closest word to experiencing the night sky, the Japanese use the word ‘yugen’—to consider the incredible universe around you and feel great emotion. The space tattoos you wear capture the essence of your wonderful epiphanies.

Related: Full Tattoo Aftercare Guide

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Armband Tattoo

Armband Tattoo

Armband tattoos, armlet tattoos, and bracelet tattoos serve to immortalize something we would wear on us all the time. On top of that, armband tattoos take on more creative shapes and forms than a designer could ever hope to work with. Your tattoo never falls off, gets lost, breaks, or wears down. For millennia, people used—and continue to use—bracelets to serve their spiritual or personal needs. Jewelry with different figures, material, and colors all imparted different meanings. When those forms of communication transfer over into ink, the amount of meaning combinations grows exponentially! Today, let’s look at the meaning behind some common armband tattoos. Along with that, check out this sweet gallery of the most amazing armband tattoos!

 

Armband Tattoo Meaning

Hawaiian tribal armband tattoos and Celtic knot armband tattoos make up the majority of these art pieces. Many people tell you that they vaguely mean strength or luck, but the meaning goes much deeper than that. Usually, the symbols and designs contained in a tattoo show you the direct purpose behind it. Polynesian tribal armband tattoos, for example, contain triangles that represent various fish teeth. The type of fish changes the meaning from strength, to wealth, to protection, and so on.

 

Celtic Knot Armband Tattoos

The unending lines of Celtic knotwork represent the eternal flow of time. If you start at one part of the knot and keep going, you never reach a proper end. Similarly, the moon’s phases ebb and flow, but return to their other phases eventually. People live, and people die, but the world continues on in one long cord of time.

Related: Celtic Cross Tattoos

 

Hawaiian Armband Tattoos

True Hawaiian tattoos can depict a figure, sure, but the pieces that make up the whole contain much more meaning. Many people dismiss the vague triangles and lines of a traditional Hawaiian armband as bland and stereotypical, but each one shows someone’s individual attributes. Artists include common symbols like tiki faces, lizards, fish teeth, spearheads, waves, turtles, and more to create a custom tattoo for each person they meet.

 

Simple Armband Tattoos

Of course, the significance of your tattoo need not come from ancient symbols. Your tattoo represents who you are on a personal level. Forearm band tattoos for guys and girls both show off the intimate side of their wearer. On top of that, armband tattoos sometimes extend much farther and in more creative shapes than their physical counterparts. As a result, mountain ridges, foggy forests, and even simple floral patterns make great armband tattoos.

Related: Simple Tattoos

 

No matter what sort of design you choose for yourself, use this band as a reminder of who you really are. Its placement on your arm keeps your tattoo in—well—arm’s reach. In other words, looking at it during your normal activities proves easy. As you go through your day, give it a glimpse or a light touch and think of the story behind it. Think about what this tattoo says about you, and if you live up to those expectations or by that creed. If nothing else, checking out a little bit of art helps you go through the day stronger and better than before!

Sara

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