The skin on your hands and fingers is thin and there’s lots of nerves in your hands. Like your ribcage, the bone is lying quite close to the skin. If you’ve ever knocked your elbow, even lightly, you know it hurts a lot. Breathing also makes your ribcage expand and contract, which can make the process more painful. The skin over your ribs is thin and you’re likely to have less fat here. Your ribcage is said to be one of the most painful places to get a tattoo. There’s lots of nerves just beneath the surface. While you might like the idea of getting a tattoo close to your heart, nipples and breasts are extremely sensitive. Like your head, there’s little fat on your neck and spine but lots of nerves. Some people have even said they’ve felt the vibration of the needle inside their skull when getting a head tattoo. Your head has almost no fat on it and lots of nerves under the skin. These are the 10 places that are widely believed to be the most painful for tattooing (and perhaps not the best place for your first tattoo).

So, while the experience of pain will differ between people based on a variety of factors, the location of the tattoo will also play a part. Top 10 most painful places to get a tattoo But if you already have several tattoos, you should have a good idea about the level of pain to expect. If this is your first tattoo and you are particularly worried about the pain, you could be setting yourself up for a more painful experience. It’s worth bearing in mind that a lot of pain is psychological.

Research suggests that women have a higher pain tolerance than men however, it will differ from person to person. Your pain tolerance will also impact how much pain you feel during tattooing. Differences in age, gender, skin sensitivity, body fat and weight distribution will all affect the level of discomfort experienced during tattooing. While this is the general rule, each body is different. Tattooing tends to be more painful on sensitive body parts with a larger number of nerve endings and places with little body fat where the bone is close to the skin. Ultimately, the level of pain you experience will greatly depend on where you get the tattoo. However, the experience will be different for each person. While a good tattoo studio and an experienced artist will be able to minimise the pain, tattooing is a physical process that will inevitably cause some pain. The level of pain that you experience during tattooing depends on a number of factors including the method of tattooing, the amount of body fat, your pain threshold and the tattoo’s location on the body. The point being that one person’s tickle may be another person’s pain. Not to get too philosophical, but pain is a private, internal state with no context or comparison outside of one’s own experience. Every tattoo artist and anyone with a tattoo has heard the inevitable question: Does it hurt? Well.

Least painful place to get a tattoo