Top 6 Most Painful Places to Get Tattooed

It’s no secret that tattoos hurt, but some places hurt more than others. Most people go into the tattoo shop with a rough idea of just how painful their tattoo is going to be, but there’s also the fact that for those who have never been tattooed it’s still a guess. People have described getting tattooed as feeling like a sunburn, feeling like being stabbed, or even feeling like being tickled. So where is the worst place to get tattooed?

The NO spot

Rather obviously, genital tattoos are going to be the worst imaginable. You have a huge amount of nerve endings down there and tattooing stimulates them. While it’s not a space most people choose to get tattooed there are still a uprising number of people who get personal tattoos and plenty of videos of “butt hole tattoos” if you need to know for sure this hurts. The area extends down to the inner thighs where the skin is extremely delicate and soft too.

The Throat

A client once described this as feeling like “getting your throat slit without actually dying”. The throat is another area with a lot of nerve endings and delicate skin, however, it’s also where your windpipe is and it can feel like being crushed or suffocated because of the press of the artist on it. Throat tattoos are another less “common” spot to get tattooed.

The Knee

The backs of the knees have a lot of ligaments, blood vessels, nerves, and very little muscle protecting everything. The skin on the back of the knees is especially thin which means it’s delicate and the nerves are closer to the surface. On the contrary, the front of the knee is thicker skinned which means to keep the tattoo ink in the skin it has to be driven in harder and deeper. The knee is just painful all around.

The Ribs

This is a 50/50, some people will find the ribs excruciating while others will find it tolerable. It’s like asking whether or not someone is ticklish. Rib tattoos are either huge and take up a clients entire side or small which is another reason why this disparity could exist.

The Elbow

The elbow is much like the knee – bones, ligaments, nerves etc that are not protected by muscle. The outer elbow skin is tougher than that of the outer knee too so you’re dealing with deeper and harder tattooing over a bone that is rather strange to start with. Did you know if someone licks your elbow while you’re not looking you won’t feel it? Your elbow has some strange nerves running through that mean you may not feel it as pain or even at all.

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The “Maybe’s”

There are several areas which, like the ribs, differ from person to person. The ankles, wrists, feet, hands, arm pits, and collar bone are all debatable areas which one person may find excruciating and others may feel is reasonable. Generally these spots are also dependent on gender but the ankles and wrists are both erogenous zones packed with nerves.