Thoraiya DyerWhat Tattoos and Leg Waxing Have In Common
May 8th 2008 22:19
Tattoos and leg waxing are not exactly renowned for being the most pleasant experiences. But in contrast to the process of ripping hair out by the roots, tattoos are never advertised as being “pain free”. Is it just that tattoo artists are more honest? Or are there other factors at play?
I guess the pain is part of a tattoo’s glamour. It lends the tattooed person an aura of bravado. In order to decorate your body, you must endure needles being driven into your skin. The darker and more solid the desired line, the deeper and closer together the needles have to go. In areas where there is minimal subcutaneous tissue, like wrists, ankles, ribs and spine, the pain is usually worse.
Is there anything you can do about it?
Well, there may be a way to reduce, if not eliminate the pain. Topical anaesthetic creams are often sold at tattoo parlours ( gusart.com.au/facebody1.htm) and EMLA is shown in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (2000, Apr;42(4):584-8) to be effective at reducing the pain of punch biopsy needles at a depth of up to 6mm. Since modern, handheld tattooing machines only penetrate to a depth of 3mm (kidshealth.org), there should be relief available (at least, before the anaesthetic wears off) for those who don’t agree that “the whole idea is to experience the pain, rise above it and come out the other end”. (pierced.com.au/forum)
Why aren’t these creams a hundred percent effective? Why do they wear off so quickly, or work in one area but not another? The problem lies with the nerve supply to the skin and the natural variations in the skin itself.
The skin’s outer layer, the epidermis, can be anywhere between 0.05mm and 1.5mm thick. The epidermis is mostly made up of various levels of dead and dying skin cells. As the dying cells progress towards the surface, they fill with keratin, becoming thinner and flatter, to eventually form the tough protective barrier we know and love.
Underneath the epidermis is the dermis, which is between 0.3mm and 3mm thick. In the dermis, there are hair follicles, oil glands, sweat glands and blood vessels.
In the dermis, there are also nerve endings. These nerves “transmit sensations of pain, itch, and temperature.” (dermatology.about.com/cs/skinanatomy/a/anatomy.htm)
Injecting ink into the epidermis is going to be a futile exercise, because the cells there are going to be eventually shed. To be permanent, the ink has to be injected into the dermis. It’s easy enough to poke multiple holes in the epidermis with a sharp, sterile instrument, but what if you’re a slimy smear of local anaesthetic? How are you supposed to penetrate that annoying epidermis and deaden the nerves in the dermis BEFORE it starts raining steel points?
The answer is: fairly slowly, and fairly unreliably.
You can add other compounds, such as DMSO (read “Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers”, by Smith & Howard) to local anaesthetics to help them get through the epidermis, but it’s not much use for tattooing because it can cause severe reactions, damaging the skin and distorting the outline of the tattoo.
Maybe tattoos are not advertised as being “pain free” because the punishment is a character-building part of the process – but maybe it’s just because a pain free experience simply cannot be guaranteed.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped the makers of countless hair-removal products from making the claim, and now that we’ve discussed the anatomical features of the dermis, you can probably see what’s coming.
Ripping hairs out of their cosy little follicles is going to affect the very same nerves that are disturbed by tattooing.
We all remember the Epilady ads with their patently false claims of “gentleness” and “ease”. How many women fell for that? How many epiladies are abandoned in bathroom bottom drawers and on garage shelves? But the Epilady isn’t the only culprit. How in the world can Nicola Kennedy, in her “Painless Hair Remover Tips” at healthguidance.com claim that Panasonic’s Epiglide is painless?
What planet are the makers of E-Z-Wax (4gpi.com/) living on, where waxing produces “No pain…no redness…no irritation…we call it the E-Z-Wax solution!”???
I call it the I’m-Not-Fooled-By-Models-Pran cing-Around-And-Laughing solution. I’m not buying your stupid wax. I’d rather buy one with a picture on the front that shows your typical hairy-goat-legged woman who has avoided waxing all winter and now has to face the agony of the First Spring Purge. I want to see tears leaking out of her eyes. I want to see a little speech bubble with censored swear words inside.
Pulling stubble out by the roots is always going to be painful. So is tattooing without local anaesthetic. They’re both going to have an unavoidable impact on the nerves that supply the dermis.
The difference is, tattoo parlours don’t have to lie in order to serve the bottom line. They embrace their dermal nerve disturbing, instead of denying it.
You have to give them credit for that.
I guess the pain is part of a tattoo’s glamour. It lends the tattooed person an aura of bravado. In order to decorate your body, you must endure needles being driven into your skin. The darker and more solid the desired line, the deeper and closer together the needles have to go. In areas where there is minimal subcutaneous tissue, like wrists, ankles, ribs and spine, the pain is usually worse.
Is there anything you can do about it?
Well, there may be a way to reduce, if not eliminate the pain. Topical anaesthetic creams are often sold at tattoo parlours ( gusart.com.au/facebody1.htm) and EMLA is shown in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (2000, Apr;42(4):584-8) to be effective at reducing the pain of punch biopsy needles at a depth of up to 6mm. Since modern, handheld tattooing machines only penetrate to a depth of 3mm (kidshealth.org), there should be relief available (at least, before the anaesthetic wears off) for those who don’t agree that “the whole idea is to experience the pain, rise above it and come out the other end”. (pierced.com.au/forum)
Why aren’t these creams a hundred percent effective? Why do they wear off so quickly, or work in one area but not another? The problem lies with the nerve supply to the skin and the natural variations in the skin itself.
The skin’s outer layer, the epidermis, can be anywhere between 0.05mm and 1.5mm thick. The epidermis is mostly made up of various levels of dead and dying skin cells. As the dying cells progress towards the surface, they fill with keratin, becoming thinner and flatter, to eventually form the tough protective barrier we know and love.
Underneath the epidermis is the dermis, which is between 0.3mm and 3mm thick. In the dermis, there are hair follicles, oil glands, sweat glands and blood vessels.
In the dermis, there are also nerve endings. These nerves “transmit sensations of pain, itch, and temperature.” (dermatology.about.com/cs/skinanatomy/a/anatomy.htm)
Injecting ink into the epidermis is going to be a futile exercise, because the cells there are going to be eventually shed. To be permanent, the ink has to be injected into the dermis. It’s easy enough to poke multiple holes in the epidermis with a sharp, sterile instrument, but what if you’re a slimy smear of local anaesthetic? How are you supposed to penetrate that annoying epidermis and deaden the nerves in the dermis BEFORE it starts raining steel points?
The answer is: fairly slowly, and fairly unreliably.
You can add other compounds, such as DMSO (read “Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers”, by Smith & Howard) to local anaesthetics to help them get through the epidermis, but it’s not much use for tattooing because it can cause severe reactions, damaging the skin and distorting the outline of the tattoo.
Maybe tattoos are not advertised as being “pain free” because the punishment is a character-building part of the process – but maybe it’s just because a pain free experience simply cannot be guaranteed.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped the makers of countless hair-removal products from making the claim, and now that we’ve discussed the anatomical features of the dermis, you can probably see what’s coming.
Ripping hairs out of their cosy little follicles is going to affect the very same nerves that are disturbed by tattooing.
We all remember the Epilady ads with their patently false claims of “gentleness” and “ease”. How many women fell for that? How many epiladies are abandoned in bathroom bottom drawers and on garage shelves? But the Epilady isn’t the only culprit. How in the world can Nicola Kennedy, in her “Painless Hair Remover Tips” at healthguidance.com claim that Panasonic’s Epiglide is painless?
What planet are the makers of E-Z-Wax (4gpi.com/) living on, where waxing produces “No pain…no redness…no irritation…we call it the E-Z-Wax solution!”???
I call it the I’m-Not-Fooled-By-Models-Pran cing-Around-And-Laughing solution. I’m not buying your stupid wax. I’d rather buy one with a picture on the front that shows your typical hairy-goat-legged woman who has avoided waxing all winter and now has to face the agony of the First Spring Purge. I want to see tears leaking out of her eyes. I want to see a little speech bubble with censored swear words inside.
Pulling stubble out by the roots is always going to be painful. So is tattooing without local anaesthetic. They’re both going to have an unavoidable impact on the nerves that supply the dermis.
The difference is, tattoo parlours don’t have to lie in order to serve the bottom line. They embrace their dermal nerve disturbing, instead of denying it.
You have to give them credit for that.
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