Your First Tattoo With NMR Tattoo: What to Know, What to Expect & the Beauty of the Process

There is something really special about deciding to get a tattoo. Sometimes it’s something you have wanted for years. Sometimes it represents someone you love, a part of your life, or simply artwork that you want to carry with you. And for many of the clients I work with, the decision to get tattooed comes after something they never chose in the first place—cancer, surgery, reconstruction, scarring, or a major change to their body.

Whatever brings you into my studio, I think there are a few things worth knowing before you get tattooed.

One of the first is that you do not have to come to me with everything figured out. In fact, I don’t expect you to. You may have a very specific idea, or you may have a handful of inspiration photos and no idea how they should come together. You may know that you want to cover a scar but have no idea what would work there. That is part of the process.

Tattoo design is not just about creating a pretty image. I’m looking at your body, your anatomy, the movement of the area, your skin, and, when applicable, your scars and surgical changes. A design that looks beautiful on paper still has to make sense once it is placed on a real body.

This is especially true with the work that I do.

Scarred and surgically altered skin is different. Breast reconstruction is different from one person to the next. Even two people who had the same surgery can heal completely differently. I have learned over the years that you cannot force this type of skin to behave like untouched skin, and you shouldn’t try to.

Sometimes the best decision I can make for a client is to slow down, change the plan, work in stages, or tell them that their skin needs more time before I tattoo it. That may not always be what someone wants to hear, but I would rather protect your skin and give you the best chance at a beautiful result than rush the process.

What actually happens when you come in?

Your tattoo appointment does not begin with me immediately picking up a tattoo machine.

We talk. We look at the area together. We go over the design and placement and make adjustments where we need to. Depending on what we are doing, I may stencil the design, draw directly onto the body, take measurements, or spend quite a bit of time making small changes before we ever begin tattooing.

I want you involved in that process.

If you don’t love where something is sitting, tell me. If you pictured something differently, tell me. If you are nervous, tell me that too. I would much rather move a stencil five times than have you stay quiet because you feel like you are inconveniencing me.

Once we both feel good about the design and placement, then we tattoo.

And yes, tattooing can hurt.

Everyone experiences it differently, and different areas of the body feel very different. For my clients who have had surgery, sensation can also be unpredictable. Scarred or reconstructed areas can be completely numb in one spot and surprisingly sensitive a few inches away. There is no right or wrong way to handle a tattoo appointment. We take breaks when you need them.

Your tattoo is not finished when you leave the studio.

Healing is part of tattooing.

Fresh tattoos can look darker, brighter, redder, or more intense than they will once healed. Your skin has just been tattooed and needs time to recover. As it heals, the tattoo begins to soften and settle into the skin.

This is one reason I tell clients not to obsess over their tattoo during those first days of healing. Let it heal.

For nipple and areola tattooing in particular, I often prefer to build the tattoo over more than one session. The first session gives me a foundation. Once that heals, I can see what the skin retained, how the color settled, and how the tissue responded. Then I can come back and build the smaller details—the shadows, highlights, texture, color variations and imperfections that make something look real.

I would rather build a tattoo thoughtfully than overwork compromised skin trying to make everything happen in one sitting.

There is also something else I think tattoo artists should be honest about: tattoos fade.

All tattoos do.

We are putting pigment into living skin. That skin is going to continue aging and changing. Sun exposure, your immune system, the location of the tattoo, the pigment, your skin, and simply time all play a role in how a tattoo ages.

Scar tissue adds another variable. Surgically altered skin can hold pigment differently, and sometimes a tattoo that healed beautifully will need refreshing years later. That does not necessarily mean the tattoo was done incorrectly. It means we are working with a living, changing body.

Trying to prevent every possibility of future fading by putting more and more pigment into the skin is not something I believe in, especially when I am working over scar tissue. More pigment is not always better. Protecting the skin matters.

And then there is the part of tattooing that is harder to explain.

A tattoo can completely change the way your eye sees an area of your body.

I see this all the time in my work.

A decorative tattoo can move your attention away from a scar and into a piece of artwork. A realistic nipple and areola tattoo can bring dimension back to a reconstructed breast that previously looked flat. A correction can take something that has bothered someone for years and finally make it feel more natural.

Sometimes I see a client look in the mirror afterward and immediately smile. Sometimes they cry. Sometimes they become very quiet.

And sometimes the reaction is simply, “Wow.”

All of those reactions are okay.

For someone who has gone through breast cancer or multiple surgeries, tattooing may carry a very different weight than it does for someone getting a beautiful floral piece because they love flowers. Neither reason is more important than the other.

Tattooing does not always have to represent trauma, strength, survival, or some profound meaning. You are also allowed to decorate your body simply because you want to.

That is part of what I love about tattooing.

Our bodies change throughout our lives. We scar. We age. We have surgeries. We gain and lose weight. We heal. Sometimes our bodies look different than we expected them to.

Tattooing gives us this really unique opportunity to intentionally add something back.

Not to erase what happened. Not necessarily to hide every scar or make the body look “perfect.”

Sometimes it is simply about creating something beautiful where you want beauty.

After doing this work for many years, I still think that is one of the most powerful things about tattooing. A tattoo becomes part of your skin, your body and your story—but it is also something you got to choose.

And I think there is a lot of beauty in that.

— Nicole
NMR Tattoo