Today--Christmas Day--marks one month since I sat down to get my very first tattoo. I know this post is long overdue but lets face it, I wasn't quite ready to show it (off) yet. I got it on Black Friday (11/25/11) at 3pm at an awesome parlor in Park Slope called Third Eye Tattoo. And since then I have seen so many changes--both good and bad.
CHANGES LEARNED...
1) I never realized that tattoos were basically wounds. Okay! whatever, shoot me! But either way you put it, I was still intrigued. To know someone practically wounded me in the form of a beautiful significant symbol.
2) I noticed that the "ugly stage" ain't so ugly at all. Maybe it is to people with larger tattoos but my medium sized symbol made its way through its ugly phase quite gracefully. Almost made me wish it stayed a scab. Pics below
3) The final thing I noticed is the change in me. To put it simply, there is none. I am still the hyper, "young lookin'", over analyzing, smart-ass chick I was before I thought of even getting the tattoo.
CLEANING REG...
1) Washed it by hand, 3x/day w/ Antibacterial Dial Soap Bar
2) Immediately pat dry with a clean/unused paper towel
3) Used Bacitracin Ointment for the first week and a half
4) Followed up with Eucerin unscented lotion thereafter
5) Applied Bacitracin as well if I thought I needed it!
.....And YES! I got it the color red so that it could be an under-the-radar tattoo
So....
Without further ado, here she is. I call her Dwen after her cultural name, Dwennimen. She is an West African Adinkra Symbol.
See pics of my tattoo's stages below:
DWENNIMMEN
"ram's horns"
symbol of humility together with strength
The ram will fight fiercely against an adversary, but it also submits humbly to slaughter, emphasizing that even the strong need to be humble.
11/25/11. At Parlor
11/25/11 After first cleaning
11/26/11 Inflamed Wound: Ugly Phase Part 1
11/27/11 All Scabbed Up: Ugly Phase Part 2
12/1/11 You Can See: Ugly Phase Part 3
12/14/11 The Aftermath
12/25/11 1 Month-a-versary!
No comments:
Post a Comment