Falling asleep while having a tattoo done

Good grief, look at him!

Poor girl. How on earth do you fall asleep while being tattooed? Passed out is more likely.

Exactly. especially on the face, it must be so painful

I really don't understand how you could fall asleep - even having one on my stomach hurt, so I dread to think how it feels on the face. What a strange story.

I don't see how she fell asleep either, I certainly couldn't sleep through that pain.

Yuck, that looks awful. But playing devil's avocado, do you think she's being entirely truthful, or more likely that she did ask for that many and has concocted this story when she actually saw how terrible it looked/when her father went off on one?

Looking at that tattoo artist has made me feel sick. He's repulsive.

I must admit this thought crossed my mind more so with the fact her father went mental. When you have a tattoo they use a stencil first to show you what it will look like and so you can make any changes before its too late.

I think this is far more likely. I don't believe for a minute that anyone could sleep through that many facial tattoos. I believe that this is the tattooist's side of the story anyway, and while he does look repulsive, it does sound more plausible than her story.

Poor girl though. Imagine her when she's 80!

Hmm. I'm inclined to think that she's trying to blame the tattoist because it looks horrible and her father went mad. That's based on a discussion on another forum where lots of people with tattoos have said that it would need to be stencilled first as the stars have straight edges and he wouldn't have done it if she'd not agreed to it. Might be wrong, I've no personal knowledge of it - but would someone carry on tattooing someone's face if they were asleep/ passed out? Really?

I wondered that too, this is that guy's livelihood, is he really going to risk his reputation by doing something like this?

She has so made this up! How could you possibly sleep while having your face tattooed?!

I have a large tattoo on my side/back, and I did doze off for part of it, but I wasn't properly asleep. I think I'd have realised if he'd have moved to somewhere he shouldn't be tattooing!

I saw this on Sky news this morning. Poor girl, whatever happened or whichever is the truth, she has now got potentially a scarred face for the rest of her life (unless I'm wrong, I thought lasering tattoos leave some scarring?). One thought that did cross my mind was whether she had the stars done, not on a whim but more of an act of rebellion "I don't care what Dad/BF think of this, I'm having it done, it's MY life!" and their (possibly negative) reaction may have made her realise she DID care what they think. I'm phrasing it very badly. Whatever happened, I do feel sympathy for her. I also thought some tattooists sometimes do non-permanent ones first so the client could decide if they really and truly did want such an extreme tattoo or ask for the client to come back after a number of days or as others said above, stencil in the pattern first?

I have to say I think her story is a load of rubbish. Having just had stars done myself I can categorically say that the tattoist would stencil on first and ask her what she thought. It ids nigh on impossible to do straight lines without a guide - very, very few tattoists will do that.

Whether she's changed her mind or not its very unfair to blame the tattoist.

The tattoist is not responsible for whether people have thought about it properly - he's responsible for doing the tattoing safely and well.

As for passing out - the tattoist would notice and stop tattoing. I was once having a tattoo done and the person in the other room passed out and it was immediately obvious and they stopped and did first aid etc

It does seem like a very strange story. I am considering getting a tattoo done though H is quite against it, I hope he doesn't see this link ?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1193384/What-did-expect-Incredible-face-revealed-man-tattooed-girl-56-stars-asked-three.html I know it looks bad but the Belgian psychologist is a right charmer ?

I guess the moral of the story is to be careful what you ask for - seems to me she got stars in the shape of a number 3 so...

However, back to reality, no, there's no way she slept through that (and apart from anything else I'm not sure it's possible to tattoo someone who's head is lolling about unconscious), she f*cked up, panicked and made up a load of old rubbish. Although I'm not sure I'd want him doing my tats for me, I'd pick someone who looked more *in line* with what I wanted. But then again there's no way on God's green earth I'd ever have a tattoo on my face!

I have stars on my back and they were stencilled on first and I was shown them before he tattoo'd anything so I could comment, change anything I wanted etc so I agree with everyone else it seems that her story is completely accurate.

I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep either and it didn't actually take that long for him to do 24 stars so certainly not enough time to fall asleep in ?

Are facial tattoos not illegal in this country now?

I agree with Hecate (aside from the fact I have no personal experience of tattoos). I do have some sympathy for her in that she's saddled with tattoos she hates, (I know how unhappy my dad has been about tattoos he got when he was a young man that he has hated for a long time now) but I think it's very unfair of her to jeopardise someone's livelihood and reputation because she's done something she now regrets.

As for facial tattoos being illegal - aside from the fact his wasn't in the UK, I don't know for definite but I wouldn't think so - surely it's your own business where you get tattooed? Even though I can't fathom why anyone in their right mind would want facial tattoos anyway, it looks ghastly.

Facial tattoos are not illegal but you do have to have a particular kind of license to tattoo faces in the UK. And bizarely feet too

Also, in that Daily Mail link she appears to blame some sort of language barrier, saying she tried to speak to him in her native French and he didn't really speak it

However in the Sky news video where she is dubbed over by an interpreter, she's not speaking French, she's speaking Flemish (Dutch).

As someone with a fair bit of tattoo experience, I tend to aree with what everyone else is saying. I don't find them that painful, although certainly uncomfortable enough to ensure that I wouldn't fall asleep!!!

Any tattoo artist will stop work as soon as someone faints/falls asleep or whatever.....

I assume she wanted something similar to Kat Von D?

It does seem like she's wanted the tattoo, and when her dad hit the roof, she blamed the tattooist, bizarrely the tattoo does look like a "3" though!

Yes, you're right. I do feel sorry for her but as Hecate (and others) said, the chances are she approved the design in the first place and now regrets it but rather than blaming herself, she's blaming the tattooist, which is just not right as after all, would he really jeopardise his work, doing a tattoo the client didn't approve? I think someone else on Hitched once said you really must have 100% faith and trust in your tattooist before having one done.

I sort of agree AND disagree with you.

On the one hand, the face is a bony place and I would think too painful to sleep/pass out during the whole of several hours worth of work. SO I'm suspicious of her side of events.

And as you say, tattooists stencil first and check position etc with their clients.

However, any good, reputable tattoist in this country (and in the USA and I'd presume Belgium too) follow basic rules of their profession. They do not tattoo people under the influence of alcohol or drugs. They do not usually tattoo face or hands unless they are familiar with the client and/or the client already has other highly visible work (ie, a client who is aware of the impact of prominent tattoos).

Frankly, any tattooist with an ounce of professionalism would have refused to tattoo this girl's face in this way, certainly not while inebriated, and certainly not on a first meeting with the tattoist. I do think they have failed in their professional responsiblity and should be held to account for that.

I really don't believe that any decent tattoist

I agree with everyone else that she probably got told off and made up some bizarre story to her dad. apparently its so full of holes the Belguin police refused to investigate it.

I'm not a fan of tattoos at all, but I have to say, i think the work is very good! I mean it looks quite cool. Obviously it would look far better in make up for a party, and no one would want it all the time, but I was quite impressed with it.

I do think facial tattoos should be illegal though.

Why?

There are lots of people with face tattoos who are very happy with their work.

We don't usually legislate for personal choices that have no harmful impact on other people.

Why should facial tattoos be illegal?

The whole story sounds very odd, no one comes off as believable. I do think it looks pretty good though (although I can see you wouldn't be too chuffed if it was unintentional)

L
xx

I don't usually believe in legislating what people choose to do with their bodies but I think thats too much. There is the possibility the designs could go wrong, there is the regret factor, and I can't think of any other way you can stop a stupid 18 year old who has decided to piss off her dad. I know thats not fair for the (very tiny number I'd imagine) of people who wants to inflict scars all over their face, and it would never be properly enforced, but thats my gut feeling.

That said even as I type I have realised make up tatooing is to the face (do you need a special licence for this? I see it advertised a lot) which is not particularly nice either but i don't think you can compare tatooing eyebrows to the person who decides they want a massive spider over their face.

I think some face tattoos are amazing, those which are subtle and those which aren't. Dita von teese has one afaik. I think getting a tattoo anywhere on your body is very risky without being 100% sure about it.

I don't think "I think it's too much" is a very good reason for legislation to be honest ? Some people think any tattoo or body modification is too much, including just a single ear lobe piercing but I don't see Claire's accessories being put out of business (even though they probably should be, given you can't sterilize the ear guns they use).

As I said earlier, the usual way of stopping a stupid 18 year old of trying to p1ss off her father is by the tattooist following professional standards. I do think the tattooist was pretty stupid in this case.

There are instances where we do though. I'd certainly support very close regulation of facial tattooing- codification of existing good practice- although not a ban.

Re this story- it seems to me impossible to tell what's happened. She might be lying or he might be (I'm sure that no responsible tattooist would tattoo in the circs she describes but there must be irresponsible tattooists just as there are irresponsible people in every profession).

I can't get sound at work, what does the tattooist say about it all?

I can't fathom how mental you'd have to be to get a tattoo done by someone who didn't speak your language (or vice versa).

Even in English-speaking countries this is fraught with cultural pitfalls - JK's dad had a colleague who was on holiday in San Francisco and when he walked past a Chinese tattoo parlour offering tattoos of his name in Chinese, he thought this would be a brilliant idea. His surname was Cook and his nickname was Cookie, so he told this to the tattooist, who said "No problem - that'll be easy" and duly tattooed a couple of characters on his arm.

He came back home and showed it proudly to his colleagues, only to find a Chinese woman giggling hysterically - because she was reading the characters as 'biscuit'. As of course one would on this side of the Atlantic. ?

Having just had 6 new ones done - including 3 on my foot (also a very bony place) I can categorically say it would be impossible to sleep through!!

With regards to the inebriation you are absolutely right - no professional tattoist who tattoo anyone under the influence but there doesn't seem to be anything to suggest that there was alcohol present in this situation?

I don't agree that a tattoist should refuse - if he has carried out the checks - over 18 etc then I believe he has done his bit and if she's changed her mind its her tough luck. I don't see he has done anything wrong.

Hecate - it was implied in the (admittedly trashy) newspaper I read on the bus that she got it done while out drinking with her boyfriend - which might explain why she was able to sleep through it (IF she did sleep through!).

I can understand what you're saying and I mostly agree buyer beware. But, as I said, it seems most good tattooists are fairly cautious about doing visible tattoos, especially facial tattoos. Probably because they are aware of the impact of a facial tattoo and don't want this kind of publicity coming back on them!

I really think that a wise tattooist would have said here's a star layout, come back in a month and we'll discuss it further given the girl's age and lack of other visible tattoos.

In the same way that any reputable plastic surgeon approached by an 18-year-old after a boob job would say, here's what you'd look like, now go and think this through.