There’s a classic movie trope about getting black-out drunk and waking up with a tattoo. That might have been possible back in the day or if you’re in a less reputable area of Bangkok, but modern, responsible tattoo studios won’t serve you if you’ve had a drink, and for good reason.
Alcohol impairs your judgement
We understand getting your first tattoo can be scary, and you might need a little Dutch Courage to get you through the experience, but getting drunk isn’t going to help. You need a clear head when getting a tattoo or you might pick one you’ll regret. What happens when you sober up and realise you have this thing for life? You blame the tattooist.
You need a clear head at every stage of the tattooing process – your decision is final on what the design is and where it goes. You can’t do that if you’re drunk.
Your blood gets thinner
Booze will thin your blood, and this isn’t ideal when getting a tattoo. It means you’ll bleed more, and while that sounds scary, don’t worry, you’re not going to bleed to death. It just means that you’ll take longer to heal and the pigment in the tattoo ink will become diluted, resulting in a “watered-down” design.
And remember, it’s the amount of alcohol you drink that thins the blood, not when you drink it. If you were out on the piss last night and are sober (but hungover) today, your blood will still be feeling the effects of the booze.
It makes it harder for us to work
There another reason you shouldn’t drink before getting a tattoo - we can’t be arsed dealing with drunks.
When everybody’s drunk it can be fun. When one person is drunk and everyone else is sober, it can be a nightmare. Most tattoo artists don’t want to deal with your drunken bullshit, so won’t even entertain the notion of working on you.
There’s also the fact that drunk people tend to fidget, and this will result in a bad tattoo anyway. And then when you sober up and come back complaining about the shoddy workmanship, we’ll break out the security footage which shows you doing the macarena while we try and work on you.
Only joking, you won’t even get through the door.
