Scarification - Do you have any?

[Spazz]

If you are not open minded and are looking for a good flame war, please leave this thread right now... I don't feel like monitoring this thread for stupidity and flames. This is a real topic I would like to discuss and possibly ask for some advice on...

OK... for those of you who do NOT know what Scarification is..

Scarification is where you cut or brand your skin in the form of a desired design in order to form scars on the skin. This can be a very painful process but the results can look AMAZING!



I will be getting some done in the next week on my upper left arm. I have a tribal phoenix tattoo design on my arm that will be traced and scarred, as well as I am having flames cut into my skin that will be around the phoenix. Once the scars are all healed up, they will be going back over it in ink to fade in and give it some more depth... just like a real tattoo.

This is my tattoo Im getting scarred and worked on:



Now I know most of you are thinking, "WTF ARE YOU INSANE!!??!?!". But this is something I have been looking into for some time and I am so pumped up and excited about.

My only question is, do any of you have any scarification done? If so, got any tips?

All comments and suggestions are welcome!

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

I don't but I have friends from my college years that do. You might want to invest in some topical lidocaine. Scarification is extremely painful, far more so than tattoos. Also use the usual precautions with cleanliness of the facilities. An autoclave is an absolute must. DO NOT DRINK beforehand. This thins the blood and means more bleeding. More bleeding is not only dangerous but can make it hard for the artist to see what he's doing and could mess it up. And remember that infection is a very real possibility so keep the wound clean and dry.

[Feba]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

Honestly, this is much more sane than, say, tongue (or even penis, and yes I have seen pictures of it) splitting.

[Balfree]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

I don't think its insane... that example looks amazing but its not something i would want to do myself, i mean, it looks nice as a piece of showy art, but not for me, not even tattoos, i've considered a tattoo but then i gave it a second thought, i like the idea but im not ready for the mental stress that im afraid to get after i get tired of it.

A semi-on-topic question to tattoo or scarification "owners", what happens if you gain/lose weight? skin stretch marks? stuff like that... doesnt it get totally ruined? I've decided to stay away from tattoos mainly because i lost around 60lbs in a little less than a year last year and my body changed a lot, plus i gained a lot of stretch marks, wouldnt that have ruined a tatto if i had one? it'd prolly look completely garbage right now...

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

A semi-on-topic question to tattoo or scarification "owners", what happens if you gain/lose weight? skin stretch marks? stuff like that... doesnt it get totally ruined? I've decided to stay away from tattoos mainly because i lost around 60lbs in a little less than a year last year and my body changed a lot, plus i gained a lot of stretch marks, wouldnt that have ruined a tatto if i had one? it'd prolly look completely garbage right now...

I've been tattoo'd for many many years now so I think I can handle this one. LOL Yes tattoo's can get stretch marks in them and yes it looks like shit. Best thing to do is think about where you are going to get one very carefully.

Skin stretches and so do tattoo's so it can distort the tattoo but it would have to be significant stretching. One area comes to mind for a woman and that is her breasts. We all know that a woman's breasts can stretch quite a bit if not taken care of correctly. Another thing is that some people will have corrective surgery to get rid of excess skin. This can screw up a tattoo big time. A good friend had her breasts done and she had a tattoo on one of them. A good portion of the tattoo was gone afterwards and when she wanted another tattoo done over it she couldn't because the scar tissue was too fresh. So she started wearing a lot of high collar shirts! (She needed to because she was a bit too old to be showing off the girls imo!)

Good places to get a tattoo where you don't have to worry so much about that is the shoulder blade (upper back, right or left side), neck, wrist, and ankle. Another thing too are guys that work out a lot and then stop. A friends son had some tattoo's and he was a competitive body builder. He found out he had MS and eventually couldn't keep up his regimen.

So, all in all, yes losing a significant amount of weight and stretch marks can mar beautiful tattoos. Surgeries can mar them also. It's best to be in shape when you get a tattoo and keep your body in shape as you age. Something you should be doing anyways!

Psst...{Congratulations!} on the weight loss Bal...thats AWESOME!

[Spazz]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

As for tattoos, my mom lost 140 lbs. and she looks amazing now I might add! BUT... she had 3 tattoos. The locations of her tattoos saved the ink and design from being warped and looking bad. So... I would say, it all depends on where you get it. Hers were in places like: her right shoulder blade, her right upper arm, her ankle. Now if she had something across her back or her chest or any other places that she lost alot of weight in, yeah they probably would have looked bad.

In terms of Scars... I cant speak intelligently about it because I still havent gone to get mine done yet...

I am really REALLY afraid of the pain to be honest. I was scared shitless about tattoos at first though, and now im addicted lol. So... who knows. I do know that it will all be worth it!

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

Well kudos to your mother Spazz! Thats a HUGE accomplishment! (And I know she'd be tickled pink that your telling everyone she looks amazing! ^^)

Ya, I called one of my old friends last night and talked to him about his scars. Of course, his comment was "I don't talk to you in over a year and you call to talk about scars!?" LOL He has been tattoo'd, scared, and branded. He said out of the 3 that scaring was the worst and he'd never do it again. His main reasons, the pain of having it done and also the aftercare. (Sad thing too is that he had surgery over it so its now ruined.)

[Kitalrez]

Re: Scarification - Do you have any?

You know, back during the first or second temple era, the Shoulin monks had a final test for mastery known as the Lohan, or "long hall". Basically, it was a dark room filled with wooden dummies armed with various weapons that would rotate and move on pulleys. Assuming you survived the room of dark, spinning death, you were greeted with the final obstacle, which was a heavy iron cauldron of burning coals. The monk would have to grasp hold of this cauldron and pick it up with his forearms then heave it to the side and set it down out of his way in order to exit. Right under the handle on each side was a brass plaque. On the right was a tiger, and the left was a dragon. The act of picking up the cauldron necessarily branded these images into your forearms.

This was one of the earliest forms of ritual scarification. For the period of time it was in use, it was one of the most recognizable marks in the land. You needed to worry a lot less about the guy with the funny colored belt than you did the guy wearing short sleeves with the funny scars. The second man definitely knew what he was doing, could pull everything off in the dark, didn't confuse easily, and could ignore pain. That was a guy you didn't want to annoy.

So yeah, I think it's cool that you're getting work done. It sounds like an interesting experience, and I respect you for it.