Hi guys. I'm still here, though I really wasn't for a while. My head was up my ass for a while, and understandably so. School is all done, I've passed state board, and I'm a licensed esthetician now. I'm going to start looking for work in January, hopefully to be employed by April.
I seriously need to start getting to the gym. During school, I packed on about 10 pounds, and then once school was over, I got a nasty cold that had me laid up for three weeks, yielding another 5 pounds. My appetite has decreased a lot since I passed my exams, and I seem to be sleeping a lot less, and having more energy. In fact, once my ibuprofen kicks in, I think I'm going to go down to the gym.
Which brings me to something else- I've started on my sleeve. And I've finished my chest piece. Add those to the two shoulder blade pieces I also got this year, and whoa, that's kind of a lot of tattoos in one year. I've spent about 24 hours under the needle this year, and this dwarfs the minuscule 5 hours total between three pieces I had done in the 5 years previous.
I imagine I'll be doing another 20+ hours for this sleeve, maybe more. The artist who is doing this piece for me is the esteemed Alycia Harr, who currently resides in Leonardi Tattoo, up in Carmichael, CA. She's booked up for ever, so she has been kind enough to sneak me in when she gets cancellations. Knowing I have the money, and nothing much better to do right now till I start working, and can show up with as little as three hours notice, has put me near the top of her "People to call when other people cancel" list.
The design is simple: The Spanish galleon on my forearm is being guided home by the lighthouse on my shoulder, whilst being plagued by stormy, choppy seas, and the tentacles of a sea monster. I'm absolutely in love with it already, even though the pain of the line work is still very fresh in my mind. I'll admit to being a wimp and having the help of Valium, and Oxycotin, although not nearly enough. My good friend, and usual DD for appointments has a perscription for Norco, which I may be able to bribe out of him. He usual trades it for weed, because he finds that works much better on his knee pain than the Norco. I'd give him enough for the bottle that he could get the same amount he does than if he just traded the bottle straight across.
I'm also trying out a new healing technique, and so far, it has seemed to greatly reduce peeling, and speed healing quite a bit. An outline took 3 weeks to heal on me before; it's hard to tell because it's only been 36 hours since I had the outline done, but at this time, it shows no sign of peeling at all, with the exception of the crease on the inside of my elbow.
One of the things I learned in esthetics school was about the barrier function of the skin, and its role in protecting and healing the skin. This barrier function is made possible by your skin's acid mantle, which is made up of sebum and sweat. Clearly a tattoo is a sort of deliberate abrasion, damaging the barrier function. Since sebum is a huge part of the barrier function, it would make sense to find an oil as close in composition to human sebum as possible; in this case that would be Jojoba oil. Then cover this with an occlusive product to prevent evaporation such as Aquaphor. So basically wash it gently in the shower with unscented soap, mist with Bactine (for first week only) give it a good coat of Jojoba oil, let it sit and absorb for about 10 minutes, then cover with a thin coat of Aquaphor. The first time I used this technique I found my tattoo healed about 1/3 faster than previously. Blah, that's quite enough about that.
So Christmas, eh? I've got a Prime Rib roast for Christmas dinner, and Fillet Mignon for New Year's eve. Yum!
I seriously need to start getting to the gym. During school, I packed on about 10 pounds, and then once school was over, I got a nasty cold that had me laid up for three weeks, yielding another 5 pounds. My appetite has decreased a lot since I passed my exams, and I seem to be sleeping a lot less, and having more energy. In fact, once my ibuprofen kicks in, I think I'm going to go down to the gym.
Which brings me to something else- I've started on my sleeve. And I've finished my chest piece. Add those to the two shoulder blade pieces I also got this year, and whoa, that's kind of a lot of tattoos in one year. I've spent about 24 hours under the needle this year, and this dwarfs the minuscule 5 hours total between three pieces I had done in the 5 years previous.
I imagine I'll be doing another 20+ hours for this sleeve, maybe more. The artist who is doing this piece for me is the esteemed Alycia Harr, who currently resides in Leonardi Tattoo, up in Carmichael, CA. She's booked up for ever, so she has been kind enough to sneak me in when she gets cancellations. Knowing I have the money, and nothing much better to do right now till I start working, and can show up with as little as three hours notice, has put me near the top of her "People to call when other people cancel" list.
The design is simple: The Spanish galleon on my forearm is being guided home by the lighthouse on my shoulder, whilst being plagued by stormy, choppy seas, and the tentacles of a sea monster. I'm absolutely in love with it already, even though the pain of the line work is still very fresh in my mind. I'll admit to being a wimp and having the help of Valium, and Oxycotin, although not nearly enough. My good friend, and usual DD for appointments has a perscription for Norco, which I may be able to bribe out of him. He usual trades it for weed, because he finds that works much better on his knee pain than the Norco. I'd give him enough for the bottle that he could get the same amount he does than if he just traded the bottle straight across.
I'm also trying out a new healing technique, and so far, it has seemed to greatly reduce peeling, and speed healing quite a bit. An outline took 3 weeks to heal on me before; it's hard to tell because it's only been 36 hours since I had the outline done, but at this time, it shows no sign of peeling at all, with the exception of the crease on the inside of my elbow.
One of the things I learned in esthetics school was about the barrier function of the skin, and its role in protecting and healing the skin. This barrier function is made possible by your skin's acid mantle, which is made up of sebum and sweat. Clearly a tattoo is a sort of deliberate abrasion, damaging the barrier function. Since sebum is a huge part of the barrier function, it would make sense to find an oil as close in composition to human sebum as possible; in this case that would be Jojoba oil. Then cover this with an occlusive product to prevent evaporation such as Aquaphor. So basically wash it gently in the shower with unscented soap, mist with Bactine (for first week only) give it a good coat of Jojoba oil, let it sit and absorb for about 10 minutes, then cover with a thin coat of Aquaphor. The first time I used this technique I found my tattoo healed about 1/3 faster than previously. Blah, that's quite enough about that.
So Christmas, eh? I've got a Prime Rib roast for Christmas dinner, and Fillet Mignon for New Year's eve. Yum!
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
Hopefully I'll be here a while. I'm working mad crazy hours until spring but I really really want to make it up to SF and catch up with all you great folks. If - when - that comes to pass, I'll let you know.
And thank you so much for inviting us over for New Years. I don't think we'll be able to make it, but I will present it as an option to the ladies.
Regardless, hope to see you guys soon.