Do you like touching people?

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I didn't know you were a surgeon! That's cool.

I love hugging, cuddling and holding hands with other people.

I think Willard is a tatoo artist. I like the black gloves the artists wear on L.A. Ink. I can't imagine trying to draw with them on, but I like the matte finish on the surface of the gloves.

I don't like to hug with strangers.
But I like to touch someone's hair or clothes - I have to feel its texture to know it better. I like to compare hair - one has thin and soft, another has thick.
But many people like to touch my hair and say oooh, it's so shiny and coarse, which shampoo do you use? I don't think it's the same - I want to feel texture, they want to buy a shampoo.

Nothing so cerebral as that, dearie!





Kee-rect. They (the gloves) come in all sorts of fancy-schmancy colors these days: flesh, transparent, black, pink, blue, aquamarine - whatever trips your trigger. Mine are all splotchy and multicolored by the time I'm done with them anyway. But you don't do any drawing with the gloves on. [WARNING: Obsessive Personal Interest babble ahead] The drawing is all done beforehand and then made into a stencil that 's applied to the skin. Then you trace the stencil and paint the colors in. Most tattoo needles are actually bunches of needles all clustered together in various configurations for making solid lines, or brushing in wide patches of color. It really is a lot like painting. Well, except when you're painting, you don't have to keep wiping blood off the canvas. And the canvas doesn't bore you to death with stories about it's personal life.

The worst thing about the latex gloves is that they make your hands sweat like crazy.

And, they smell funny.

Bahaha! Now that that guy said that, I remember you saying you were a tattoo artist. I feel silly now.

No worries - I just wish I made surgeon money!



Not as funny as condoms - now that's stinky latex! Same purpose, though, I suppose - I'd rather wear the gloves than actually touch humans and get customer cooties.

I wouldn't know

I worked in a small shop for a day and a half and very smelly, dirty people touched me when they shoved their dirty change into my hands and there was nowhere to wash my hands all day. My worst job ever.

Last edited by rmgh on 10 May 2010, 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have noticed several cashiers and clerks lately wearing disposable gloves to count change and such (the thin, lightweight kind Deli workers use). I think some employers are providing them - maybe their Health Insurance providers are insisting on it. Not all of them are wearing gloves, but apparently they have the option if they're smart enough to take it.

I can't think fast enough to operate a register. I've had to do it at some jobs and I always screw it up somehow. I can't count money and remember the proper sequence of buttons with a customer standing right there watching me and talking to me.

OMG, you're a tattoo artist!? That. is. SO. COOL! I really want to be a tattoo artist myself! I love looking at other people's tattoos, and I wish I could get some of my own. I guess you could say that tattoos are a minor interest of mine, haha.

I'd like to touch lots of things, occasionally people, just to understand their physical properties better. Picture Kirk feeling a structural support in "The Naked Time." I don't really like being touched, but I'm not that sensitive to it.

I should have typed "tatoo" instead of "draw". I have seen many episodes of L.A. Ink and the artists say "give me thirty five or forty minutes to draw this up", then the client comes back and they transfer the drawing onto their skin. I still admire them for being able to tatoo with those gloves on. When I watch Kat or Corey tatoo someone. I try to imagine myself as an artist and wonder if I could do what they do without messing it up. I also wonder how they got started in the tatoo business.


I know what you mean. I use Playtex gloves to do yardwork and when I take them off, my hands are drenched with sweat, so are the inside of the gloves.

Well, the Latex fit like second skin until you sweat in them and stretch them out for awhile - and because of the antiseptic techniques you're required to follow to prevent cross-contamination of blood-borne pathogens like HIV and Hepatitis, you go through at least four pairs every time you do a tattoo, so you're putting on fresh ones all the time. The gloves they use on LA and Miami Ink look more like Playtex rubber dishwashing gloves to me, which is medically safer, because they would protect you more from accidental needle pricks (which can happen on occasion), but would seem to be more bulky and uncomfortable to tattoo in. I've never used those - now a lot of tattooists are switching to Neoprile gloves, which are less bulky than those rubber ones, but thicker and more resistant to punctures than Latex.

Getting into the business can vary from state to state, depending on the local regs. Most states require some kind of practical apprenticeship under a licensed, experienced tattooist, which can range from 6 months to 2 years on average. In some places it's up to the trainer to determine when you're ready to be licensed, in others, the state may license certain shops as designated 'Tattoo Schools', and set out a specific curriculum with a term limit, after which you take a 'practical test' in front of a Health Department Inspector, demonstrating that you know how to perform the procedure safely. Any way you go about it, you're looking at spending several thousand dollars, but it's cheaper than college. Actually, I talked to one arrogant @ss who wanted $27,000 to apprentice someone, so maybe it's not always cheaper than college.

You should start out by inserting a pen or pencil into a tattoo machine (into the grip where the needle tube normally goes) and tracing picture outlines with it, over and over until it feels natural - the weight of the capacitors hangs over the back of your hand and creates a bit of drag that you need to get used to - it can make your wrist tired after a while (that's why you'll notice pros use those fat aluminum grips instead of the little skinny ones - it helps counterbalance the weight). Once you get used to that, you switch to putting stencils on latex foam pads and tattooing them on, then graduate to grapefruits, which are good for learning outlining. Honeydew melons are better for practicing with color, then the real test is tattooing on ripe tomatoes. If you can do that without perforating the skin so that the whole design falls out, then you're ready to work on real skin. It's usually recommended that you start with your own - the side of a calf or the top of a thigh is a good, easily reachable spot (you will need both hands - one to hold the machine and one to stretch the skin, so the needles don't bounce off it like rubber).

Kids - don't try this at home. You need the supervision of an experienced professional if you're going to learn to do it right - some things should not be learned by trial and error. Reap the benefits of years of other people's mistakes and bad experiences, to minimize your own.

As far as doing what they do without messing it up: A wise tattooist once told me "There is no such thing as perfection." A good tattooist's most valuable skill is knowing how to make an 'oopsie' look like it was done that way on purpose.

I was a CNA, an MA and then a Phlebotomist for years but I usually concentrated more on arms and finding veins...after the required formalities that is. I didnt mind taking care of my Alzheimer patients when I was a CNA and Im not entirely sure why that was. I seem to have the need to take care of people when they are ill. I mean, Ive been obsessed with the medical field but dont know that this explains it.
I dont like people touching me that I dont know or that I am not completely comfortable with (husband and kids). I even feel uncomfortable hugging my own Dad because we are not really close. Usually I can handle hugs and touches if I know they are coming. I dont like people touching my face aside from my husband and kids and sometimes I dont like that either. My husband is very understanding that I sometimes I dont like to be touched and is even trying to explain to his French family that the cheek kisses, although nothing against them, are horribly uncomfortable for me.
My 7 year old aspie son, on the other hand, feels compelled to touch other people and hug them to the point that the other kids were hitting him because it annoyed them. We are working on him asking but when he gets excited its like he cant help himself.

Poor guy. Some days ya just can't win.