[Last edited on December 31st]
After four years of designing, meditating and deliberating on my first tattoo, I have finally taken the plunge. Even before I turned 18, I knew that the first tattoo I got (if I got one at all) would have to mean a lot to me. Not only that, but I wanted to design the whole thing myself. It took almost 3 years to come up with a design that was symbolic enough that I would want it on my body forever, and it took another year to perfect the design, decide where to put it and actually get it.
The design itself is a combination of the Ouroboros and the Tree of Life. The two images together symbolize my greatest life philosophies – the snake eating its own tail nods to the cyclic nature of life and constant death and rebirth. The tree also represents the constant death and rebirth that we must experience throughout life, but most importantly to me, it symbolizes the fact that our foundation, the code that our souls are born with paired with our upbringing, are the roots from which we grow and branch out into many directions. Once each branch reaches full maturity, it will blossom into something beaming with natural beauty. If, for some reason, that branch dies or the blossoms fall off, they will fall to the ground and provide fertilizer to the foundation that has already been established for us.
9/21
This photo was taken 18 hours after completion. It was done by Brian at River City Tattoo in Richmond, VA. It is located on my right hip, and it’s about 4 inches in diameter. The skin around is still swollen and distorts the image a little bit, and the tape that was used to bandage it pinched my skin and left adhesive marks that are really hard to get off.
9/22
Two days later. It is still really sore and is swollen only some of the time. I’ve been washing it 3 times a day and putting lotion on it any time it dries out. So far I have been walking around the house with my pants pulled halfway down, but today I go back to work so that will be a whole new set of challenges. Also, I think the adhesive may be stuck to my skin forever. That stuff just won’t come off.
9/27
It’s been 1 full week, and I have a brand new appreciation for my body. The bruising and itching was kept to a bare minimum, and on the 2nd day I started my first peel. Now, a week later, it is no longer sore or swollen and itches only when it dries out too much. It looks as though it’s getting ready to peel again, hopefully the last step in a very quick healing process.
The first few days of work were a bit of a challenge. I had to keep the waistband of my pants folded down and it was incredibly uncomfortable, especially as each day wore on. By Thursday, I was able to wear my pants on the tattoo without too much discomfort or worry of it being rubbed too much.
At this point, I am so eager for it to be completely finished healing. I’m ready to see it on my skin as it is meant to be. I have learned so much throughout this whole process, and patience is certainly one of those things.
12/31
It’s been 3 months. The tattoo has completely healed, except for the scarring that is left in a few places – the snake’s head, a few areas on the tree, and there are a few white bumps around the snake’s body and some slight discoloration in the areas that took the longest to heal. I made sure to keep my hands off of it and let it heal naturally, but I knew that it would scar because my body is very quick to do so. All in all, I absolutely love it, and I am thrilled every moment I catch a glimpse of it. I will most likely need to get it touched up, but I will give it at least 6 months to complete the full healing cycle and will wait until I have the money to do so.
I realize that most people are not interested in this process, but this part of the post is just to document what I went through. A tattoo is forever and I don’t want to forget what I had to go through to be adorned with such a beautiful piece of timeless artwork.
What a beautiful culmination of patient thought and creativity.
T
Hi Nicole, I absolutely love your tattoo.. I’ve been wanting an ouroboros and tree of life tattoo for some time and I’ve decided to get one for my wedding anniversary. Would you mind if mine was similar?