Monday, July 18, 2011

My Salabrasion Experiance

So if you've been reading..or have read...my previous posts you have somewhat an idea what I'm talking about here.

I don't really feel like going into the whole regret thing again so I'll just go into the actual salabrasion experiance.

We, my husband & I, had already stocked up on first aid items and everything else we were going to need.  If you want to know the actual salabrasion process, go HERE.  To reiterate, we had done plenty of research on the subject as well as consulted with a dermatologist.

I took some pain medication prior to starting, also took a shot a vodka to just calm my nerves as I was begenning to get a little nervous.  After about 30 minutes or so, I sat down in a chair, my husband sat in one behind me, wrapped a Jenga block in gauze, dipped it in water then salt & began "sanding" at my tattoo.  Immediatly, it began to hurt but, of course, this was expected.

I can't tell you how painful it was.  I'd rub my legs, squeeze my hands into fists & try to focus on something else.  My husband kept needing to stop because he was rubbing so hard, the gauze was tearing into pieces every 5 minutes.  Mistake #1, we didn't stock up on enough gauze.  Mind you, we're doing this with salt.  Have you ever had an open cut & you accidently get salt in it?  It burns.  This is what I was feeling on the back of my neck x 10.  Almost like someone had a lighter way too close to my neck but I really did not want him to stop.  Every time he did, the salt just sat there on my tearing skin & it burned that much more.

20 minutes in, I began to cry silently.  By this time, it wasn't just burning but because he was using a wooden block, it felt like the bone in that area was being shaved at.  I could feel it scrubbing agains the bone and it was at this time that I decided to drink the rest of my husbands beer (I had already drank one) and I told him to open another bottle of Grey Goose for me, which he did.  I guess he was also rubbing against some nerves there because there was this "pain" radiating from my neck to my shoulders to my arms.  For those of you who lift, it's the feeling you get after you've fatigued your arms lifting heavy weights, going maximum rep.  It wasn't pain, pain..but it was uncomfortable. 




My husband stopped again for a bit so I decided to take another pain medication so I did.  Then I took another.  I realized that mixing that amount of pain medication with alcohol was not a good idea but I was in tremendous pain.  We did about 15 minutes more when we realized that we had ran out of gauze.  There was this little pile of pink and white gauze (blood) & had no more to continue OR dress the wound.



I called my mom who lives not 5 minutes away and, after speaking to her, we decided we'd jump in the car and go get the gauze from her.  I had already told her a little bit about our plan and though she didn't like the idea, she wasn't going to NOT help me relieve the pain.  I didn't get off because I didn't want her to see anything but she kept saying for me to stop, not to continue this and that she would pay for laser treatments, etc. Bless her heart.  But there's no way in hell i'd want HER to waist over 2 grand on the treatment.  Besides, we were half way done anyway. Mistake #2, don't tell your mother.

Oh but she did give us first aid tape which we had forgotten to buy.  That was Mistake #3.

Stopping for a small amount of time made it more painful, stopping for 10 minutes made it EXTRA extremely painful once we started again.  I can't explain how painful it was.  I was crying silently again, feeling like there was a torch on the back of my neck, burning, there was blood on my shirt, the area was swelling BUT it pumped me up so much to see a clean, salty gauze get scrubbing and then seeing little black spots all over (the INK!).  The ink was coming off!

I could tell my husband wanted to stop.  He would squeeze my hand, I'd keep crying, he'd ask repeatedly "are you sure you want me to keep going?" & I'd just nod or say yes.  I hated that he kept asking me questions because it felt like it took all my energy to answer him and it would come out muffled.  I'd half say, half breathe out, "stop talking".  I have no idea how many swiggs of the vodka I took but it wasn't enough.  Finally, when I could feel myself getting ready to pass out, either by the pain or medication/vodka combo, I told him he could stop.

He sanded for over an hour.

This morning, he let me sleep in of course.  I actually woke up in much less pain than I had anticipated.  I even made Fideo con Pollo, bathed the girls, put the little one down for her nap & am now writing this blog.  It hurts, especially when sweat runs down, so I'm going to heed Juan's advice and not work out.  I really need to focus on keeping the area clean and dry to prevent infection.

If you read the procedure, you know that I still have clean it with salt in 2 days.  That's really going to suck but I've already handled the worst of it, I think. 

I won't post pictures yet.  Maybe in 2 days after we check the healing progress.  But that's my salabrasion experiance.  That it's barbaric, it is.  I was the most painful thing I've ever had to go through (besides childbirth).  It's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

25 comments:

  1. hey im planning on doing this...if I could see pictures of the final outcome that would be great. thanks a lot.

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  2. i can also send you a picture of my tattoo...i would really like an opinion from someone whose gone through this process. you dont know how much of a life savor you potentially are :)

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  3. Hey, yes, I'm sorry...shortly after healing, I started school & it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to keep the blog up. But I'll post one tomorrow with some pictures so you can see the area after a few days, after a few weeks to present. :)

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  4. perfect, thank you so much...if i could get your email address ill shoot you an email to make communication much easier. ill add the picture of my tattoo as an attachment. thanks a bunch!


    my email is kyleenglert@gmail.com...just shoot me an email.

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    Replies
    1. Kyle, I'm SO sorry that I haven't responded! I've been very busy but I finally posted an update (as if you need it)! lol.

      Feel free to message me your progress!

      jhappiness21@gmail.com

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  5. hey just checkin in with you...its been a week and my tattoo is already fully scabbed and in about 2 days it'll be ready to come off. i cant express to you how much you saved my life. this blog entry of yours gave me the courage to actually go through with this "procedure" :p if i knew you in real life i would kiss you and give you 1,000$ jkjk lol. but really, thank you so much. ill send you a picture of the outcome :)

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    Replies
    1. I totally get you!! I don't regret doing it at all!

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  6. Hey I am looking into the same procedure ... I have had 5 laser treatments already but its just very slow.
    I have spoken to my doctor about this procedure and he said it will scar very badly as my tatto is on my shoulder all black but covering most of my shoulder :(
    Could you send me some pics of what it looks like now ? I know it's most likely a very long process but I am used to the laser which is pretty bad as well. My e mail adress is
    Georgebrunner@gmx.net
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. Hey, I've gone ahead and posted an update. Please comment on that blog so I know you found it! :)

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  7. Hey, I'm looking to do the same procedure with a couple tattoos on my hands so that I can join the Air Force. Would you be willing to shoot me some before and after pictures as well? Thanks so much for this!

    venomink3131@gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. Hey, I've gone ahead and posted an update blog. Comment on that blog so I know you found it! :)

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. judy, is it safe to pratice salabrasion on a wrist tat? :O

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  10. I just did this two nights ago to a fresh tattoo. I got where's waldo behind my ear, and the tattoo artist lost his lines half way thhrough. The needle was too big, and I just didn't like it. I was looking into removing it or fading the best I could without so much money, and, at home. People may see it a crazy, but I just don't like it. Once healed I will get it done prefessionallly done instead of a friend who I thought was better than he really was do it!
    Problem is, I have hair and medical tape won't stick! I have found something that works, but I have to change it twice a day or else it will be really dirty and worse off.
    I clean it with anti bactirial soap in the shower everday. It is really hard behind my ear but its working! Everytime I take my bandage off there is the imprint of waldo on it! So I know its working. Even if it fades, I will redo it as long as most of his face is gone.
    People always say why would you get a tattoo and remove it a day later? Because people mess up and I dosnt end up like it should.
    I'm very glad to read this post cause you always google it and see pictures and they are photo shopped. And this is not. I also have been documenting the progress. I didn't go dark red like hers, but it is still working probably cause its such a fresh tattoo. 4 days ago to be exact, I started 2 nights after I got it done.
    I'm very happy with the results.
    I hope it heals nicely, and I can re do it. I will be much happier with it.
    If anyone would like to see my resultts to, you can email me
    Mygoldfish8me@gmail.com
    It really does work!
    And mine was really small, size of a half dollar...
    And I didn't take anything cause I am sober for years
    You can use ice to numb, and also I used a sponge tyep pumice stone and worked so well.
    Good luck

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  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  12. How many months are days did this take for it to fade?

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  13. I would like to try this. My tattoo is about a month old and i want to get rid of it simply because I'm full of regret but

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  14. I'm darkskin. Does that matter?

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  15. I'm not being stupid with this and taking my time and not rushing it all in one go like you. I'm doing small sections at first to see how it works. If it works great I'll keep going in sessions. That's why they say sessions. My skin turned red like your husband's but not as bad. I tried another method but not as severe. I lightly rubbed salt on the left side of the tattoo for 10 minutes then took a dull fusion razor to the area of the left side of the tattoo for two minutes. It faded quiet a bit more with a dull razor softly scraping the area in circles. than with the area of just salt. Your husband could possibly have scars left over going all at one time like that. Which is why I'm doing mine in sessions so I would less likely have scars left over. I all so added a n d cream in large amount as well with a bandage. To much a n d cream can actually take ink out so I would have to do less sessions on my self. And I'll work with Vaseline to after salabrasion because Vaseline takes ink out worse than a n d cream.

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  16. Use lime instead of salt it's not painful and remove your tattoo completely

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