Hello from Mexico City!
So I've gotten a lot of tattoos in my life but never one in Mexico, so today is the day.
I traveled about 30 minutes from Polanco to this neighborhood to a tattoo studio called
Estudio veinte diez y nueve, so 2019.
Studio 2019.
I really was hoping that a bilingual friend could come join me to help translate the nitty-gritty
details but nobody was able to so I'm going to do it on my own.
You can do it!
And today i'm going to be getting my tattoo with Doris.
So I found this studio by just searching for pictures on Instagram but her work is awesome
so I'm very excited to get this tattoo.
Thank you!
Thank you for coming and it's a pleasure to serve you.
So I'd like something almost like this.
Okay.
A little different than this picture because I don't want to replicate a tattoo someone
already has.
Okay.
But yeah, something like this.
Or maybe with slightly different leaves.
I want the leaves...I don't know how to explain this...follow the form of my leg.
Okay.
Yeah?
And yeah, I think that's everything.
Okay, send me this...send me this picture in WhatsApp.
And first, we're going to put the stencil on you.
Okay?
Okay.
For the stencil, we're going to put this and after that, we'll arrange the plants how you
want them.
But I think they are...the leaves are too closed and after time they're going to.
Come together.
Yeah, and I don't want that.
Okay.
So if we do something like this, maybe more space between the leaves.
Yes, I think that will look better because the ink will expand over time.
More than anything because of the size, because it's something a little small, so that there's
space to put the shading.
Okay.
Okay?
Yeah.
I'd like one leaf to come up like this and the other here.
And the flower more or less here.
But more like...yeah, more like that.
Because I want the flower above my shoe.
Above the line of my shoe.
And the leaf can go down.
Okay.
Yeah, that's okay?
Yeah, that's perfect.
Very good.
Okay.
You are going to lay down.
If you can lay down to the side.
Like this, okay?
And I am going to wrap your leg.
Okay.
Where are you from?
I'm from Arizona.
And you?
I'm from here.
Mexico City.
That's nice.
Like this?
How does it look?
Yeah, um.
Yeah.
Right?
Okay.
What is that?
This is to transfer the stencil.
To transfer the design.
Ah, okay.
Can Iook at it in the mirror?
Sure, go ahead.
What do you think?
Good.
The only thing is here there will be a little pain.
It will hurt a little bit.
Okay.
Yeah.
I like it.
Right?
Okay.
Okay I do believe we're just about to get started.
She placed the stencil on there to put the design and we're waiting for that ink to dry
and then we're gonna for real ink it.
Sealed, okay?
Thank you.
I've always heard that the ones on your feet are particularly painful.
She's doing that little bone on the outside of the foot and yes it is very painful.
This is not a massage, oh my gosh.
So we're almost done with the bottom half of leaves and my goodness do some of these
parts hurt like a son of a biscuit, like on the bone and this part that's like on my heel.
Oof!
Now she's starting on the marigold part of this tattoo and i should probably at this
point explain, why am i getting this tattoo right now?
In case you didn't catch the word play for my channel name it's called MaddieGold because
it's kind of a play on the pronunciation of marigold the way that a Spanish speaker would
say it.
They'd say it more like marigold therefore MaddieGold.
And I thought what better time to sort of commemorate...honor the beginning of this
new chapter where I'm starting MaddieGold as my main thing, my main venture, the only
thing, than with a tattoo like this.
Now I believe we are about 50% done with the flower and it's looking really good.
I am surprised though at how much of a range there is on the pain of this tattoo, like
some places I'm like ahh, this is you know piece of cake, it's tolerable.
And then other places like oh my gosh.
So now the flower is done and we're moving on to the other leaf.
I was having a little bit of difficulty explaining that I kind of wanted it to have a curve,
but Doris is very very patient so I drew it on my phone, like i took a picture of the
tattoo and I drew a little curve on my phone and then we drew a little line on here and
now we're gonna get started.
Something else interesting about this tattoo versus some others that I've gotten is my
leg muscles will want to jump and like twitch and she'll like hit a nerve or graze the bone
a little bit which has been interesting, I'm like keep it calm, keep it calm because that
could be disastrous if it twitches in the middle of a stroke.
Finally, she's adding just a little bit more yellow to the tips of the petals so it super
pops, it's super vibrant, and then the final results!
I'm so excited to see it.
Okay we're done, so the final reveal.
It looks beautiful.
So basically she's gonna wrap it up for now because, well, in my experience the tattoo
will like fill up with plasma, or well the plasma comes to the surface.
And then also because with the placement, it would be rubbing up against my shoe, so
that's probably going to be the hardest part of the healing process.
The reason I actually came to Mexico City in the first place is to meet up with these
guys.
This is Erika and Jesus.
Erika, who you can kind of see right now.
They were like, hey we're here for the Latin Music Festival, you should come!
And at the very last minute, I booked a flight and an Airbnb and like traveled out here.
So now Erika is getting a tattoo and hers is going to be of an agave.
It's looking amazing so far.
How are you feeling?
Great.
Oh dude that looks so good.
You like it?
Yeah it looks so beautiful.
Look at it!
Yes oh my gosh I like it.
It's the perfect spacing with your other ones too.
Look at those details!
I know.
Wow!
Wow it's super swollen, I can tell.
Yeah yeah look at it, it's like raised.
Oof!
Now it's getting sensitive.
This is the best idea we've ever had Maddie.
Yes!
One question because my shoes are going to...(They are) tall.
Yeah.
And it's okay with shoes?
No, you need to leave it free.
So moisture, sweat (they) can cause infection.
So free, for the air to hit it and it will heal well.
Okay.
Sandals!
(laughs) Yeah!
And I take this off tomorrow?
Yes, tomorrow in the morning.
Wet it with cold water and look for a corner to peel it up.
Wash it completely with cold water and let it air dry.
And put a light later of a vitamin I'm going to give you.
Okay.
Okay?
Very good.
Okay so in the end my tattoo cost $2,200 pesos and yours was?
Almost a thousand pesos.
About a thousand.
So i feel like that's a really good price.
That's a really good price for her work.
Way cheaper than i would have paid for this size of tattoo in the U.S. Yep my whole piece
was done in what, 40 minutes maybe?
Yeah that was super quick.
She's incredible.
And the linework is good.
Yeah and she's super patient, clear Spanish.
She does, that helped a lot.
So I think I'm going to do like a final review in a few days once the swelling has gone down
and everything because it looks kind of like I have a broken ankle right now from all the
trauma, but so far I really love it.
And i'm really digging yours too.
I'm obsessed with mine.
It is exactly one week and one day since I got that tattoo and I wish I had better news
to share.
So the healing process has been absolutely horrendous.
I have never been in so much pain after getting a tattoo to the point where i wince and cringe
every time i put my foot down to walk even when I've been keeping it elevated to try
to reduce the insane amount of swelling.
I'm still in excruciating pain and this is with taking occasionally Aleve.
Hasn't really worked hasn't done much.
So finally I decided to text Doris because as of yesterday it started developing these
really thick scabs, something I have never before seen on a tattoo.
Even though it looks like it's infected I don't think it is because it's not oozing,
it's not bleeding, there's no red around it, it's not severely raised up.
As I shared in the beginning I have plenty all over my body including a massive color
piece on my back and even in that case where they're going over it very thick with color
and shading never seen anything like this.
So I text Doris and her response is that's way too dry, you haven't been moisturizing
it enough and it looks like you've spent a lot of time in the sun.
So she goes immediately to blaming me for the situation without asking any questions
at all.
I have not spent time in the sun because I understand that it can damage a new tattoo.
I have been moisturizing it multiple times a day and keeping it clean with unscented
soap, all the things that you're supposed to do for a tattoo in recovery.
The messages between us go back and forth, back and forth where I'm trying to explain
that I've been in a lot of pain and therefore I've been icing it, to which she basically
says, oh then this is all your fault because you're not supposed to ice it because that
causes the tattoo to be wet.
That's bad, it's gonna cause scarring, it's gonna look horrible.
And I'm sitting here thinking, well that's interesting because I looked on many websites
to see what to do for a tattoo that's so swollen because my foot looked like a potato.
I've never ever seen swelling that prominent on my body ever, even for even broken bones
that I've had.
Here's my ankle bone.
Right?
Here's the little dip that I would normally have.
Do you see the difference here already?
Like right there to here the size of my ankles.
There's no dip.
Where the leaf is is where the dip would be and look, look how swollen.
Again she didn't ask, hey did you cover it before you put the ice pack on?
And it wasn't an ice pack that would cause condensation either, but in any case I did,
I put plastic between my leg and the ice pack and that's really all that's been helping
the swelling stay at bay i think.
So at this point in the healing it looks horrible.
Some parts the scabs have come off a little bit or they didn't develop as thick.
Some parts have really thick scabs on it and...
I, I honestly don't know what to say.
I don't know how this is going to look in the end...a little nervous to see honestly,
especially since she seems so adamant that it's going to look bad.
I'd be lying if I said i wasn't disappointed with this experience.
I created this video thinking that i was going to say that getting a tattoo in mexico is
pretty much the same as in the U.S.
You might get it a little cheaper, but it's a great experience, just like I think getting
dentist work or going to the doctor or having, you know, various services like haircuts or
whatever, you can get just as high quality as you would in the U.S.
In this case, I don't think that's the case for all tattoo artists in Mexico, but this
has been a really negative experience.
So after all this was said and done, would I get another tattoo in Mexico?
Yes would I go to a different artist?
Probably.
Would I get it on my foot again?
Eehhh, I would have to think long and hard about that.
So be sure to subscribe because next week i will be going to the hospital to get my
foot amputated.
Just kidding...
I hope.
No but be sure to subscribe because in a few weeks I'm going to be going back to Mexico
City to make a couple more awesome videos that i think you're really going to love.
In the meantime, on the screen here is a video I made last week where i spoke all Spanish
for a day, a collab I did with these guys in Mexico City and one more thing
GONG that bell!
So you get notified when I release a new video and I will see you there.