My First Tattoo — Charlie Rose Tattoo Studio in Canggu Bali

Ok so I finally commited to getting my first tattoo at 30 years old, its been a  long time coming, I had a vacation booked to Bali and decided this was the right time. 

I spent hours searching Instagram for just the right Tattoo Studio, and a place I felt comfortable with (there are a lot of tattoo studios in Bali).

I finally found Charlie Rose Tattoo studio Canggu bali a small amazingly cool seaside studio in the heart of Berawa, Canggu.

I messaged ahead and made my inquiries, they were super forthcoming with information about the tattoo process, aftercare and swimming, It felt right so I took the plunge and booked in.

Firstly I want to say on arrival its not how I expected a “tattoo studio” to look like, Its super light space, mostly glass and white walls and it just felt really clean from the start. OK Im actually here OMG.

I was greeted by Zarina the manager at the studio, she is super friendly and immediate made me feel really welcome and comfortable. (my first tattoo I was a little bit highly strung, scared if I’m honest).

My tattoo artist was Akis (@Stigmata.ttt), and once again I felt like I was in skilled and capable hands, he was patient and really into what he does for a living, we had a talk and exchanged some ideas about what I was looking for in my tattoo design. Then he just started drawing as we talked and it was such an amazing design a lot more than I really expected, (and to be honest a little bit bigger than I had planned to get), but he assured me it would fit my body just fine.

So after copying the design on to check the placement was right, away we went, I was in too deep now, no looking back, Sorry Mom.

All my tattoo artists equipment was wrapped in disposable plastic for hygiene (even the lamp….?) which I was quite impressed with. It quelled a few of my fears about getting my first tattoo in Asia, this studio just feels really clean like they take it quite seriously. 

So now we were ready to go, I felt really comfortable with Akis and we chatted about life in Bali the universe and everything, it didn’t really hurt as much as in thought it would at all. After an hour or so it was over, I was actually feeling quite high and I absolutely loved the design it was so strong yet subtle and femine as I described what I wanted the design to be like. 

It felt like it had been there forever, like it was meant to be, I was super happy, its really quite an amazing skill these artists have and I was impressed by actually how fast my tattoo was done.

-Review by Tamara