Behind the ear tattoos for women: size and pain

Designing for 3 to 5 centimeters

At this size a design can carry one idea and one level of detail. A small moon, a single stem, a short word, a few dots, a simple symbol. A butterfly with wing patterning, a rose with layered petals or a compass with a full rose all need more room than you have, and squeezing them in produces a dark smudge within five years.

Keep 1.5 to 2 mm between parallel lines and letters above 8 mm. The skin behind the ear is thin enough that ink spreads more than it would on a forearm, so anything that only just works on the day will have closed up by year four. Ask to see healed work from this exact placement rather than fresh photos.

What fits behind an ear

• A single simple shape at 2 to 3 cm
• A short word at 8 to 10 mm letter height
• A handful of dots, stars or small marks with clear space between them
• A slim vertical stem running down toward the neck

The sound, the vibration and the pain

This placement has a quirk nothing else shares. The needle is working directly on the bone of your skull a few centimeters from your ear, so you hear the machine through your own head as a loud grinding rattle. People who handle pain fine often find this the hardest part, and there is no way to avoid it.

The pain itself is 6 to 7 out of 10, sharp and hot over the mastoid. Sessions run 20 to 45 minutes for most small pieces, so it is brief. Music through headphones in the other ear helps more here than at any other placement.

Shaving the hairline and growing it back

The artist will usually shave a small patch of the hairline behind the ear so the stencil sits flat and the skin is clear. It grows back normally over a few weeks and is invisible under hair worn down. If you have very short hair or a shaved side, that patch will show for a while, so ask exactly how much they need to take before they start.

Hair products are the healing problem. Shampoo, dry shampoo, hairspray and conditioner all end up behind the ear, and they sting and irritate fresh ink. Keep them off for two weeks, wash your hair leaning forward, and tie long hair back so it does not stick to the healing surface.

Glasses, earbuds and how fast it fades

The arm of a pair of glasses rests exactly on the top edge of this area, and over ear headphones press the whole of it. A mask loop hooks around the same spot. For two weeks, use contact lenses if you have them, switch to earbuds or nothing, and take the pressure off however you can, since friction here is what causes patchy healing.

Fading is quicker than on an arm. Thin skin, sun on the area when your hair is up, and daily contact with products all work against it. Simple designs in solid black hold up longest, and many people come back for a touch up somewhere around year five. Keep the piece simple enough that a touch up is easy to do.