Anyone have tattoos on the insides of their fingers?

As in between the knuckle that pops when you form a fist and the first knuckle on your finger and in between your fingers (as opposed to on top or on your palm side).

I’m curious if a tattoo here would even last given my proclivity for shoving my fingers into tight spaces and pulling on them as hard as I can. Though I feel like when I jam, most of the weight is on the knuckle itself as opposed to the skin between my knuckles.

anyone have any insight into this?

Finger tats fade fast, particularly on insides of fingers. I branded an old wedding ring off, but didn't do a perfect job. The bits of ink that remain on the insides are nearly gone after 4 years. Not sure if this has anything to do with finger locks, which I have been know to do.

Edit: For a larger sample size, drive NW to the nearest Clamper (ECV) bar and ogle some hands...as inconspicuously as possible. LOVE, HATE, etc. have pretty short shelf-lives in this context. None of the Clampers I knew in NorCal climbed, but they did other stuff with their knuckles.

I got a friend with tattoos in the location you’re indicating. She doesn’t climb, and her tattoo faded pretty dramatically after around two years- I think skin naturally sheds faster on your hands regardless of how you use and abuse them.

Had my fingers tattooed about 6 months ago and I’ve already noticed a couple faded areas. My crack technique is pretty shoddy and so a lot of skin scraping ensues.

So I only have anecdotal evidence, but I’d say go for it because you only YOLO once. Just be prepared to get touch ups or just accept that they won’t be a thing of permanency.

Why would you want to do that? 

Serious question. Not passing judgement or criticism. It's a genuine question about something I don't understand.

Marc801 C wrote:

Why would you want to do that? 

Serious question. Not passing judgement or criticism. It's a genuine question about something I don't understand.

because like mountains, it's there.

Marc801 C wrote:

Why would you want to do that? 

Serious question. Not passing judgement or criticism. It's a genuine question about something I don't understand.

So you are constantly reminded who you off'd....until apparently 2 years

Ally L wrote:

I got a friend with tattoos in the location you’re indicating. She doesn’t climb, and her tattoo faded pretty dramatically after around two years- I think skin naturally sheds faster on your hands regardless of how you use and abuse them.

Had my fingers tattooed about 6 months ago and I’ve already noticed a couple faded areas. My crack technique is pretty shoddy and so a lot of skin scraping ensues.

So I only have anecdotal evidence, but I’d say go for it because you only YOLO once. Just be prepared to get touch ups or just accept that they won’t be a thing of permanency.

To be clear this is not the location I’m referring to, I mean on the insides between the fingers, though the location in relation to the knuckles is correct.

That being said, I guess the things I wanna get done are not super detailed so a bit of fading? Who cares. I kinda just wanna know that they won’t turn into black splotches. 

Marc801 C wrote:

Why would you want to do that? 

Serious question. Not passing judgement or criticism. It's a genuine question about something I don't understand.

Same reason people do anything aesthetic. I don’t have a well articulated answer, but humans have been doing it for a long time. I wonder how these guys would’ve answered:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43230202

https://www.si.edu/stories/ancient-ink-iceman-otzi-has-worlds-oldest-tattoos

m j wrote:

I’m curious if a tattoo here would even last given my proclivity for shoving my fingers into tight spaces and pulling on them as hard as I can.

It won't last. Yer gonna die.

All tattoos are temporary tattoos.

m j wrote:

Same reason people do anything aesthetic. I don’t have a well articulated answer, but humans have been doing it for a long time. I wonder how these guys would’ve answered:...

Oh, I wasn't referring to tattoos in general, but specifically, why would the OP want to put tats on the inside of their fingers?

One of my climbing partners has the insides of her hands tattooed exactly where you're describing. Been there for years... No signs that climbing is wearing them off. 

Finger tattoos, especially on the insides of fingers, are tricky! The area between your knuckles and fingers gets a lot of movement, friction, and wear, so tattoos here tend to fade quickly. This part of the skin also regenerates more often due to how much it flexes and rubs against surfaces, so even if the tattoo looks crisp initially, it’s likely to blur or fade faster than tattoos in less active areas.

With your hands constantly in use—and if you're often pulling or putting pressure on your fingers—it’s even more likely that the tattoo would wear down. Some tattoo artists hesitate to do tattoos on inner finger areas for this reason, or they’ll explain that frequent touch-ups might be needed to maintain the look. If you’re set on it, just be ready for the potential of fading and maybe schedule occasional touch-ups if you want to keep it looking fresh!

Climbing won’t affect the ink at all which is what I think you’re asking but tattoos don’t last there regardless. It’s the same kinda deal as tattooing palms or soles of feet and ink just doesn’t take very well. 

Marc801 C wrote:

Why would you want to do that? 

Serious question. Not passing judgement or criticism. It's a genuine question about something I don't understand.

It's called street cred Marc.

m j wrote:

To be clear this is not the location I’m referring to, I mean on the insides between the fingers, though the location in relation to the knuckles is correct.

That being said, I guess the things I wanna get done are not super detailed so a bit of fading? Who cares. I kinda just wanna know that they won’t turn into black splotches. 

I have hundreds of hours worth of work and have never gotten anything on my hands or feet. Elbows I have, but probably wouldn’t do my knees. It’s not just the fact that these are high friction areas, but the skin itself grows differently and isn’t really made for high quality tattooing. Tats will look decent fresh, but won’t last here long. Some might completely remove over time. The best high friction skin to get tattooed is the penis. Haven’t gone there yet though. 

Scott Doering wrote:

I have hundreds of hours worth of work and have never gotten anything on my hands or feet. Elbows I have, but probably wouldn’t do my knees. It’s not just the fact that these are high friction areas, but the skin itself grows differently and isn’t really made for high quality tattooing. Tats will look decent fresh, but won’t last here long. Some might completely remove over time. The best high friction skin to get tattooed is the penis. Haven’t gone there yet though. 

Most interesting humble brag of the day goes to Scott Doering.

Matt H wrote:

Yeah bravo!  This is the kind of intrigue the forumns have been missing lately.  Im not even kidding

Mark it down, no penis tats for scott!

I was honestly thinking about starting a ‘tell me a story with TMI’ thread this morning in the bigwall forum because of how pedantic and boring its been over there

I do what I can do when I can do it *bows*

I have the insides of my fingers tattooed(including the spaces between both knuckles) and my entire palm. The palm took about a year to heal properly and was excessively sweaty until then. The fingers healed properly in 4 months or so, but two months in I thought I made a fatal mistake as it caused some pain to hold anything which pushed deeply into the tattooed area. That went away completely and I'd now have no idea I had the tattoos done.

I'm not sure I would do it again, it's a reminder of a different life and a different person, with different motivations. I love the tattoos and the content of them but something about tattooing so deeply into the skin seems unhealthy and I wasn't thinking that at the time. They were done by Mark Walker who specializes in tattooing palms/fingers and they are as rock solid and dark as the day they were done over 5 years ago. He's on instagram as @walkerx

It was also one of the most excruciating pains of my life, so there's that to consider too. It took about 1.5 hours and I would do 1,000 hours of back tattooing before I did it again.

If you pause this video at 1:20 you can see them.
 Edit: just realized how damn old this thread is

Tatoo from August 2019, picture taken Nov 2024...