About No Pain Tattoo
In 2022, Michael Hollman was getting tattooed by Tony Vyeda at Historic Tattoo in Portland. The area they were working on was a difficult placement. Tony had given him some numbing cream to try and even put it on him before they got started. The numbing cream worked for about 20 minutes and wore off. Tony, who knew Michael's background building beauty brands, said something like: you could figure out how to do this better. Michael agreed and got started almost immediately.
Before No Pain Tattoo, Michael spent seven years as President and CEO of The GelBottle Inc, a nail polish brand he grew from zero to over $4 million in revenue. He sold his shares and left in 2023 to build something of his own. Before the beauty industry, he spent the better part of the 1990s and early 2000s as a guitarist, playing with Pro-Pain in New York, Possessed in the Bay Area, Pivot_Man and Premium in Chicago. He's been getting tattooed since the late '80s at shops like East Bay Tattoo in Hayward, CA, Picture Machine in San Francisco, and shops across the country and around the world. He was even lucky enough to get tattooed by Bernie Luther in Austria in 1994.
He knew how to build a product. He knew very little about anesthetics.
Two years of development
The next two years were spent learning. Michael worked with companies and medical consultants in the US and UK, chemists and biologists who taught him the science of topical anesthetics and the ethics that go with it. He only tested formulas on himself. When one felt ready, he'd book an appointment with Tony and get tattooed in the same spot on both legs. One side with the cream, one side without.
The tattooers at Historic filled in what the labs couldn't. They let Michael watch them tattoo through products that turned clients' skin rubbery. They told him exactly what they needed: something that numbed the client, but didn't alter skin texture and didn't create healing problems.
The current Numbing Cream formula takes 90 to 120 minutes to activate, not the 45 to 60 minutes competitors claim. But it lasts significantly longer during a session. Michael decided the wait was worth it and released it in 2024.
One rule
From the start, there was one rule: if a product wasn't genuinely better than what was already on the market, it wouldn't be released. Every product since has gone through the same test: the Numbing Spray, Final Mile Gel, Cleansing Foam, Soothing Gel, and Aftercare Balm.
Where we are
No Pain Tattoo operates out of Historic Tattoo, a tattoo studio founded by Craig Brown in 2008 in Southeast Portland, Oregon. Michael rented space in the back of the shop when the brand launched in 2024. Working out of a busy shop meant he was hearing from artists constantly.
If you're in Portland, stop by. You can pick up products, see what's in stock, get tattooed, or just talk.
Numbing cream, numbing spray, Final Mile Gel, and a complete aftercare line. Everything from your first session to full healing.