sophistre:
I don’t have that many followers, but I hope this gets spread around. I’ve noticed that tumblr seems to have a pretty variable grasp on what good tattooing looks like, and at this point in my tattoo journey I feel that I can help by providing solid information. Most of this information was gotten directly from tattoo professionals – among the most well-respected in the country. I’m going to try to cover a lot of ground – what makes a tattoo good, to why you should respect flash, how to care for a tattoo when it’s fresh and when it’s healed, how to find a tattooer to do your tattoo, how to be a good tattoo client, how to have a comfortable first tattoo sitting, information about tattoo removal/lasering – I hope it’s helpful to someone!
Before I begin, let me say that I’m going to make recommendations against certain styles of tattoo in this post for technical reasons that most people don’t seem to know about, HOWEVER – we are talking about YOUR body, and if at the end of the day a certain style of tattooing is the only thing that sets your heart on fire, then you should obviously do what makes you happiest. Life is short, right? But I do think that everyone should make that choice armed with full knowledge about the possible downsides.
So, with that said, let’s jump right in with this: what even makes a tattoo a ‘good tattoo?’
1. Good linework. You want an artist whose lines are consistent, confident, and smooth. The tattoo lines should look ‘clean’ – unless for some reason there has been a deliberate choice to do otherwise by an experienced artist. The challenge here was finding a ‘not good’ example that wasn’t so immediately and obviously terrible that anyone could point at it and go ‘that’s bad.’ I think there are a lot of people who would feel that the above picture is, if you glance at it passingly, sufficient. It isn’t! I think that becomes clear when you compare the two. For more excellent examples of ‘clean’ linework, I recommend checking out Swallows’n’Daggers. You don’t have to be a fan of American Traditional tattoos to appreciate the clean, bold linework of the artists practicing in that style, and it’s a great way to get a feel for good linework – look at a lot of it!
2. Smooth shading. Full disclosure: that weird panthercrab is on my arm, but I’m using it as an example because everyone I show it to is always amazed by how smooth the shading in the shell is, and with good reason! Inexperienced tattooers can have portfolios full of shading that looks muddy, uneven, or blotchy, but a good tattooer will know how to shade smoothly and evenly (unless, as before, they’re going for a different effect, deliberately!).
3. Size and Placement: A good tattooer will understand how the body works, and know how best to size and place a tattoo so that it works WITH the contours of your body. A lot of people, particularly ladies, get small tattoos – too small for the placement, or just too small in general – and often, very small tattoos can wind up looking like stickers. They lose detail quickly because they pack too much intricacy into too small a package, and soon you can’t tell what they were! Bigger is usually better.
4. ENOUGH BLACK: If I could super-bold this, I would. Most tattooers would probably say this ought to be at the top of the list! This is where I’m going to start to step on some tumblr toes, because I know that white tattoos, UV tattoos, and ‘watercolor’ tattoos are pretty popular as concepts these days, but in a little bit I’m going to openly recommend against all three of those things, and this is part of why: tattoos really need black for a multitude of reasons. I’ll get into the reasons, but here are some visual examples:
The above tattoos do not have enough black in them. Some of you are probably thinking that they’re really cute, and I will say that I think at least two of them were very professionally applied, but unfortunately they aren’t going to age particularly well, and it’s going to be virtually impossible to tell what they are from across the street…which bodes pretty poorly for how they will look in only a matter of years. Compare with:
Further disclaimers: The weird rose hybrid and the arm belong to me. This isn’t about whether or not you like the style of the tattoos – it’s fine with me if you think these tattoos are the last thing you’d ever want on your own body – but what I want to look at is the execution. The hybrid rose/dragon is obviously VERY colorful, with a whole lot going on, but all of those colors really ‘pop’ because of the black linework and the shading, with clear and distinct elements, rather than turning into a muddle or smear. It helps to create depth, too, with strong shading. The arm is readable even from a distance; it’s not difficult to make out what each tattoo is. The last tattoo doesn’t belong to me (though it was done by the same tattooer who did mine in the previous images), but I put it here because one of the things I frequently hear is that girls worry that tattoos with ‘a lot of black in them’ will be ‘unfeminine.’ That’s just crazy talk! Look at how absolutely feminine that tattoo is, even in spite of having a badass snake in it! I think it’s gorgeous – and it uses plenty of black.
So why is black important, anyway? You can see that it enhances the readability and even color palette of a tattoo, but more than that, it improves the tattoo’s lifespan. Over time, ink ‘falls out’ of a tattoo. This is natural, an inevitable part of your aging process and the tattoo’s, and colors are the first to go. What remains, when all of the color is gone, is the black. If there is no black, what you have is a tattoo with colors that will inevitably fade at different rates, leaving you with disconnected blotches of color on your skin.
So, since we’re on the subject, let’s talk about tattoo aging!
ALL of the above tattoos were applied by incredible tattoo artists – in fact, some of them were made by legends in the field of tattooing (the babe on the left was made by Amund Dietzel; the piece right next to it was done by Horiyoshi III). I pulled these images from the amazing, wonderful Lived in Tattoos instagram. These days, most pictures of tattoos online are taken right after the tattoo is made, but the tattoo will spend most of its life on your body looking nothing like that! If you want to get a feel for what aging tattoos look like, I can’t recommend that instagram enough.
There is a lot of variation in how a tattoo ages, because there are a lot of factors involved: how well your skin holds ink; how much physical wear and tear (sun, rough contact, etc) your skin is subject to; your immune system; how well you take care of your tattoo as it heals; how it was applied and what the design is like – all of that stuff matters. I’m not going to go into detail here about how tattoos work, but there are resources like this video if you’re curious.
Personally, I think that aged tattoos look absolutely incredible – which is probably good, because you can’t keep them from aging. You can minimize the aging process, though.
-Nourish your skin. Hydrate, use lotion, get the right nutrition – you know the drill!
-Stay out of the sun. If you can’t stay out of the sun for professional reasons, or because you just like being in the sun that much, then cover the tattoos as best you can. If sleeves aren’t a possibility – and they are your best choice – then slather on the 50SPF, and don’t forget to refresh it every couple of hours that you’re going to be outside! If you’re a person who likes to get tan, then you’re going to have to accept that your tattoos will age more quickly than in someone who keeps the ink out of the sun. If you leave a book out in the sun for a while, it’s going to get bleached – the ink in your skin isn’t any different.
Getting tan over your tattoos will obviously interpose a layer of skin with darkened melanin between your tattoo and the eye of the person looking at it, so the color of your tanned skin will affect the apparent color of the tattoo.
This is just one of the reasons that white ink tattoos are not done by most reputable tattooers. They aren’t going to look white – they will look like whatever color your skin naturally is, over top of white. It also tends to fall out unevenly, like any other color of tattoo ink, and because it isn’t bold and readable, it often looks like, well, some kind of skin problem. People who get white ink tattoos often do so because they want something ‘subtle’ – but, IMO, if you’re going to get a tattoo, get a tattoo. Don’t get something that isn’t a tattoo because you aren’t quite ready to take the step to getting a visible tattoo! Keep in mind that a tattoo is essentially a pinpoint abrasion, and eventually you’re going to be left with an abrasion that has no color behind it, except for an off-white, yellow to brown depending on your skintone. Not a great look. The fact that most reputable tattoo artists won’t even consider doing all-white tattoos ought to be a clear indication that they can be problematic in the long-term.
Okay. So you’ve got some idea of what makes a tattoo a good, lasting, readable, vibrant tattoo, and you know that it’s going to age no matter what you do, but you’re ready for that eventuality, and you want to get a tattoo. Where do you go from here?
I’ve got some advice for you!
First, figure out who is doing the tattoo!
1) Check instagram and the internet, but keep in mind that instagram in particular can be misleading. Some artists won’t post everything they do, or will put filters on the photos – they should have a big body of work for you to look at, with regular updates, and some pictures without filters applied. It’s a neat tool for finding artists who work in a style that you’re interested in, but social media can be fallible.
That said, once you know what a good tattoo looks like, you’ll have a much easier time sorting the wheat from the chaff!
2) Choose an artist whose entire portfolio knocks your socks off. I honestly believe that this is probably the single most important part of deciding where, and from whom, to get your tattoo. If you love EVERY tattoo in an artist’s portfolio, you can be 99% sure that whatever tattoo they create for you, you’re going to love that tattoo, too. This is CRITICAL, because no tattoo artist can 100% know what you envision your tattoo looking like, and the best tattoos are images that excite the artist who created them – meaning a good tattooer can take your idea and create something from it that may not be EXACTLY what you envisioned, but will be inspired by their own engagement with the idea, and therefore have more life and soul than a sterile, if faithful, reproduction. One of the coolest parts of my tattoo journey has been showing up to the shop and sometimes having no idea whatsoever what I’d be getting, only to discover that my tattooer created something infinitely more awesome than I could ever have imagined on my own – not because I’m creatively bankrupt but because this is what he does, 24/7, and he brings the wisdom of his craft and the excitement and passion of an artist to the table. If you can trust your tattooer from the outset because everything she or he does is amazing in your eyes, you will almost always get a tattoo you love.
3) Be willing to travel. I know this is easier said than done for most people. The economy is shit, and travel can be expensive – I understand, believe me. For a lot of people, saving up enough money to get a tattoo (which I will cover in the next section) AND saving up enough to travel to get it will mean having to save up for a long, long time…but your tattoo is going to be with you forever. In America, we really like our instant gratification, and sometimes the waiting is too hard…but if anything is worth waiting for, it’s getting the tattoo you’ve always dreamed of, done with the best possible execution.
4) Be willing to pay. I don’t just mean pay for the tattoo at all, obviously – what I’m saying is not to bargain hunt. In tattooing, some people have a saying: ‘People get the tattoos they deserve.’ I know it sounds harsh, but it’s true. Cutting corners on cost on your tattoo is probably not a very good idea. Artists charge different rates even within the same shop – some have flat rates, most charge by the hour – so it’s hard to generalize, but with a good tattooer, for a reasonably sized tattoo, you’re probably looking at several hundred dollars, minimum. My favorite tattooer charges $160/hr, and I wouldn’t hesitate to pay more than that if he raised his rates, because I know without any shadow of a doubt that I will get a fucking amazing tattoo from him every single time, without fail. I’ve paid more and less with other tattooers, and I’ve been cut deals by tattooers, but in all cases I was prepared to pay whatever it cost – and tip well. I personally do 20% every time. This person changed your body forever; they are worth supporting, particularly if you plan to get more work from them someday! (Related: Some shops only take cash, and most shops ‘prefer’ cash. It is traditional in tattooing to pay with cash. If you can’t, either because you’re traveling or for some other reason, then at least pay the tip in cash – your artist will appreciate it immensely. Don’t forget to call ahead of your appointment and make sure that paying with anything other than cash will be alright – it’s good etiquette, and could save you an embarrassing run to an ATM/bank!)
5) Be willing to wait. A lot of the best tattooers in the country have waiting lists 3+ years long. There’s good reason for that. Of course, there are plenty of absolutely incredible tattooers that have no waiting lists, and that doesn’t make them any LESS amazing, but sometimes you’re going to have to wait. It will be worth it. (Also, sometimes even tattooers with long waiting lists have last-minute cancellations. If you live in their area, keep an eye on their shop page or instagram – you might be able to jump in there!)
Okay. So you’ve found the artist/shop you want to go to. What are your next steps?
1) If they’re not near you: Check the shop page and find out how to schedule a consultation with the artist, or make inquiries. Some might want you to call, some might want you to email. If you’re not local, you’ll probably need to send an email with any reference pictures you may have, or descriptions of your concept. I’m going to dig into consultation stuff in a sec.
2) If you’re local: You have options! You can go to the shop and check the artist’s portfolio out, usually without having an appointment, and get a feel for the shop and the people in it. If you want to talk to the artist about your concept, you will want to schedule a consultation appointment.
A FEW THINGS ABOUT CONSULTATIONS AND CONCEPTS
-If you’re going to the shop in person, print out any reference pictures and bring them in with you. DO NOT bring your phone in and make the artist look at tiny pictures on your cellphone. Although it pains me to admit this, I did this to an artist before I had any tattoos. I didn’t know any better. This drives tattooers absolutely bonkers, so you can learn from my mistake – bring printouts. They will appreciate it. Trust me!
-If you have a very specific concept, understand that the artist may make changes, and probably will. And this is probably a GOOD thing. I’m going to elaborate here, because one of the things I’ve seen that creates bad tattoos is the desire on the part of many people to control every last detail of their tattoo. They’ve been thinking about this incredibly complex idea in their minds for the last several years, maybe even had a friend (who isn’t a tattooer) draw up the concept, and they want to go in and have the tattooer reproduce the drawing exactly, or add all of these impossible details (”I want a rose but I want all of the lines in the rose to be cleverly concealed names of all of my best friends”). They won’t take any advice from the tattooer, and the result is a bad tattoo.
-If you choose a good tattooer, your tattooer will know what does and doesn’t make a good tattoo, and any changes that they propose to size, placement, color palette, or content will be suggested only because they want to create the best possible tattoo for you – after all, it’s as much a part of them, professionally, as it will be for you, personally. This is one of the reasons that it’s so important to choose someone you know you can trust to create an amazing tattoo; you’ll be able to comfortably trust that they know what they’re talking about if they tell you that something in your concept is not workable, or might be better executed in a different way.
-Something that most people don’t seem to understand is that you cannot simply transfer a piece of art, no matter how aesthetically attractive, onto skin, and expect it to be a good tattoo. Skin is not paper or canvas. Skin behaves uniquely, and tattoos, and the method of creating them, is not comparable to any traditional medium. The body is rounded, and it moves. It stretches and changes with time. These are important considerations – and they are one reason that most tattooers do not want to tattoo your ribs with a long passage from a Harry Potter book! Text in general is not a great choice for a tattoo, partly because ink will spread eventually and look a mess, but also because the body is curvy, and the text is going to warp. Besides – tattoos are a visual medium. Why take up valuable tattoo real estate with text when you could have a stunning image there that conveys the same idea? I understand the mad love for words – I’m a writer, after all! – but images on the body always look better than big blobs of text. (Just a few words in sequence, or single words, tend to work better.)
-Please don’t ask them to put your tattoo upside-down. They get this a lot, and it’s always a bad idea. Someone comes in and asks for a heart on the wrist or something, but they want the point angled toward the elbow, because ‘it’s for me, so it’ll be the right way up when I look at it.’ They get this so often that ‘it’s for me’ is a running joke. Everyone who sees your tattoo is going to ask you why it’s upside-down. It’s going to look very silly.
-Tattoos don’t have to have any meaning. This isn’t exactly a consultation thing, but I think I need to throw it in here, anyway. Tattoo television shows have given everybody the idea that tattoos always have to be sentimental or meaningful or significant or something, but none of that is true, and most tattoo artists are going to be covered in tattoos that don’t have any special meaning. Not a single one of my tattoos commemorates anything at all – but all of them have become special to me, because the memory of getting them is special. You can get a tattoo just because you like it, and you can get a tattoo just because you like the artist who did it, and all of that is fine. Don’t worry about explaining the deep meaning behind your tattoo. You don’t need to, and insinuating that tattoos without meaning are shallow is probably not a great idea!
-Some artists don’t do sketches in advance. This is not unusual. My favorite tattooer doesn’t draw anything up for his appointments until the night before, because he wants the tattoo’s concept to be fresh in his mind, as he tattoos every day, sometimes multiple people per day. A lot of people expect a back-and-forth refinement of a tattoo stencil in advance, and sometimes this isn’t the case…but, if you choose a tattooer you can trust, you can rest assured that you will love what they create for you. (Have I harped on that point enough yet? ;D) Some artists do send designs out, and that’s cool; some will adjust your stencil on the day-of if there’s something you don’t like (and all will adjust the stencil once they try it on you if they feel it needs refinement). It’s fine to request changes to a design, though it’s important to remember that you are asking for additional time and labor! You need to be happy with the tattoo you’ll be getting, and they will want you to be happy with it, but it’s also important not to nitpick unnecessarily. Only you will know where the line between the two is.
So, okay. You’ve had your consultation with the artist, you have an appointment for your tattoo – woohoo! Time to talk about shop etiquette, how to prepare yourself and have a good sitting, and how to be a good client.
Preparing for Your Appointment
-Pack a bag with stuff you’ll need. If you’re local, you might want an mp3 player (though I always just chat with my tattooer, or sit quietly). A bottle of water or juice and some snacks are a good choice for sitting several hours – nuts, granola bars, maybe a little bit of hard candy to keep your blood sugar up. For certain areas, other props may be helpful (people who get backpieces swear by wearing an unzipped hoodie backward so that their fronts are warm even though their backs are exposed, for instance; pillows can help if you have to lay on your side for a long time, but you should ask your tattooer in advance if this will get in her/his way). If you’re traveling, this should include unscented/undyed bar soap, like Dove, for your first wash the next morning. You may also want to bring towels from home to protect the hotel sheets from leaking ink the first night. As you get more tattoos you’ll eventually nail down what you need and what you don’t.
-Be rested. Get sleep that week, and especially the night before. Being well-rested helps with pain tolerance in a huge way, and makes it much easier to sit still for hours without fatigue. If you spend the night before out partying and get hungover, you’re gonna feel like shit during your appointment.
-Eat well the day of your appointment. I like eating a breakfast I know is going to stick to my ribs (pancakes and protein!). You want to be full without going overboard! After your tattoo, if you’re like me, you’re probably going to want protein in a huge way. (Pho is a good choice!)
-Don’t be on any substances. A lot of shops will turn you away if you’re drunk or visibly high. It can actually make the pain worse, and besides – this is a big deal, you’re deliberately changing your body forever. Don’t you want to remember it? The pain is part of the experience of earning your amazing tattoo. Stay plugged in to the moment!
-Be clean. This seems like it ought to be a no-brainer, but from what I’ve heard from tattooers, not everybody is this courteous. Brush your teeth. Put on deodorant. Shower, wear clean clothes (and socks!), and don’t wear any heavy perfume or cologne. If you can/are willing to shave the area where you’ll be getting the tattoo, it may be helpful to your tattooer. They’ll probably go over the area again with another razor, but at least most of the work will already be done!
Shop Etiquette
I’ve already talked about the cash policy at most shops, and about being clean and coming prepared, but there are a few other things to throw in here.
-Be on time. If it’s your first appointment at the shop or with a certain artist, you may actually want to be early, since you’re probably going to have to fill out a consent form/waiver.
-Don’t bring 500 friends. They will only get in the way. Once the excitement of the tattoo starting is over with, they’re probably going to get stuck there for the next three hours, clogging up the waiting room (or worse, the work area) and being disruptive. If you bring somebody, make sure they are polite, not loud, and willing to stay out of the way. It can be rad to sit with a friend and chat with a tattooer during a tattoo, but it’s still somebody’s workplace, so it’s important to respect that.
-Respect flash art. Okay, so this isn’t EXACTLY shop etiquette, but I couldn’t figure out anywhere else to put it, and it’s important. In tattoo shops you’ll see sheets of art on the walls. Back in the day, tattoo street shops did a brisk business tattooing ONLY designs found on their walls. A person – probably a military guy – would come in and point to a piece of flash or give the tattooer the number on the flash sheet, and get his tattoo, and that was it. These days, I hear a lot of trash talk about flash, and I will admit that as a teenager who had no idea what she was talking about, I also looked down my nose at flash. Why, I said, would I want the same design as a million other people? I wanted ~custom~ work.
The truth is that most flash sheets in shops are either vintage tattoo images (and therefore iconic and classic; they will remain excellent tattoos forever, and won’t ‘date’ you the way that, say, a watercolor tattoo would) or painted by the artists in the shop, or friends of theirs from another shop. Most of the flash you see on the wall in shops around where I live are sheets painted by artists local to the area, and NOBODY has those tattoos – possibly because of that prevailing snootiness about flash in general. Flash is an essential piece of tattooing tradition. Love the flash. Embrace the flash.
Okay. So you’re getting your tattoo. The day has arrived. You are, if you have not had a tattoo before, probably pretty nervous.
Does it Hurt?
Yes, getting a tattoo hurts. There isn’t any way around it, and if you talk to people in the industry, many of them will tell you that they don’t think there should BE a way around it, because the pain is part of the process – and I agree!
Before I got my first tattoo, I spent night after night googling tattoo stories, trying to find out what it would feel like. None of the descriptions could ever possibly stand in for just getting a tattoo, but I will add my perspective to the pile:
Ever have road rash on the asphalt? That stingy, hot/cold feeling? It’s like that, except at a pinpoint size. You are getting a pinpoint abrasion. Sometimes it feels sharp, sometimes it burns like a sunburn, sometimes it goes numb and you can’t feel it and sometimes it hurts like a motherfucker, but for me it’s usually a variation on that feeling. Nerves are weird – sometimes you’ll be getting tattooed on your arm and feel a twinge in your back or ribs! Sometimes, tattooing over bone, it vibrates down the length of the bone itself.
Nobody can tell you exactly how it’s going to feel. Every part of the body feels differently, and everybody’s body is different – plus, some tattooers have heavy hands, and some have light hands. But I will say this: Most people who get tattoos go back to get more tattoos. If it was truly excruciating beyond endurance, that probably wouldn’t be the case, so while you will inevitably be nervous, rest assured you can get through it!
Remember to breathe and relax as much as possible. I’ve heard some people suggest that it’s important to relax your feet, presumably because the rest of you will also relax in turn, and that’s not bad advice.
Just try to stay still, breathe through the discomfort, eat your snacks/drink your water periodically to keep your blood sugar up, and before you know it you’ll have your tattoo!
You Got a Tattoo! What Now?
-Follow your tattooer’s aftercare instructions. Different tattoo shops, and even different tattooers within the same shop, will have different preferred methods of caring for a fresh tattoo. They’ll tell you what they want you to do when you get tattooed, and as long as they’re a good tattooer, you should absolutely follow their instructions to the letter. Some bad tattooers will suggest doing crazy things like putting tea-tree oil on your tattoo, or neosporin, or something like that – DON’T DO THAT. That is BAD. Do not put a bunch of crazy shit on your healing tattoo! Yes, it is an open wound, but it doesn’t need neosporin, please for the love of god don’t put that on your new tattoo.
As you get more tattoos, you will develop a preferred method for healing them, and when you have enough tattoos, most tattooers will probably just tell you to do whatever you have success with, but at first you should really follow your tattooer’s advice.
Just to be informative, though, I will describe how I heal most of my tattoos. I ‘dry heal.’ After my tattoo appointment, I leave my tattoo wrapped up for 24 hours, so I go to sleep with the wrapping on. In the morning when I get up, I remove the bandages and take a hot shower – as hot as I can stand on the tattoo, to loosen up the goopy slimy plasma and oozed-out ink, and clear it from my pores. I VERY GENTLY run my fingers over the tattoo to help remove the plasma. It’ll feel slimy/sticky and look shiny when your skin is supposed to be dry, so if you get out of the shower and see shiny patches, you probably need to keep GENTLY rinsing. I use unscented/free and clear type soap – dove works well. Removing the plasma is important because this is what forms scabs, and you don’t want scabs on your tattoo – they can pull ink out of your skin!
After that, I let the tattoo air dry, and then I leave it the hell alone! For several days afterward, I’m just very careful to wash the tattoo in the shower and then air dry it, and leave it alone. Several days in the tattoo will begin to get a little bit milky looking, and that’s when I start to use a very small amount of lotion, because it’s about to begin peeling.
DO NOT REMOVE PEELING SKIN. Don’t wipe it off, don’t pick it, don’t do anything with it! You will pull ink out of your skin if you remove it. Let it peel off by itself. Yes, it is gross, and you will wind up with ‘fruity pebbles’ in your bed (ewwwww) – but just let the tattoo do its thing. This is true of ANY aftercare method, so it applies whether you’re dry healing or using tegaderm or whatever.
For the most part and for most people, your body knows how to heal itself – you need to get out of the way and let it do that. Don’t use harsh cleaners, don’t slather on a lot of product (there are a ton of tattoo products out there, but most of them are a rip).
Tattoo Removal?!
Hopefully, you now have an incredibly amazing tattoo that you’re in love with. But, what if you have a bad tattoo? While it is technically possible to remove a tattoo through laser treatments, it is time-consuming, extremely painful – much worse than getting the tattoo in the first place, by all accounts – and an additional expense. On top of that, there are a lot of places that offer tattoo lasering with techs who don’t understand how the technology works, just in it to make a quick buck. It can be an absolute minefield.
A quick note about tattoo removal: there are other methods out there for removing tattoos, but I seriously seriously no joke I’m really serious about this do not recommend using any of them. Most of them have absolutely appalling results. Please don’t be fooled by anything that says you can use topical ointments or oral supplements to remove your tattoos. Please don’t do this. Pictures of the results ought to convince you that this is a horrendous idea, but please be warned before you go googling that they are graphic and disgusting.
What you need to know about laser treatments is that different ink colors respond to different frequencies. During the process, you may need to have treatments involving different frequencies in order to break up the ink – so black ink may begin to fade first, while the other colors appear untouched. It is a gradual process and a little complex. If you have questions about laser removal, I would recommend doing extensive research, but also checking this site and contacting the owner if you have questions. He has no idea I’m including this link here, but he’s a regular at an upstanding tattoo forum I’m on – a forum created by a tattooer, for tattooers. He consistently has some of the most educational information about laser tattoo removal that I’ve ever read, and if I ever had to remove a tattoo for any reason, he would be the guy I contacted – even though I live all the way on the other side of the country!
I may add to this post later if I think of any other fundamentals, but for now I’m going to wrap things up. I hope this was helpful to somebody out there. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me – I’ll answer what I can, and if I don’t have the answer or feel I can’t give you absolutely solid information, I’ll try to direct you to a place/person that has the answers you need.
Tattooing is an incredibly rich part of human history, and it deserves the best information and best practice possible. If this helps even one person get the tattoo they’ve always wanted, it will have been worth it!
Cheers.