My Daily Tattoo

One of the biggest problems with permanent pigments is that the best ones are unsafe for use on humans. This leaves the the industry with just a few save alternatives. For the most part, very light fast and permanent colors are used. But this is not always the case. When it comes to yellow, purple, orange or magenta, the fade resistance is still not very high. The most common reason for fading colors is Ultraviolet Light, especially the light from the sun.

This does not mean once you get a tattoo you have to stay out of the sun forever. It’s just that excessive amounts of sun will fade tattoos. It fades about the same rate your skin degrades when exposing it to the sunlight too much.

Another factor is the application of the tattoo itself. I have noticed the more experienced an artist is the better he can apply the pigment correctly and the less it fades.

Also keep in mind that new tattoos nearly always look like there is enough ink in them because there is ink in both the dermis and the epidermis, but the ink in the epidermis will grow out with the skin and the tattoo will fade noticeably in the first year or two compared to a tattoo done by an artist who takes the time to get it right. So it is important that the artist not go too fast. Think of it as pixels in a digital photo’. If a tattoo is done too quickly less ink gets into the skin and the tattoo will look good at first but will start to fade noticeably after only a year or two. It’s like putting you printer on Fast Draft as opposed to Best, one comes out fast but faded and the other slowly but bright and vibrant. The only difference is that a tattoo will always look bright at first because there is ink in the top dead layer of skin (epidermis) that disappears as new skin grows and the epidermis and flakes off

People often say their tattoo looks much older than it really is. So it is they probably exposed themselves too much to the sun, didn’t take care of it properly during the healing process or the artist simply did not apply the pigment correctly.

Your skin ages and with it the tattoo. That’s a fact and there is no way around it. If you want the tattoo to look good as long as possible take care of your skin and you will take care of your tattoo at the same time.