Other tip offs to the artists are of course your breathing and of course the various expressions that might appear on your face! Keep in mind that while getting anew tattoo, having a cover-up done or getting tattoo removal work done, you can always say ‘I think I’ve had enough for today’, trust me the artist has heard it before and if it’s too much just give it a few days and return for the remaining work, not a big deal. Smaller touch ups can always be completed at a later date, these can include shading graduations, clarifying solid lines in more sensitive spots or maybe just a bit more pigment is needed to really make the artwork pop the way you’d like.

Touch-ups are often done on faded tattoos. Various pigments will tend to degrade at varying rates, they won’t all fade at the identical speed. Where the tattoo is still fairly new and you only require a single color added or brightened, a green needs to be brightened for example, the artist can overlay the new pigment doing their best the blend the new color with the old. This is also the case for other areas of the artwork – outlines for example. But if the entire work has been badly faded due to sun exposure or simply age, the sort of work required is not going to be considered a touch up, it’s referred to as a complete redo.

Keep in mind that not all changes can be corrected with ink touch-ups. The best example I can give here is work that may have been done on something like stretch marks. There can be issues that the lack of elasticity in the skin causes in cases like this. The only way to know for sure is to visit the artist and see what can be done about removing or fixing the unwanted ink. Additionally, blurred tattoos are often not considered good candidates for touch up work. With these you may consider a number of more effective alternatives like lessening the unwanted design through fading it first. tattoo removal creams, TCA acids and laser work are often used to prefade an unwanted design prior to getting the re-work done. However, they may also remove the tattoo altogether which might be just as much to your liking as well.

For those who have had extensive exposure to the effects of sunlight or who have just had their ink for many years a redo might not be the most effective alternative. Once your skin has been tattooed, the truth is it will never be quite the same.

If you decide on a redo the work will often be quite difficult to produce the desired results , they could quite likely end up being something other than you had in mind. However, on the bright side a new cover-up will provide a vibrancy as well as a new tattoo, sometimes the new work will create a new sense of depth and dimension that is only the result of the various new and old ink molecules working in proximity with each other. They don’t become mixed but the unique effect is created by the overlay where the old ink remains underneath.

Tattoos that result in allergic reactions to the ink, either at the time of tattooing or possibly years down the road, are also candidates for removal if the allergic reaction can’t be brought under control. And of course, a simple change of mind, as in the case of the name game, is a perfectly good reason to have a tattoo removed.

Some people would never part with a tattoo, wrong name or fashion statement notwithstanding. They view their tattoos as a part of themselves, places and times from the past that will never really go away anyway. If, however, you are in the raft of people for whom there is no other desrible alternative, you might consider tattoo removal. Let’s talk about the old ways of removal first, mostly so you can be glad for the new.

Old Style Removal

Lucky for you you didn’t want your tattoo removed twenty years ago. Well, hopefully you didn’t anyway. A lot of things have changed since then. Back in the day, there were only three alternatives. Dermabrasion was the first choice and it’s just like it sounds. Imagine taking sandpaper to your skin and rubbing it until there is no tattoo left. All of a sudden pain is spelled “100 grit”. Your second option, Cryosurgery, would at least freeze the area prior to removal., although this procedure was also painful and imprecise.

Third was excision, which was a surgeon using a scalpel to remove the tattoo, stitching you up afterwards and even taking a skin graft from another part of the body to repair the excision if the tattoo was big enough. Some of these procedures are still in use today, depending on the tattoo and it’s specific circumstances. By far and away, though, and to the relief of everyone poised with a sheet of sandpaper over their skin, laser tattoo removal is the standard today, however many types of tattoo removal cream including TCA have also become popular in recent years.

Laser Removal

The obligatory cautionary statement is that the complete removal of a tattoo may not always be possible, even using lasers. Let’s go over how it works first though, and then you’ll see why that statement is so common. A laser is light – very concentrated light, but light. Short pulses of this very concentrated light are positioned on a certain color in the tattoo, passing through the outer epidermis layer of the skin to be absorbed directly by the molecules of tattoo pigment in the dermis. Just as with sunlight (in particular UV radiation), the molecules of pigment absorb energy which they simply can’t handle, breaking their bonds, nearly vaporizing them, and reducing them to smaller sized molecules. When the particles become smaller, the body’s immune system can remove them (white blood cells called macrophages go on the march, scoop them up, and whisk them away). The wavelength of the laser is finely tuned to target a specific color of molecule; other pigments in the tattoo or the melanin in your skin are not affected.

How much of the tattoo gets removed depends on so many different factors: size, location, ability to heal, how the tattoo was applied (amateur or professional) and how long ago it was done. Because there are potentially hundreds of different types of tattoo inks out there, and because we never seem to know which ink was being used, it’d be difficult to know f it can be removed. Laser removal success is color dependent, to a somewhat exact degree when it comes to some colors. For example red tattoo pigment absorbs green laser light. Black and blue tattoos are the easiest to remove while green and yellow are generally considered the most difficult. In general, you could probably say that an amateur tattoo which uses only black or blue ink is easier to remove. Unfortunately, amateurs also sometimes tattoo too deeply, making the pigment harder to reach. A professional tattooist will often mix colors in the process for a graduation effect, which is also more difficult to remove, but will tattoo no deeper than the dermis and at a consistent depth throughout the tattoo.

Here is an overview of the types of tattoos:

Amateur Tattoos. These are made by individuals or their friends often by simply jabbing ink, charcoal or ashes under the skin’s surface using a pin or needle. Additionally, because such tattoo are done under unsanitary conditions with unusual pigments, they pose a much higher risk of infection.

Professional Tattoos. These are applied by registered artists using a tattoo machine. This is a term many tattoo artists prefer to the term ‘tattoo gun’.
Cosmetic tattoos. These may be used as permanent make-up, such as eye and lip liner, lipstick, blush, eyebrows or hair imitation. The process may be repeated over time when the colors begin to fade.

Medical. These are not for decorative purposes, but are applied for medical reasons. Patients with medical conditions or chronic disease, such as asthma or diabetes, may use one to alert health care workers in the case or an emergency. After breast reduction surgery, a tattoo may be applied to simulate the nipple for example. These are similar to traumatic tattoos which may be applied after injury such as when dirt or other materials get embedded in the skin.

Safety Tips:
Check to see, first of all if the clinic is clean.
Check the bathroom, if it’s dirty – get out of there.
Confirm that the parlour’s business license is up to date.
Check out the tattoo area and look for a separate area for tattooing with a clean, hard surface with no contaminated items present.

Steps that you can take to increase your chances of getting a good tattoo:
Avoid alcohol or taking any drugs the day before and the day of getting a tattoo.
Avoid getting a tattoo when you are sick.
make sure all needles are removed from sterile containers.
Make sure the studio has sterilization equipment to clean instruments after each use.
Make sure that the artist cleans his or her hands and puts on clean, sterile gloves.
Get a list of the specific types of pigments that the clinic uses, including color, manufacturer and lot number.
Make sure to follow carefully the healing instructions that the tattoo artists provides to you.

Some people may develop allergic reactions to various kinds of pigments that are used within the inks – especially red. Remember that tattoos can be removed, sometimes, most easily is the tattoo was done entirely in black.

There are various ways to remove tattoos and each has its own unique costs and benefits. The most common options are excision, dermabrasion, laser tattoo removal, tattoo removal creams and and Intense Pulsed Light.

Although lasers are the most common approach, they are designed to break down the tattoo pigments which are absorbed by your body’s immune system. This can lead to the possibility of an allergic reaction.

Remember To Think Before You Ink!

Are you looking for the best methods of removing tattoos?

Unfortunately ink manufacturers and tattoo artists, who mix their own pigments, are not required to reveal their contents. Nor are these products currently required to have US FDA approval. Most inks used for tattooing are not technically inks but rather pigments (powders) that are mixed with various carrier solutions designed to disinfect the pigment and ensure that it remains evenly mixed for ease of application.

The following carriers are considered to be the safest:

• ethanol (drinking alcohol)
• purified water
• witch hazel
• Listerine
• propylene gylcol
• glycerine

The less-safe carriers are considered to be:

• denatured alcohol
• methyl alcohol (methanol, carbinol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits) – drinking only 10 ml of methyl alcohol has been known to cause blindness, ingesting 100ml can kill you
• isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol – it is most often used as a cleaning solvent)
• ethylene gycol (antifreeze – used in vehicles and air conditioners, when ingested it can affect your central nervous system, heart and kidneys, causing death)
• aldehydes, such as formaldehyde (the stuff they preserve bodies with) and gluteraldehyde (a medical disinfectant and preservative, it is known to be toxic toxic and can cause severe eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, as well as, headaches, drowsiness and dizziness. It is considered one of the main sources of occupational asthma among health care workers.

Some of the substances used in pigment mixtures may produce toxicity. Modern pigments often include natural minerals, metal salts (metals that are oxidized to create a color change – copper is very common for creating blues and greens for example), industrial organic compounds, petroleum compounds, acids, vegetable dyes as well as plastics. The types of reactions possible include an allergic reaction, scarring, photo sensitivity reactions (especially from sunlight).

The pigments that are most commonly reported as causing an allergic reaction are reds and yellows. Surprisingly these are also the two that most often spontaneously disappear from a person’s tattoo without any signs of reaction.

ABS plastics are known for their vibrant coloring effect, however many customers have shown sensitivity to them. Glowing pigments or those that respond to black UV light are often considered more risky – some of them may be safe, but others contain phosphors or may also be radioactive.

This list includes some of the common pigments used in tattoo inks as well as the types of lasers that are most often used to target each color. However, many tattoo pigments are a mixture of different colors or shades that make use of a wide range of tints (blue, red, violet and orange etc) and are therefore difficult to classify, and sometimes treat, as a single pigment – ome of the pigment’s components may tend to absorb a certain wavelength while other components (within the same ink color) will reflect it.

Black: this is actually the easiest pigment to remove. This is because most black tattoo inks will absorb the entire light spectrum allowing all available wavelengths to destroy the ink molecules. Black pigment ingredients commonly include: iron oxides, carbon, logwood (a type of tree as well as the name of the dye taken from it – when mixed with iron it can produce grey to black tones), powdered jet, magnetite crystals, wustite (a mineral form of iron). All types of Q-switched lasers seem to be effective at removing black ink, these lasers include the Ruby, Alexandrite, Nd:YAG-Invisible and the Nd:YAG-Green light.

Browns, Tans, Fleshtones: these are often made with ochre which is made from iron (ferric) oxides often mixed with a clay. Ochre has a yellowish tone when raw but turns reddish/orange when it is heated and dehydrated. Tan inks often absorb laser light below 560 nm and flesh-colored pigment tend to absorb below 535 nm.

Red: This color is often the one reported to cause allergic or other reactions, possibly because it is often made with rust (iron oxide). It’s contents often include cinnabar (known as red mercury sulphide, a common ore of mercury and considered toxic), cadmium red (or cadmium sulfide, most of the worldwide production of cadmium is used to produce nickel-cadmium batteries, it is considered toxic), napthol (are naphthalene homologues of phenol (carbolic acid)). Some pigments used in plastics are also used to create red inks. Wavelengths below 575 nm are usually the most effective for removing them.

Orange: Often made with organic industrial pigments such as: disazodiarylide (a family of about 30 pigments first developed around 1940, there are 3 hues of azo pigments and they are not known for their permanence), disazopyrazolone (pigment common in printing ink, plastics and paints), or cadmium seleno-sulfide. Orange pigments typically absorb green laser light below 560 nm.

Yellow: This color is probably the most difficult to make and ingredients vary widely. It often includes cadmium yellow (cadmium is a sulphide commonly used Ni-Ca batteries – it is considered toxic), ochres, curcuma yellow (this is probably the safest ingredient in yellow dyes, it comes from the ginger family and is often made with turmeric), chrome yellow ( a heavy metal or toxic metal – these elements when accumulated in the bodies of animals over time have been shown to cause serious illness), or disazodiarylide (considered non-toxic). Yellows are sometimes known to cause reactions; this is possibly due to the fact that more pigment is required to make them. Yellow primarily absorbs below 520 nm laser wavelengths but will begin reflecting just above this level it is one of the most difficult pigments to destroy. It usually requires a number of treatments to remove completely.

Green: Are one of the more difficult inks colors to remove or fade since they will only absorb red light. Often made of chrome green (or lead chromate which has been known to cause burning, scarring and possibly cancer), chromium oxide (casalis green or anadomis green), Malachite (now banned in many countries because it is toxic to aquatic animals), ferric ferrocyanides (prussian blue), potassium ferrocyanide (yellow or red). When used in high enough quantities and when added to water ferrocyanides have the potential to create cyanide gas. Lead chromate (an inorganic lead that is considered very toxic), monoazo pigment (considered non-toxic), Cu/Al phthalocyanine, or Cu phthalocyanine. Q switched Ruby lasers are often used for removing greens. Wavelengths of 625-755 nm are the most effective for removing them.

Blue: These pigments are often as resistant as greens to remove since they will only absorb red light. Their pigments often include azure and cobalt blue. Minerals provide blue pigmentation from Copper (II) and Azurite. Lapis lazuli (a semi precious stone mined for 6,000 years in Afghanistan) is also sometimes used, as well as calcium copper silicate (Egyptian blue), silicate of sodium and aluminium (ultramarine blue), these last two ingredients are considered quite safe to use. Other cobalt aluminum oxides and chromium oxides are also popular. The safest blues and greens are copper salts (the metal is oxadized), such as copper pthalocyanine. The copper-based pigments are considerably safer or more stable than cobalt or ultramarine pigments. Q switched Ruby lasers are often used for removing blues. Wavelengths of 625-755 nm are generally considered the most effective.

Violet: is often made of manganese violet (manganese ammonium pyrophosphate) is known to be moderately toxic if ingested and highly toxic if inhaled in it’s raw form. Quinacridone (a synthetic light-and-color fast pigment) and various aluminum salts are also popular to produce violets and purples. Some of the purples, especially the bright magentas, are photoreactive and will tend to lose their intensity after prolonged sunlight exposure. Dioxazine and carbazole are known to produce more stable purple pigments and are both considered non-toxic to the human body. The ingredients to avoid here are cobalt arsenate (a known carcinogenic) and cobalt phosphate; both are known to be highly toxic to the human body. Violet is similar to red in its laser light reflectance and absorption properties, so green light in wavelengths below 575 nm are most often effective for removing them.

White: These colors often consist of lead white (lead carbonate), titanium dioxide (is considered quite safe and is widely used in paints, sunscreens and food coloring), barium sulfate, or zinc oxide. Some white pigments are derived from anatase or rutile (two of the three mineral forms of titanium dioxide). White pigments are sometimes used to dilute the intensity of other ink pigments. Most ingredients commonly used in this pigment color are considered non toxic.

Hopefully this article has helped you to understand some of the issues surrounding ink pigment ingredients and what methods are most effective for removing tattoos.

However, the cost of laser sessions, not to mention the associated pain and long term time commitment, often leaves people searching for alternatives that could be just as effective and possibly cheaper. There are now multiple, proven methods available. Some have been around for many centuries while others are more modern and just as effective as laser therapy – without the huge expense.

Recently there has been a great increase in the number and variety of tattoo removal creams on the market such as wrecking balm and tat b gone. But beware, many of them promise far more than they will ever deliver.

Below are listed a few general guidelines you should consider when researching these tattoo removal methods to determine which best suits your own circumstances

Does the product have favorable reviews from users that you can find online?

Does the product offer a guarantee? Many won’t including many laser clinics.

Can you find a full list of ingredients on the manufacturer’s website?

Does the product contain hydroquinone? This product has been banned in numerous countries because it is known to cause cancer. If the product is a cream does it contain more active ingredients than simply fading agents? Ink faders have not been proven to remove tattoo ink.

When using laser therapy make sure the equipment is well suited to your specific needs. It has to be able to deliver the specific wavelengths of light that are necessary to target the particular colors of ink that you have. One laser will not target all colors and shades of ink pigment.

With laser therapy you may request anesthesia to ease the pain, although it comes at a cost – usually in the neighborhood of $50.

Initially, you’ll need to decide on what removal option makes the most sense for you. If you choose laser therapy to remove your tattoo, you need to be prepared for the cost. Spending a few thousand dollars for this is not unheard of. The total cost will depend on several factors which include things like: where you live, the size of your tattoo, ink density and the number of colors. Laser tattoo removal is considered to be a very effective and proven method to get rid of an unwanted tattoo, it is often referred to as the ‘gold standard’. Bear in mind, this option does come with a number of important considerations. The cost is most often what scares people away once they are told it will take multiple expensive visits (often costing at least $100 – $200 each) to remove their tattoo. The next consideration is the pain involved, some people report it is similar to an elastic bands being snapped repeatedly against the skin.

As an alternative, many consumers are choosing to combine laser therapy with home tattoo removal creams. This can save a lot of money and pain since it can lead to fewer expensive and painful laser sessions. Prior to having the laser treatments these consumers will use a removal cream to first lighten their unwanted tattoo. Without doing this they may have needed a higher number of laser or IPL sessions. Even if they were able to eliminate 2 of these sessions, at $200 each, they would save $400 which is certainly more than most of the removal creams cost for a few months supply. Essentially, the home removal creams assist in exfoliating the older, dead layers of skin and allows the tattoo ink to rise to the surface, or the ink is slowly absorbed by your immune system. Both of these techniques cause the tattoo to fade, over time.

In summary, laser tattoo removal is considered a very effective option but is the second most expensive (IPL is usually done at a higher cost), painful, and does carry some risk of causing additional trauma to the epidermal skin layers. Tattoo removal creams, on the other hand, are much more affordable, are generally sold without risk (some come with money-back guarantees which other do not), but take longer to provide the best results. Therefore, if you are experiencing buyer’s remorse with an unwanted tattoo, a great option to consider is a home tattoo removal cream before, or in addition to, these other options.

Read the Wrecking Balm tattoo removal and Tat B Gone tattoo removal reviews.

Do-it-yourself tattoo removal methods that can be done in the comfort of one’s own home have been growing steadily in popularity. Tattoo removal dermabrasion, laser tattoo removal and excision are the more expensive, and riskier options for removing unwanted tattoos.

The most common at-home tattoo removal kits use skin lightening agents, chemical peels (often TCA or Glycolic acids), exfoliants, chemical extraction ingredients and creams that often include multivitamins to help restore and protect the skin from the harsh effects of the main ingredients. These products will not normally require a prescription or a doctor visit. The risks of scarring or infection are minimal with these products, they may not be approved by the FDA but their ingredients are still considered quite safe to use.

Glycolic and TCA Removal acids are two of the most common peeling agents sold for the purpose of peeling off tattooed skin. They work by lifting the ink to the skin surface as the skin is peeled away. Precaution need to be taken with these ingredients because chemical peels can cause inflammation to the skin, often these acids are sold in lower concentrations – usually 20% – 30%. Higher concentrations are available however, they may not be ideal for those with sensitive skin or who have a known allergy to such chemical agents.

Chemical extractants that are injected into the skin often make use of agents like glycolic acid. They cause an inflamed reaction that helps to bring the ink pigments to the skin’s surface. One such product is rejuvi tattoo removal cream. This method involves injecting the cream into the skin of the tattooed area. It has the effect of breaking down the ink pigments and bringing them to the surface.

Exfoliation works to gently slough off (or remove) the top layers of the skin (known as the epidermis). This method assists in fading your tattoo by gradually removing the topmost layers of skin that may have ink embeded in it.

Creams are normally considered to be fading agents. One of the keys to success with these products seems to be in consistent use – users need to be persistent. These methods typically require show the best results after several months of continuous use.

Any one considering the purchase of one of these products needs to keep in mind that noticeable changes will not happen overnight. The upside of the creams is that they are relatively inexpensive and do not come with the kind of risks associated with the surgical methods.

Read the wrecking balm tattoo removal review.