Do tattoos fade? – Making Sure Your Tattoo Holds its Color
People new to tattooing have often asked ‘Do tattoos fade?’ The simple answer is, yes. A more complex and possibly more accurate answer is, sometimes.
In short, a tattoo is made of a pigment placed under the skin. Like most pigments, the various forms used to create tattoo inks are susceptible to fading when exposed to sunlight. So tattoos which are exposed to large amounts of sunlight are often more likely to fade than tattoos which are not.
Although sun block lotions can help to avoid this, the only way to truly avoid such fading is going to be keeping the tattoo out of the sun as much as possible. This doesn’t just mean keeping clothing over it either since the UV rays which cause the tattoo to fade can penetrate some clothing as well.
Another factor is going to be the placement of the tattoo. Tattoos on the face, hands, feet or genitals are going to fade and blur much faster than other places on the body since the skin in these areas is regenerating at a much faster rate than any other place on the body. This regeneration of skin leads to fading and blurring of sharp lines and pigments of tattoos.
Some people simply expect their tattoo to fade over the years since they have seen older people with tattoos which have very obviously faded or blurred over time. Still, this is not something which should be expected. Over the years, better inks, application techniques and equipment have lead to a far greater quality of tattoo than seen on granddad’s old Navy tattoo from that shop in Guam.
Modern tattooing offers not only higher quality materials and equipment, but quite often a superior level of artist as well. Because of this, the prices for modern tattoos can be much higher than their early off the wall predecessors. This substantial investment presents a good reason to take extra precautions in doing ones best to preserve the quality of the tattoo for as long as possible.
So do tattoos fade? Sometimes. If you let them.
Do tattoo removal creams work? – Getting Rid of Unwanted Tattoos
There are various reasons why someone might want a tattoo removed as is evident by ads for various removal techniques. Questions arise, such as; do tattoo removal creams work? Does laser removal hurt? What will leave the least amount of scarring?
Whether it be poor craftsmanship by the tattoo artist, bad choices regarding gangs or romantic associations which the tattoo symbolizes or maybe just a change in lifestyle in which a visible tattoo feels undesirable, there comes a time for some people when investigation into tattoo removal techniques are desired.
Whatever the reason, there are times when some tattoos wear out their useful lives and the owners seek to remove them. In the past, removal techniques of artwork meant to be permanent were harsh, painful and left substantial after scaring which was as undesirable as the tattoo itself. Early on these methods were abrasion of the skin or surgical removal of the skin.
The sanding off of the skin, in order to grind down the skin affected by the ink, is hardly a desirable procedure. Surgical removal is still used from time to time for small work and even to lessen the size of larger work. These are then finished off with laser removal treatments. Obviously, both abrasion and surgical paths leave scars which can often be as unsightly as the tattoo or likely even worse.
The standard technique of the day is laser removal which basically vaporizes the ink pigment by super heating it for a very short time with a very fast burst of laser light. The effectiveness depends upon the colors of the tattoo and the pigment of the skin of the person getting it.
A much less reliable way to remove a tattoo is with a removal cream. When asking, do tattoo removal creams work? The answer is undoubtedly no. Although at first it may seem that they are starting to work, all these creams do is fade the pigment of the actual skin. The tattoo doesn’t change much at all. So feel free to file these products along side of x-ray specs, sea monkeys and get rich quick schemes.