Black Ink And How Long Will A Black Ink Tattoo Last? With good quality tattoo aftercare the life of black and grey tattoos lasts10 years or considerably longer. At 10 years or more they may be needing a retouch to bring back the former glory.
Black ink is very versatile as the chemical composition of black ink is the more stable of tattoo inks giving it a higher resistance to fading over time.
Dark inks like blues and blacks are more suited to darker skin and appear to last longer.
White ink appears to fade the fastest. Remember all tattoos will fade slightly at some point.
While there to be no connection between tattoos and cancer, some inks have ingredients that are linked to cancer.
Different colours make little or no difference to new tattoo healing time.
Some black inks can contain high levels of carcinogens like benzo-a-pyrene.
If after a long time your black ink tattoo looks blue or even green, it is caused by your body absorbing the black ink pigment and fading with time.
Fading means there is less density of ink pigments and base colours and so sometimes the tattoo colour can show as blueish green.
This may happen after many years and will be caused by the ink base colours used by some manufacturers. At this point it’s time for a retouch.
There will always be a variation of ink quality between manufacturers. There are cheap, low quality inks out there just as there is cheap low quality tattoo aftercare.
Always go for good quality ink and aftercare for maximum life of a tattoo.
Some of the best inks available are:
Kuro Sumi Imperial Tattoo Ink. World Famous Limitless Tattoo Ink. Eternal Ink Tattoo Ink. Viking Ink Tattoo Ink by Dynamic. Bob Tyrrell. Alex De Pase.
Liz Cook. Jess Yen. Myke Chambers. Rich Pineda.
Evan Olin. Ben Kaye. Shige.
Radiant Colors.
Viking Ink Tattoo Ink by Dynamic.
Panthera Tattoo Ink.
Allegory Ink Tattoo Ink.
What does black ink symbolize?
It was the first pigment used by artists in prehistory and the first ink used by book printers. Black played an important role in the development of art and literature.
Black ink can be linked with death, mourning, evil magic, and darkness, but it also symbolizes elegance, wealth, restraint, and power. It is also often used to express ideas about death, mortality, and the afterlife. Black inks can also create beautifully intricate designs with lots of detail, making them a meaningful choice for many people.
What ink ages best, black or colour?
Under normal conditions colour fades and ages quicker than traditional blacks or greys.
Red ink is better than other coloured ink for its lasting ability but in general coloured ink doesn’t always keep its fine lines and definition as long.
Allergies are also more common in coloured inks.
Black ink may turn grey over a long period as macrophage cells from your immune system may slowly absorb and disperse the ink and the tattoo will fade or take on a grey appearance.
Of course poor tattoo care and poor aftercare products will accelerate the ageing process of skin and fading. The biggest enemy of any tattoo is friction, rubbing, sunlight and cheap aftercare products.
Before getting any tattoo you need to know your artist, the surrounding hygiene, the quality of ink and then of course you have to take care of the tattoo when it’s done.
Good rapid healing of a new tattoo and the use of only high quality aftercare will give the best result.
At Tattman we produce a Mega Black series of tattoo aftercare specificaly for black ink.
Tattoo balm, tattoo oil and tattoo aftercare cream.
