All You Wanted to Know About Tattoo Inks

If you are like me I bet you have always wondered what is the deal with tattoo inks.

Let's take care of the major misconception right off the bat, most tattoo inks are not actually inks. Most tattoo inks are composed of various pigments which are suspended in a solution. The purpose of this solution is of course for easier application with a tattoo needle and to keep the pigment evenly spread throughout.

The History of Tattoo Inks

As long as there have been tattoos - some experts put that in the range of at least 10,000 years - there have resultantly been forms of tattoo inks. While thousands of years ago our ancestors would not have known chemical compositions and compounds, they did know how to produce various pigments and dyes from their natural surroundings. Different plants and assorted minerals could be ground (and mixed with a liquid if necessary) into pigments and dyes to produce a range of colors. Just as our ancestors could create colors to paint with they could create tattoo inks to adorn themselves with.

Tattoo Inks Today

Today, tattoo inks can be easily created and designed. Various pigments and dyes can be mixed together to create new, specific colors. Many tattoo artists take great pride in their self-created tattoo inks and keep secret “recipes” for them. Any color you can possibly imagine is available as a tattoo ink, especially if you know the right places. Therefore, you should never settle for a shade of color that is not exactly what you want.

Different skin tones also make tattoo inks look differently. It is obviously harder for a dark ink to show up on a very dark skin tone; and the same goes for light tones and light tattoo inks. This sometimes creates a guessing game when using colored tattoo inks - anything beyond the basic black ink. If you are unsure of what a particular color will look like on your skin, ask your tattoo artist to make a small dot in an inconspicuous place for you to see.

Besides the extremely wide range of colors developed as tattoo inks today, there have been several new tattoo inks to hit the market in the last several years. The first of which is a black light tattoo ink. Like the black light posters in the room of your 13 year old cousin, a black light tattoo will react to black light and glow. Many people question the safety of such tattoo inks, however there are supposed to be safe black light tattoo inks on the market.

The other new development in the field of tattoo inks is removable tattoo ink. These tattoo inks are designed to be easily and completely removed. The pigments in this kind of tattoo ink are enclosed in spheres composed of a synthetic material that is used in surgical glues. When laser light comes into contact with these spheres, they decompose and the tattoo is easily, completely and safely removed. Most tattoo parlors today will have these tattoo inks available among their tattoo equipment and supplies with only minimal extra cost.