Comments (0)

By infmom, May 16, 2008 11:34 am

I don’t know about anyone else, but I was very surprised to find out that tattoo ink can fade in the sun. I guess I thought that “permanent” really meant “permanent.” But that’s not so.

While the simple passage of time alters tattoo ink (as anyone who’s seen an elderly man with a tattoo he
got decades ago while in the military can attest) sunlight can cause the brigher colors to fade faster than they otherwise would have. Red ink, which seems to be in a class by itself already, fades most noticeably.

I’ve been able to see this in my “swoosh” of seven stars over my collarbone, which is the tattoo that I most often display in public and which has gotten a lot more sun exposure than my others. The red stars have faded more noticeably than the others (although all of them show signs of fading, and I need to go get them touched up one of these days).

Wearing sunscreen over a new tattoo is advice nearly all of us get from the artist along with other aftercare instructions, but those of us who don’t automatically reach for the sunscreen when we’re going to be out in the sun for any length of time may slack off on using it after a while. Even a little bit of sun exposure adds up over time.

Now that summer weather is beginning (it sure is hot here in Los Angeles today!) we all need to start thinking about taking better care of our decorations. Wearing sunscreen is a good idea anyway, and while it won’t completely protect a tattoo from fading (there really isn’t any magic potion that will do that) it can help. And it can also help prevent skin cancer that might really damage your decorations.

Consumer Reports magazine posted a link to a web site called Skin Deep that offers a lot of useful advice about cosmetics in general and sunscreen in particular. That link will land you on a “splash page” that asks you to give them your email address, but if you look closely you will see a link that says “no thanks” and you can click on that to get access to the site without giving them any personal information.

Taking good care of your ink is good for the rest of your body, too.

photo credit: James Jordan

Submit this post to:

Hide Sites

Comments (4)

By infmom, February 2, 2008 12:46 pm

One of the things people who don’t want you to get a tattoo often bring up is “What will that look like when you’re [name an age here where people often get saggy]?” The implication being that today’s ink is tomorrow’s runny mess.

That argument doesn’t work with me, of course, because I was 46 when I got my first tattoo and (a) I didn’t get my ink in saggable places and (b) I doubt I’ll get too much more saggy than this, come what may. But does it deter people who are young and still thinking it over?

To sag or not to sag?

What parts of the body are likely to sag (slacken, droop, whatever) with age? The face, surely. The breasts, both male and female. The butt. The upper arm. All but the face are prime tattoo territory. The question is, how will the change in the shape of the skin affect the ink that’s applied to it? I know we’ve all seen older men with tattoos they got in the service, that are mostly a blurry mess due to spreading of the ink over time–even on areas such as the forearm that don’t droop or sag, per se. I can’t figure out whether the spreading of ink is inevitable, or whether that’s just an artifact of the tattoo methods used at the time. Ink that’s applied deeper in the skin does tend to spread. I’ve noticed that on my original ankle tattoo. But today’s artists generally don’t dig so deep.

Tell it like it is

So what’s the best counter-argument to the “It will sag and you’ll be sorry” point of view? Here’s my list. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

• Let’s both get tattooed and we’ll see who sags first.
• You kidding? This skin will never sag.
• The people who will see it won’t be bothered by trifles like that.
• I’m not putting it on a saggy part of the body.
• What’s it to ya???

Submit this post to:

Hide Sites