Tattoo misconceptions

What is a good tattoo? Why is my tattoo faded? Why is it raised above my skin?

These questions and more will be answered in our extensive post detailing every tattoo misconception we can think of!

Good tattoo or bad?

All of us have seen the horror stories and pictures of really bad tattoos!

And thanks to Instagram and a few choice accounts on there, its easier than ever to find terrible tattoos and have a good laugh,

‘thank god thats not on me!!’

‘why would anyone want that on them FOREVER?!’

So what should i look for in a “good” tattoo?

There are many simple ways to tell if a tattoo has been done well. The lines should be crisp, it should be one smooth line without any obvious breaks. The line should also not have a shadow. A shadow is created when a tattooist does not go as vertical as possible when lining a tattoo which can cause the ink to spread out under the skin giving it a shadowed look. Lines should also match up. Tattoos hurt so the artist will stop every few seconds, if lining this means they need to continue a line without it looking like they stopped
With colour and shading the blending (going from one colour or shade to another) should be smooth with no obvious blending point and the colour should be saturated as in the colour should be vibrant and clear straight after the tattoo (unless it’s red or white as these probably won’t show up as well because blood is red and will cover any white until the body stops bleeding.

why has my tattoo faded so quickly?

One of the biggest tattoo misconceptions is that the tattooist has not gone “deep” enough and so your brand spanking new tattoo has faded considerably even after the initial healing period.

Tattoos will fade once healed, the ink has had time to settle down and the skin above your tattoo has fully repaired so every tattoo will fade after two weeks. However a lot of people will get a tattoo and the black will fade considerably, the colour will not be vibrant and a lot of the time there will be spots of linework or colour missing. This is down to two main things, the aftercare applied by yourself but more importantly the technique the tattooist has used. If your tattoo has faded considerably and your tattoo has risen from the normal skin level in an embossed fashion then the tattooist has done a poor job.

(Science bit!) Your skin has three main layers, the first layer is the epidermis which is for water proofing and if you get sunburnt is the layer that peels off. The second layer is the dermis and the third is the hypodermis.

If a tattooist has done his job correctly the needle should puncture your skin and leave ink in the second layer, the dermis. This is where the ink will not be taken into the body by your blood stream and will not come away if you peel or remove dead skin and will not be considered to be an “invader” by your body meaning your body won’t attack it and try to remove it

So if you do notice an unusually high fading then the tattooist has either gone too shallow or gone too deep, but with most instances they have gone too deep. When a tattooist goes too deep they actually scar the hypodermis which is the lowest layer of skin causing a permanent scar just in the same way as when you get a deep cut and have a scar for the rest of your life.

Once the tattoo has fully healed it should look sat under your skin, there shouldn’t be any scarring or bobbling or embossing, it should be as smooth as it was before the tattoo was done.

Black and grey tattoos

Black and grey tattoos have quickly become the new tribal. But the best part about them is that you can literally tattoo anything in black and grey.

Black and grey tattoos are not actually “grey”. The grey within the tattoo is diluted black ink. If done properly this should be done with either pre-purchased grey tones or done by the artist by diluting black ink with distilled, bottled water. Hopefully your artist won’t just pop to the sink and dilute it with tap water. The water needs to be distilled and bottled, this is going into your skin and so should be as pure as possible with little to no contamination. A lot of black and grey tattoos also use the natural skin tone as one of the tones used within the tattoo which obviously saves time and pain!

At Monumental we only employ the best tattoo artists we can find, making sure they use the right techniques and hygiene practices to ensure your tattoo will be the best it can be and ensuring that your tattoo lasts the ages.

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