How your tattoo will look over time
Why does a tattoo change over time
What affects the change in tattoo
What exactly changes in a tattoo over the years
How tattoos of different styles look over time
Why does a tattoo change over time
To begin with, we want to note for those who decide on their first tattoo. Your tattoo will change its appearance after a period of complete healing and will continue to change throughout its time on your body. Photos of tattoos in social networks are pictures taken immediately after application. What happens to the pattern on the skin immediately after applying a tattoo with a machine? The pigment introduced into the dermis begins to actively “settle” within the space that is provided to it. Also, macrophages (protective cells of the body) are actively involved in the work, pulling and removing foreign particles (pigment) through the lymphatic system. Most of the dye remains in the skin. This is the drawing that survived the invasion of macrophages and which we will see as a result of a tattoo session after a healing period. On average, this is a month or two after the session. The epidermis (the top layer of the skin) will completely renew itself during the healing period and acquire its usual shade, giving it to the tattoo.
What affects the change in tattoo
Nothing in this world lasts forever. Just as you change over the years, your tattoo will slowly change. The picture you see after the healing period is the starting point. These changes are due to the natural process of migration of pigment particles in the skin and the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation.
The rate at which your tattoo changes depends on:
the intensity and frequency of exposure to ultraviolet rays;
regularity of skin hydration in the tattoo area;
tattoo care;
the quality of the initial tattooing.
What exactly changes in a tattoo over the years
On average, all tattoos have the following characteristics changing over the years:
Natural migration of pigment in the skin is manifested by:
lines become visually wider;
a small (about a millimeter) shadow may appear near the tattoo lines;
there will be less empty space between the lines.
Burnout color.
colors can seem to fade, fade, change their shade, or disappear altogether.
Thus, the readability of too small tattoo elements can change. If the distance between the lines is initially too small, then over the years it can visually turn the drawing into an indistinct spot. Most often, this fate awaits too small minimalistic tattoos and tattoo inscriptions.
If the tattoo is made not of high quality or on specific areas of the skin, such as fingers, hands, feet, palms, then the pigment may partially fall out over time, leaving gaps of unpainted skin.
How tattoos of different styles look over time
Tattoo in the style of realism
As you can see, the tattoos have slightly lost their contrast, lightened. But in general, thanks to the adequate scale, the drawing still remains readable and understandable. If desired, such tattoos can be corrected without loss of image quality.
In our tattoo shop, you can find more information and ask our master your questions.
Old school tattoo
The photo shows how the blue color has been inverted into bluish-turquoise. The red became almost invisible. The places where the shadow was sprayed increased in size. The lines widened slightly. This tattoo could look much better if corrected in a timely manner.
Tattoo in the style of neotradishinal
As you can see in the photo, the drawing still looks clear and understandable. Thanks to the thick contour lines, the colored elements did not float, they are in their places and are still bright. It is also worth noting that the impressive size of this tattoo will make it easy to make a correction at any time when the owner wants to refresh the color. The large size of the picture will not allow the lines to melt into a mess, even after many years. So we admit that most likely such a tattoo will always delight its owner.
Mini tattoo lettering
Here we are talking specifically about mini inscriptions, when the line thickness is as close as possible to the thickness reproduced by a ballpoint or gel pen. Often these are italic thin lettering. As you can see in the photo examples, over the years, such tattoos look bad and cannot be corrected. This is because over time, the pigment in the dermis slowly migrates, visually creating a small shadow near the line, about a millimeter in size. For a large tattoo, where there is a large distance between the elements, this millimeter does not play any role, as well as for large inscriptions with large letters. And for such small ones as in the photo, the distance between the lines is critically small, so over the years it is completely filled with pigment, turning the inscription into one unreadable line. The situation is completely different with large tattoo inscriptions and lettering.
Lettering tattoo
As you can see in the photo, the size for tattoo lettering matters. The larger the letter size, the less problems you will have with the tattoo over time. What is the difference between lettering and mini inscriptions in socks – the fact that large text can be corrected over time, if necessary, but a small inscription is impossible.
Mini tattoo
The photo shows examples of tattoos of different ages. As you can see, in general, what happens to them is what happens to everyone else – the colors fade, the lines expand, and in places disappear. For some designs, these processes are not critical. The maximum they will look like is a birthmark or age spot. The snake case is sadder. And unfortunately, such snakes are quite a popular tattoo request. This is how thin lines look in combination with a small size – everything merges into a mess.
Subtle ornament
As you can see in the photo, a year later, the tattoo looks a little different. The lines have become noticeably thicker, the gaps between them are smoothly filled with pigment. But in general, the drawing is clear and readable.
Lower back tattoo
We have allocated a separate article for tattoos on the lower back in our blog. The fact is that the skin on the lower back is thicker and more porous than on other parts of the body. Moreover, it is more prone to perspiration. Thanks to these characteristics, it is poorly suited for thin, graceful lines, and indeed tattoos in general. The example photo clearly shows how much the tattoo on the lower back has changed over the years. And it is impossible to correct this.
Blackwork tattoo
When people turn to us for a blackwork tattoo, we definitely warn the client that the black pigment will brighten after complete healing and this lightening process will continue continuously and further. This is due to the fact that tattoo paint is driven into the dermis. And on top of the dermis is the top layer of the skin – the epidermis. Each person has his own shade. After complete healing, the epidermis is completely renewed and the tattoo takes on a light shade, which is especially noticeable on black and white colors.
Also, choosing the option to paint your skin in dense black, you should be ready to re-paint after complete healing. This is due to the fact that the particles of black pigment are the smallest and in order to densely paint over, you need to work monotonously for a long time and monotonously on the same area of the skin. Often, with such a load, she begins to blush, swell and bleed. In order to paint the skin with a high quality uniform color, sometimes more than one session is required.
The example in the photo is clear proof of this – we see how blackwork looks without correction in a year.
Cauper color tattoo
As you can see in the photo example, something happened that we usually warn our clients about – the black color appeared over the colored tattoo. The fact is that a dense black outline can only be covered with a dense black color. Even if everything may seem successful right after a color overlapping session, then after a couple of years, as we see in the photo, the old black tattoo will still appear.
White tattoos
As you can see in the photo, the white tattoo looks bright and contrasting only immediately after application, against the background of natural redness of the skin. Such tattoos change their appearance very rapidly.