SHOULD I GET MY TATTOO RETOUCHED?!
Do I need to touch up my tattoo? Yes? When? Why? How?
It depends, it depends on how the tattoo has healed.
YES, the tattoo needs to be retouched if the healing process didn’t go smoothly and some parts of the design got lost along the way.
In that case, the tattoo should be retouched after 4-6 weeks from its initial execution, as the skin will be thick enough to withstand a new invasion, yet the tattoo will still be fresh enough for the colors to blend evenly.
Don’t wait for months before getting it retouched, as the colors may no longer be consistent, and you risk ending up with a messy result.
NO, the tattoo doesn’t need to be retouched if it has healed well and you simply want to refresh it with age: NO!
If the tattoo has healed properly, it should never be retouched, NEVER AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE!
It wouldn’t make any sense.
(Different is the case with PMU, cosmetic tattooing, but that’s not my area of expertise, so I won’t comment on it.)
Often I’m asked if a tattoo needs to be retouched years after its execution because the colors have faded or if it should be supplemented with something fresher “because it’s not complete anymore, and I don’t like it…”
I am totally against this, for two very good reasons:
It’s a big mistake.
I can’t explain it fully in a few lines, but the effect you desire is not what you’ll achieve. It’s like putting a patch on ripped jeans; you will always see that it’s a patch.
It becomes a mess; the colors underneath remain, and you’re just adding more on top.
And if the colors underneath have become a bit grayish, the colors on top will also be grayish and dull.
In short, you age, and the tattoo ages with you. It can’t remain fresh, vibrant, and perfect like it was just done.
Aging happens to everyone, and we have to accept it.
It’s very obvious that it’s a mistake.
Take a 94-year-old grandma and give her a facelift: maybe she’ll look a few years younger, but only in her face. Her neck still shows her age, and so does her body and how she dresses… she still clearly looks like a 94-year-old grandma, made ridiculous by a facelift.
That’s how your old tribal tattoo on your lower back from ’94 will appear if you try to modernize it.
It looks like a beat-up Panda 4×4, but colored in matte satin black smoke.
It’s like driving around in 2022 with a ’94 Ford Escort.
It’s definitely out of its time.
It’s better to let the tattoo show its age and not make it seem like you just got a tribal tattoo that was popular in ’94: people might think you’re an idiot, I suppose.
Did I explain myself? I hope so, I can be quite straightforward sometimes. ^_^
With love, but always irreverent
