Frequency of recolouring?

Mogsey

Hi guys, need help!

Am getting a coloured tattoo soon come hell or high water, but I've been in touch with two parlours, who each quoted me differently.

One quoted €80 for tattoo and advises recolouring every 10 years at least and the other said between €150 to €180 and will only need recolouring if badly cared for or if sun damaged.

Is it worth shelling out extra for alleged permanence?
Is one parlour using magic permanent colour ink or is the other just crap?

And what do they mean by 'badly cared for'? I have a plain black tattoo already and there was no 'care' mentioned, and it hasn't faded significantly.

Thanks guys,
Sarah

hunter164

What tattoo shops gave you those qoutes?

Mogsey

House of Pain in Drogheda quoted the €80
Phoenix Tattoo Parlour in Drogheda quoted the higher

hunter164

Never heard of either.
From what I've heard though for tattoos to look their they'd need to be touched up around every 10 years. That said I have seen tattoos that are 20+ years old and still have their colour.

firebirdphoenix

I agree, most colour tattoos need to be touched up every 10-15 years....a good tattoo parlour will offer you free touch-ups though so it shouldn't be a problem...

QOTSA90

All tattoos are colour tattoos.. black is a colour :cool:

firebirdphoenix

haha ok fair point! :-)

KevArno

I have been told (correct me if I'm wrong) that black fades far quicker than any other colours, and that brighter colours such as reds and greens dont fade particularly badly at all. It's usually the black outlines that fade and blur, rather than the colour fill...

Just what I have been told, far far far from confident about that little nugget of information though!

QOTSA90

Iv never heard this, but Id say its the fact that black is so much more bolder than any other colour under the skin.. maybe its just more noticeable when it does begin to fade?

firebirdphoenix

Generally I think the lighter the colour the faster it fades, and I think blue/black tones fade the least... I'm just going by what colours fade normally in a painting, not on skin, but I reckon the darker a colour the longer it is visible...

KevArno

Ah I don't know about that. While I meant I'm not confident of the facts regarding the blacks fading, it's certainly what has been told to me by artists, and from personal experience, seeing friends tattoos blacks fade quite easily, greying/greening and blurring.

Most of the horribly faded looking colour tattoos I've seen looking lik crap because the lines were blurred and faded!

Or maybe I'm just madly defending my choice to get colour on my arm

steve22

going to a good artist is the best step to avoid fading - although over time all tattoos will fade... getting it touched up every 10 years wouldnt be very inconvenient anyway... unless you have lots!!
badly cared for means during the healing period - if you dont look after it and let it scab excessively it will draw some of the colour out - picking at scabs is also a very bad idea!!
Most places will touch up a tattoo for free after its healed anyway... but ask them about this before you start!!