Much More than Skin Deep!
Tattoos have been a global form of expression for years; physical evidence of tattooed human skin first being discovered on the mummified body of a Bronze-aged Iceman from around 3300 BCE. Through thousands of years of storytelling, trade sharing, and discovery we have ended up where we are now in modern day tattooing. Beautifully colored butterflies, intricate script, realistic portraiture, and almost anything your imagination can think of can be translated into the skin with meticulous application and care… but at the end of the day, what is tattooing? How does the process of needle to skin work and how do tattoos age over time? Let’s talk about it!
Under a Microscope
The day has come, you have set up your appointment, paid your deposit, talked over designs, and you are in the chair about to experience the first needle drag of your dream piece, but outside of the pain and beauty that comes from tattooing, there is a lot going on beneath the skin’s surface!
As humans, our skin is divided into three layers: the outer Epidermis, the central Dermis, and lowest fatty Hydrodermis. When it comes to tattooing, only two layers should be involved for a crisp and solid outcome… the Epidermis and the Dermis.
Today’s tattoo machines work quickly, injecting ink into the Dermis layer, through the Epidermis layer at up to 3,000 small needle pricks per minute. That’s right, contrary to popular belief the ink itself is not sitting on the top layer (Epidermis) of your skin, but it is being swiftly injected into the middle layer of skin (Dermis). In fact, two of the most common issues with tattoos occur if the ink is misplaced into the layers above or below the Dermis: fall-out and blow-out.
When pressure is not applied deep enough to push the ink into the Dermis layer of tissue, it ends up in the Epidermis leaving it prone to shedding and fall-out during the healing process. It is a very common beginning tattooer mistake to fear going deep into the skin and causing blow-out. During the healing process, your body will send white blood cells and other healing systems to the open tattoo site to heal the micro wounds created by the application; causing a normal amount of what artists refer to as plasmation and peeling (almost like a sunburn). The area may flood with clear fluid and then dry up and peel away the top layers of the skin. When this happens, ink not deposited into the Dermis, but into the Epidermis, will shed away or fall-out of place. Dermis layer ink will hold and fade naturally over time at a significantly slower rate… making it “permanent”.
Fall-outs have an opposing relative that occurs if the ink is applied too deep, penetrating past the Dermis and into the Hydrodermis (fatty third layer of tissue beneath the Epidermis and Dermis) called blow-out. You’ve probably seen someone with a tattoo that appears “muddy” or blurry. This muddy appearance is caused by the needle being applied with too much pressure and pushing into the deepest layer which does not retain the ink the same way. When blowouts occur, artists usually see them as soon as they happen. Oftentimes this is avoidable, but there are instances in the irregularities of skin where a blow-out can occur at no fault of the artist.
Now that we know the science behind tattoo application itself and where some technical downfalls can occur, let’s talk a little bit about the tattoo debate that really grinds MY gears: color on different skin tones.
“Can I get color? Every artist has told me it wouldn’t look good on me.”
When I tell you I have beef… I mean I have more beef than a Texas steer on this particular topic. Not only do some artists use this as a form of ink-therapy discrimination, but a lot of the time it’s just people covering up the fact that they don’t have the skill in color theory to execute a certain idea. It is sometimes true that some types of melanated skin tones will not host color in a flattering way, but it’s not to the fault of the person… it’s just the science of skin layers and the visible light spectrum!
What I always say when I am asked, “can I get color tattoos” by someone who is darker complected, I offer them this method of understanding: imagine you have sheets of paper that are translucent in the color of your particular skin tone, take the design and colors you have in mind and slowly add those thin translucent layers on top of the design. Naturally as you add layers, the design will appear less visibly clear and crisp compared to how it was without barriers to look through… this is how tattoos settle in skin. As the wounds heal, your epidermis will shed its damaged layers and replace them with clean and fresh layers of your tone of skin ON TOP of the design injected into the Dermis layer. This is why people like me, who are virtually clear in direct sunlight can take a broad spectrum of color and it will look almost the same amount of vibrant over time… my layers don’t block much of the color spectrum… I also don’t tan… so there’s that.
What I always recommend, so both the artist and client can understand the full spectrum a particular client’s skin can accept, is a color test. Oftentimes this process involves taking a rainbow of color tones and picking an area of the skin which isn’t a high-visibility spot and can easily be covered if the client wishes after healing. The artist will take your rainbow of pigments and a small dot or dash linework type design and almost swatch the ink into your skin the way a makeup artist would… just very small. The color test process will show you exactly how these tones will react to your particular healing process and give the artist an idea how they can or cannot use contrast to execute a process you have in mind. This method is the most sure fire way of knowing what pigments your skin will reject, accept, or camouflage, it's rooted in science and catered specifically to you!
I’ve been recently frustrated by the apparent lack of understanding in science many “skilled and experienced” tattooers claim to have. There aren’t a lot of written articles out there explaining these processes to clients on a human level from artists perspective … so consider this my contribution to the greater good. You should never be afraid to ask your artist to explain things to you further for understanding… it will show you more than just the artist's intentions… but sometimes provide clarity on the artist's understanding of the craft which can be underwhelming depending on their tattoo education background.
Always take care in selecting your artist, make sure you don’t know more than they do… sometimes you might. If you need some advice on how to select an artist, visit my first article on this exact topic linked here:
https://www.doublextattoo.com/brain-dump-blog/artist-research