How to Know What Kind of Ink to Use for Tattoos

Are you wanting to add a tattoo to your collection of body decorations? If so, you might want to know a little about the type of ink that is used before you choose a tattoo artist. The knowledge found in this article may just help you decide which artist you want to use.

Things You'll Need

• Tattoo artist

Instructions

1. Pick the design that you want for a tattoo. If the tattoo happens to be all white, you will need to get it done with one of the pure pigment inks. If you are health conscious, you might want to make sure the tattoo ink doesn’t contain one of the following: Antimony, Arsenic, Beryllium, Cobalt, Lead, Lead compounds, Nickel and Selenium. These are collectively referred to as toxic metals. Toxic chemicals are known to be carcinogenic and/or may result in reproductive harm. Animall rights activists as well as vegetarians, who don’t want any animal products in their ink, can only use Starbrite inks, as all other brands use animal glycerins instead of vegetable ones.

2. Picking out inks that are hypo-allergenic is very important to those who have allergies to pigments and chemicals. However, no company has come up with a red ink that is hypo-allergenic. Since red is a primary color, the only way to avoid using it is by choosing a design that does not have red in it. Purple and orange are different pigments and are not mixed with red but you need to talk to your tattoo artist because if he does not have a very big palette of color he might still be able to mix the pigments to achieve orange and purple.

3. Ask the tattoo artist of choice as many questions as possible you may need to go through several artists before you find one that you are satisfied with. Many artists know their inks inside and out but you will have a few that have no clue whatsoever.

4. Find out where your tattoo artist buys his ink so that you can call and speak to the manufacturer. Since the inks are not a food or drug, they do not have to label the inks with ingredients. By finding out which company is your artist's supplier, you can check out the company's website or call them and speak to them in person.