In my professional opinion…
You shouldn’t do it.

If you’re here, you might be considering a tattoo that wasn’t designed with the long-term in mind. I know tiny tattoos are super cute, but over time the ink will start to break down and spread through the skin, closing in the gaps that make text legible. The most common thing I need to steer people away from is tiny font, especially when it comes to words on the stems of flowers. It most CERTAINLY can be done, but you end up with a larger tattoo than many realize.

Bored Panda released an excellent visual guide to how tattoos fade, and I’m here to provide a little context and guidance.

Small Font

Smaller, delicate tattoos can still be applied, it just might take a little flexibility and artistic maneuvering. We’ll work together that not only gets your message across, but last you the next 60-80 years without furrowed brows wondering what the blobs on your arm once where.

An example from my own arm…

Finger Tattoos

This is another very common one I need to inform people about. If you look closely at the hands and fingers, you’ll notice that the texture starts to change where the palm and sides start to meet. This skin does not like to be tattooed, and there are no guarantees that your tattoo will last past the healing phase. If you want to proceed, just let it be known that you are potentially signing yourself up for years of retouching it. If you must go on the sides of your hands, keep it simple, and keep it brief.

I am now pricing hands and fingers at $200 which now includes a touch-up.

All other tattoos already have a touch-up included.

Hands and Feet

Hands and feet are tricky to heal out on account of needing to use them for every darn thing in life. The key to good hand tattoos is, again, keeping it more on the simple side. Too much detail will get lost over time, and while the hand tattoo depicted below is by no means a bad heal, you can see how much get lost over time.

I mentioned above how the texture changes from your palm to the top of the hand, and the same thing rings true for the feet. The top of the foot is pretty safe, but as we get lower towards the pads of the foot, ink no longer cares to stick around.

Watercolor and No Lines

Street shops rejoiced everywhere when the water color fad started going away, and that’s because they are also not designed with foresight. You need a good amount of contrast to get color tones to hold on the skin, and most people play it safe sticking to mid tones. Again, with some flexibility and and open mind, we can get beautiful, blended color tattoos, there are just certain tattoo rules you have to follow.

I was taught the phrases “Bold Will Hold” and “Black Lines Matter” from the old timers who have seen these trends come and go and heal out over time. Luckily, the ink game has changed a lot and we can do all sorts of things to get it close to black, but not.

A brief note on names and faces

If I was Queen of the Universe I would only tattoo the names of children, parents, and dead people. Unfortunately, I am not, nor am I the tattoo police or here to judge you in any way. All I can tell you is that names and wedding bands are the things we cover up most, with DIY tattoos trailing far behind that. I’d much rather do an image or a symbol, something that doesn’t imply ownership or possession, and something that might torture you less about should worst come to worst in your relationships.

We cover up so. many. names.

So many.

As for face tattoos, unless you are already covered with tattoos, and have at least one other “job killer” already, you’re out of luck. Mostly, they’re stressful as hell. I am a mere mortal with a beating heart like you, and heart beats are the bane of fine line tattoos in delicate places. It’s a lot of pressure for me and I will likely lose sleep over it.

Getting your face blasted is very on trend right now, and so many of those young people coming in asking for them have nary a tat on their limbs. It wasn’t long ago that tattooers wouldn’t touch your hands or neck unless you were covered, or even if you weren’t a tattooer. While I would love to adopt that business model for myself, I realize that in this climate to do so would result in starvation….

Anything that is on your neck or face should be thought of as the star of the christmas tree, something you do at the end to make it all come together. We don’t start at the face. Well, I don’t, and I won’t.