Hello, advice request for aged tattoo

[Vix35]

Hi everyone. I'm based in the UK and was really looking for some advice to help an aged tattoo look a little more delicate. If it's not obvious in the picture the tat is on the inside of my right wrist and is approx 1 1/2 inches big. Originally I was going to have a white ink but was persuaded not to (which I regret). I'm looking to have some work done to the current tattoo in order to make it a little more delicate. Thinking a white ink shadow or something but not sure. Don't want to increase the size hugely. Any advice is appreciated!! Thanks 

[rufio]

cover it with a full sleeve by a good artist. 

[mtlsam]

Hi there. The skin in that area is quite thin and delicate, and that tattoo is in there.

There isn't really much to be done unfortunately. You could try to find a skilled artist to re-outline it in white, but that will not likely accomplish much for you. A shadow in white will just make the whole thing seem bigger still.

I recommend you just accept the tattoo as a reminder for where you were in life at the moment you got it, and move on to the next one.

[Dan]

Hi and welcome,do you mean you regret not having the whole tattoo done in white ? because if you had it would look like total crap by now,personally I would stay away from white other than used for highlights.

anyway,IMO any good artist could easily enhance and renew that tattoo by adding some to what's already there,re-hit the black a little,maybe add some small color  flowers and a little bit of feminine vines.

my wife has an ankle tattoo that didn't look just right and we went to a better artist and she added some cool little things to it and retouched the color and it looks great now. 

Edited September 25, 2016 by Dan

[Vix35]

Thanks all for your advice. The idea of having the entire tattoo in white came after I saw a lady with a full inner forarm in white. It almost looked like lace embedded in the skin (very delicate IMO). You are right I should just remember the point in my life at having it but I would like to maybe enhance it if possible as I see it a lot on myself. Appreaciate all the advice. 

[Rob I]

@Vix35 have you seen this lady's white tattoo recently?  White does not last well on its own, and honestly in my opinion will eventually look like a scar or some sort of skin issue. 

If you dislike your tattoo and don't want to cover it with something MUCH larger, you can opt to have it lasered off. Expensive and painful. 

Or do what dan suggested.  A very good idea in my opinion  

 

Edited September 25, 2016 by Rob I

[Synesthesia]

I think it comes down to these as your options:

1) Laser it completely - Takes a lot of sessions to completely remove, which can get expensive and painful. Might not be TOO bad for something that size though.

2) A couple laser sessions to lighten it and then a cover-up - Gives you more options to work with after you break up some of that black.

3) Cover it as is - Unless you want a bowling ball or a tiny panther, it's going to need to be fairly large to cover it and not look like a cover, at least palm sized...and you would probably need a lot of dark colors to cover all that heavy black. You can have an artist look at it and see what they think might work, but be prepared for it to be much larger than you might want.

4) Add some vines and frilly stuff like @Dan said - It's only going to make the tattoo bigger and might still not give you the look you want if it's the backbone of the tattoo that you seem unhappy with...adding to it might just give you more to dislike. It's up to you though to decide if you want a complete overhaul or just some minor changes. Be honest with yourself about what parts of it, if any, you really like and want to enhance.

5) Get awesome tattoos elsewhere on your body and/or learn to love what you have - Sometimes trying to fix stuff just makes it worse and the best option is to just live with it and laugh it off as a dumb mistake. Surrounding it with awesome work takes the focus off it. Maybe not an option for you if you don't want to be a more heavily tattooed person. In that case, just try to accept what you have if lasering or a cover-up is really not an option for you.

Whatever you do, I would not suggest adding white anywhere. It tends to get yellow/brown with age and I think it would just muddy up the tattoo more. It isn't going to stay nice and crisp like Instagram always shows it looking.

[Vix35]

Thank you so much guys for all the advice. Think I'm going to just either just live with it as it is (I don't hate at all just would prefer for it to be a bit more delicate) or laser to lighten and have a little more work done with a good artist. You've all definatly put me off the white! As you say pictures on the Internet are not a good gauge to use. 

[oboogie]

Good advice here, @Vix35. ^^^That sounds like the perfect plan. White really does look gross when it ages—a lot like a skin disease or a yellowed mess.

[Gingerninja]

I have a similar tattoo. I'm doing option #2 as outlined by @Synesthesia. One laser session down and five weeks later my tattoo is about the same. I'm going to have to hit it at least 4 times to see a difference! Like someone said - it's IN there! Good luck. Oh, and +1 to all of the comments on white ink. The ones that I've seen are not holding up well.