Huge Cover Up Help (ENTIRE SLEEVE)

[michaelandmeghammons]

I made a similar post in the introduction forum, but figure I'd get more quality advice on the tattoo advice section now that I can finally make a post here. 

So I'm happy with my chest and left arm half a sleeve. 

However, obviously I made some bad decisions on my "first tattoo at 16 years old." I tried to have it covered up and it turned out bad. This last go-around, I tried to cover it up with the entire state of Texas. Not realizing it was going to be way too much black, and not enough light color in there, and it still looks terrible. 

So I want to fix this once and for-all. This time I'm going to shell out some pretty good change and have it done right by someone who specializes in this kind of work and this kind of color also. The only problem obviously, my stars on the flag would have to be done in color either (White, Grey Opaque) or similar to go over the black. But I'd love to hear recommendations and solid advice from every angle possible, before making the final decisions. 

I would like to take this messed up arm:  

1st Cover Up: https://imgur.com/a/JAnPJqs

2nd Cover Up: https://imgur.com/a/b2j5eRr   (Too much black / not enough lightness) 

I'd like to take it to something similar to this with a few changes:

 

https://imgur.com/a/Xy9JwhU

 

Now the question is, how difficult of a job does this appear to be. What suggestions might you have?  What kind of color for the stars? White? Opaque Grey? Any other ideas, etc. ?

Any and all help is much appreciated!

[Hogrider]

You need to talk to whoever is going to cover it up. You'll need to laser that to lighten it up. Don't cheap out and don't be in a hurry. Every time you cover up or laser off you are traumatizing your skin. Fixing that isn't going to be cheap or quick if you want it done right.

[michaelandmeghammons]

Hogrider,  that was bad news for me to hear. I wasn't anticipating on having to go through the agony, money, and headache of lasering, especially being that I'd have to travel hours for sessions. The good news is I'm not in a hurry as I have a fairly reasonable timeline. I'm working out of state for 1 year and just want to have it fixed up before I go back home, so I'd consider myself having plenty of time to get it done. 

Now I'm not doubting what you said and I know you know way more than I do. But my question is, are you mentioning lasering simply because it looks so dark in that photo?  The reason I ask is because that photo was the very night it was put on, was fresh, and lubricated. It hadn't healed yet, but has already started lightening quite a bit over the past few days. Would you say without a 100% doubt that I would still need lasering?  And if  I do absolutely have to go that route, is there any chemicals out there worthy that could just "lighten" it that would be useful rather than having to drive hours for lasering sessions?

[michaelandmeghammons]

Also, one more quick question hog rider relating to lightening it up. I know chemicals or home remedies such as lemon juice wouldn't be nearly as effective as laser I'm assuming? Would they more effective if I started using them to try and lighten it up before the skin starts growing back and before the black-out phase starts healing? As of right now I'm only in about day 3 since I started the black-out. But it has considerably lightened since the photo of it where it still looked deep and shiny.

[ughanxiousppl]

Also, one more quick question hog rider relating to lightening it up. I know chemicals or home remedies such as lemon juice wouldn't be nearly as effective as laser I'm assuming? Would they more effective if I started using them to try and lighten it up before the skin starts growing back and before the black-out phase starts healing? As of right now I'm only in about day 3 since I started the black-out. But it has considerably lightened since the photo of it where it still looked deep and shiny.

Am I understanding you right? You want to put chemicals and/or lemon juice on a healing tattoo? I wouldn’t entertain that thought any further unless you want to cover scars as well. You should be consulting with your artist and let them set a timeline. If you need lasering and want a full sleeve, a year probably isn’t reasonable.


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[michaelandmeghammons]

Tattooju, I was just throwing ideas out there obviously you guys would know more than I would, hence I wanted to get multiple pieces of advice, which is part of the reason I posted on here. My artist messaged me back and he thinks that the fresh black on the Texas will be hard to cut through being so fresh. 

His idea is to roll with my first idea of etching the skyline in like an opaque grey inside the Texas, to break up some of the black. Then do the American flag in the background with shading to cover up some of the old line work. Sound reasonable? He says I have to wait 4-6 weeks before any work on the Texas, and he can start on the background work whenever the Texas finishes scabbing over?

[Hogrider]

21 hours ago, michaelandmeghammons said:

Tattooju, I was just throwing ideas out there obviously you guys would know more than I would, hence I wanted to get multiple pieces of advice, which is part of the reason I posted on here. My artist messaged me back and he thinks that the fresh black on the Texas will be hard to cut through being so fresh. 

His idea is to roll with my first idea of etching the skyline in like an opaque grey inside the Texas, to break up some of the black. Then do the American flag in the background with shading to cover up some of the old line work. Sound reasonable? He says I have to wait 4-6 weeks before any work on the Texas, and he can start on the background work whenever the Texas finishes scabbing over?

First, no chemicals are going to lighten the tattoo. If such a thing existed there would be no laser industry. Second, if someone wanted to start working in on a tattoo that's a cover-up of a cover-up after only 4-6 weeks old I'd find someone else.

You say you're not in a hurry, but this coverup isn't even healed and you're looking at monkeying with it again and you are setting a one year time line for finishing your sleeve. Each time you get a tattoo, scar tissue forms as part of the healing process. This will be the FOURTH time you're working that skin.

You don't want to hear it, but that skin needs to really heal and it's going to take time to see how much the tattoo lightens up. If you just jump right into this you'll be back on here in a year asking how to fix the cover-up of the cover-up of the cover-up of the bad tattoo.

[SStu]

Yep. You're not going to correct that problem in just a year. You won't even complete the necessary lasering in just a year. Each session will take several weeks to heal and you're looking at multiple sessions to get that light enough to work with.