Rather than opt for a rainbow of Traditional colors or classic black and grey tattoos, some people select simple red ink tattoos.
Is a single color design right for you?
Life Without Boundaries
If you opt for a single-color red ink tattoo that means you’re also going to forgo borders. This tattooing trend is emerging in some of the more popular painted tattoo styles, including watercolor and even white ink tattoos.
Without a nice strong outline to contain the work, tattoos without borders may bleed and have blurred lines overtime.
If you’re OK with that, your artist may feel comfortable doing a single color red ink tattoo, although there are many who still advise against it, in favor of a tattoo that will instead be strong, solid, and stand the test of time.
Dangers of Red Ink Tattoos
Blurred lines and boundaries aside, there is always the risk of a red ink allergy.
If you’ve been tattooed before and have not had any adverse reactions to red ink, a solid red ink tattoo is probably a safe choice. Bear in mind a small percentage of people will experience ink allergies, especially from the metals and the chemicals found in tattoo ink. Red ink is the most common color that produces allergies.
An allergic reaction to tattoo ink may present itself in several different forms including Acute Dermatitis, Photosensitivity, and Granulomas, which result in uncomfortable and itchy, raised bumps located on and around your tattoo that can last from several months to years, perhaps even the lifetime of your red ink tattoo.
For health and comfort’s sake, you may need to opt for laser tattoo removal if you experience an allergy, especially to a red ink tattoo.
To be proactive in allergy prevention, ask your tattoo artist to tattoo a small red dot into your skin 24 hours prior to your appointment and watch the area closely for flare-up, swelling, redness or itching. You may even request the ink ingredient list and take that to your physician for a full panel of allergen testing prior to getting a red ink tattoo.
Borderless red ink tattoos are certainly unique. They make a statement and they’re different. If you’re not certain a single hue tattoo will do, you can always ask your artist to add dimension and an outline with deeper shades of red ink, or even white for highlighting.
Popular red ink tattoo designs include dragons, roses, flowers, mandalas, dotwork, and scorpions.
As long as you consider the possibility of blurring, fading, and a skin allergy, red ink tattoos are trending…so stop talking Trash (Trash Polka, that is.)
Images courtesy Zen Raziel and Marie Gulliaumet
Written by Jodie Michalak