CONVENTIONAL BODY TATTOO VS COSMETIC FACE TATTOO
“Surely a tattoo is a tattoo wherever it is on the body, right?”………………Wrong!
These differing areas require two very different skill sets and training to ensure the treatment is carried out safely and to a high standard.
Firstly, machines for body tattooing are created to penetrate deep into the skin. You don’t embark on having a body tattoo with thoughts of it not being there forever, once done that’s it – FOR LIFE! (Unless you embark on the removal mission… that’s a whole new chat!).
Today’s machines for cosmetic tattooing on the face are gentler and are designed to respond to the tiniest changes in movement or pressure when working on such intricate areas, allowing the cosmetic artist to keep consistent pressure and control when dealing with different skin types and contours of the face. Which brings us nicely onto the subject of skin!
Skin type (oily, dry, older, thin, thick etc) and the texture or condition of a person’s skin on the face is the biggest variation between body & face tattooing. Working on the skin of the face is completely different to working on the skin of the body. Skin on our body is significantly thicker and so a body tattooist must use equipment that will ensure the colour is deposited deep enough into the dermal layer of the skin. They wouldn’t get a very satisfactory result using a machine that is designed to be used in an almost “stealth-like” delicate fashion and with a super featherlight touch to almost “tickle” the skin of the face to deposit the pigment just beneath the delicate surface of the skin, that device would just not be suitable… and vice versa!
What about the art involved too? Great body tattooists are incredibly good at art and they produce some excellent designs and while you may think it doesn’t require much “artistic flair” to tattoo a few lines to replicate some eyebrow hairs, please be assured it is waaaaay harder than it looks! To achieve anywhere near a level of “naturalness” takes a LOT of practice it’s not just the design that needs to be considered.
It’s also about how the colour is implanted into the delicate layers of the skin, understanding what care is needed not to damage the skins barrier or create too much trauma throughout treatment, ensuring correct colour is chosen, (not just what looks nice!), foresight and knowledge of how the colour will react when it is implanted into the skin of the face & understanding what colour it will be when healed. An in-depth knowledge of the skin is vital to ensure that the procedure is carried out safely and the healed result is satisfactory and you are not left with any undesirable healed colours or too much “blurring”. All these methods and practices, and many more, are taught specifically to a cosmetic tattooist. The entire process is a lot more detailed, intricate and complicated than it looks!
There are a lot more elements to this that can be expanded on such as pigments & inks, where the colour sits in the skin and why it fades, so please throw any questions you may have out there!
Chat again soon!
P.S. Did you know cosmetic tattooists can sometimes work as precisely as one tenth of a millimetre especially around the eyes! Crazy skills!
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