| Tattoo Colors - Reasons to Consider |
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| Information on Tattoos | |
Before you Tattoo - Reasons to Consider Tattoo Colors
First, tattoo colors will affect the effect your tattoo will have on people (you included). Second, some colors have greater health risks associated than others, and could cause moderate to severe skin reactions -- including allergies, rashes or hives. Third, if you decide in the future to go the tattoo removal route (and half those who get tattoos do), some colors make tattoo removal a lot easier than it would be otherwise. And the fourth, your tattoo colors will determine the tattoo removal method needed to zap that tatt off your ankle, arm, or wherever. First, tattoo colors impact how others view your tattoo. The reason for this is colors are attached to human emotions. For instance, red is excitement and anger, green is considered calming, serenity, and maybe a touch of envy. Blue is calm but can be melancholy, too. A tattooed dragon red with excitement and danger is a much different dragon than one yellow with good cheer and happiness. While single colors carry a punch, various color combinations too have differing effects on emotions and perception. Many books have been written on how to combine colors, some of which consist entirely of hundreds of various color combinations that work well together.
The color wheel is a tool all artists use. This wheel with colors opposite each other are extra pleasing to the human eye. For instance orange is opposite blue, so various shades of orange and blue make great color combos. Other magic combos are green/red, and yellow/purple. Visual impact is not the only reason for giving careful consideration to the colors chosen for tattoos. A second reason is certain tattoo colors can actually harm your health. Some can cause moderate to severe skin reactions, including allergies, permanent rashes, nodules or hives. The most common color culprit is red. Red ink can cause a permanent rash around your tattoo not only unattractive but also painful and itchy (Brody 2008). Other colors too, however – if their ink is metal-based – can cause “nasty” allergic reactions (Zjawinski). A third reason to take your tattoo colors seriously is that some colors make tattoo removal easier or more difficult depending on the way you view it. Blue and black for example seem to be easiest to remove. Harder to remove are red, orange, yellow, white and tan inks. Green seems to fall somewhere in the middle. With cosmetic tattoos, white, red and tan inks can actually turn darker if you try to remove them with lasers. Cosmetic tattoos are those on lips, eyes, brows or cheeks, or on breasts after breast reconstruction (Meszaros 1999). Sometimes the laser removal method will even turn these tattoos a permanent black color (Gorgos 2004). Finally, the colors you choose for your tattoo design will dictate the kind of tattoo removal method used. For example, with cosmetic tattoos it’s best to avoid the use of the laser removal method. For these tattoos, the better choice is “superficial resurfacing” (Gorgos 2004). In sum, there’s more than one reason to think carefully about your tattoo colors. Colors can impact the perceived meaning of your tattoo. Furthermore, if you later decide to engage in tattoo removal, your color choices could come to haunt you. Finally, the colors in your tattoo could also determine which tattoo removal method you’ll need to undergo.
SourcesBrody, Cheryl. “Tattoo Do’s and Don'ts.” Cosmo Girl. Mar 2008, Vol. 10 Issue 2, pp 81-81.Meszaros, Liz. “Tattoo Removal Better, Safer with Q-switched Laser.” Dermatology Times. Jul 1999, Vol. 20 Issue 7. |
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Choosing the colors for your tattoo is a fun part of the tattoo experience. But for more than one reason, you should choose tattoo design colors with care. Here are a few reasons why it is important to give serious consideration to the colors you choose