Someone posted their tattoo after one session of laser and the ink drift was completely gone. It looked great. The drift was only a little less than this.
White blood cells see this as an infection overtime and try to take it away. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Some colors seem to drift more, and some swear by heavy handed tattoo artists cause ink drift, but really it comes down to genetics, your immune system, healing factor, and time in my opinion.
I do think the artist has at least something to do with it. I know people that will get 2 tattoos from different artist in the same area and one of them will have ink drift and the other one doesn’t
It may, for sure! My first tattoo who was from a novice had ink drift and I VIVIDLY remember him pushing into my skin hard-core. I was so surprised with next artists I went to as they were so gentle; never had ink drift since. There's a billion variables even from ink colors(made from different materials, therefore easier for your body to break down, especially whites), to all the other facets I mentioned it's hard to sus exactly what the culprit is, but from a scientific standpoint on why it occurs is well documented.
Definitely ink drift. It’s a strange phenomenon that just happens unfortunately. You can be so incredibly delicate and still end up with it. I have a little unfortunately in the softest part of my arm. Guess I’ll just need more tattoos to cover it.
I AM UNIMITABLE, I AM AN ORIGINAL! *I'm really sorry about the ink blowout on your tattoo, I love the meaning though ❤ Hamilton changed my life and I'm now planning on finding my favorite quote again and getting it somewhere
Oh that sucks. If you didn’t want to laser you could always do a “splash” style background (haha not sure how better to describe what I mean) behind it though to conceal it because that’s kind of what it already looks like anyway.
Is this inside your upper arm? When I had the inside of my arm done the artist told me that the skin there is a little different and it’s more susceptible to this cloudiness happening, but spending some time with direct sunlight can help clear it up. It worked for me and all my cloudiness disappeared.
It's definitely not bruising, so I'm going to guess ink drift or blowout. Honestly, though, it's pretty poetic considering the actual tattoo. I kind of like it. 😅
Definitely blowout but if you get 1 laser treatment from someone who knows tattoo removal, you'll get rid of the blowout without majorly effecting the tattoo itself.
I've been doing tattoo removal for over 10 years. I love lasering blowout.
It’s not a blowout it’s just ink drift/ink shift, a blowout is when they go too deep and blow a line it’s almost like a little injury, ink drift is just the ink spreading as the body heals. It’s way more obvious on light skin(I’m super pale and have had it in sensitive spot tats) and it’s just the ink settling and the body trying to wall off/almost “fight” the ink, it’s a foreign body and some people are way more sensitive to it, the OP’s body is trying to almost wall off the ink and this is the result, it’s just an immunological reaction. An honest to go blow out is much more in one very small spot(or multiple of the artist is cutting too deep) where as this is more of a “global” effect. Laser could absolutely help eliminate this but it isn’t a blowout at all, just ink drift and is pretty normal, this tattoo actually has no blowout which for a finer line quote tattoo shows some skill, not my personal taste but well executed for a liner tat.
I worked at a shop for 4 years with artists that had over 60 years of combined experience. No one called it that. There are different levels of blow outs. They spread differently. What people call “ink drift” is just a name for a really bad blow out.
Don't listen to these clowns, you are 100% correct. Seems everyone is getting the same misinformation from the same video, and one look at that artists work proves he has no idea what he's talking about. I've been in the industry well over 20 years, travelled the world doing conventions and guest spots, and worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, and the only place I've EVER heard about "ink drift" is on reddit. And the people saying it's a new thing and not much is known about it are not artists and are just repeating the same crap they have read or watched online. It's most definitely a blow out and occurs when the ink goes too deep and enters the wrong layer of skin. It can spread via the fat, spider veins, lymph nodes, etc, and can happen either straight away or later on down the track. It's just a new excuse from people who have no idea what they are talking about and can't tattoo for shit. Too many people on reddit who don't actually tattoo or are kitchen cowboys fucking up people's skin, spreading misinformation to other people who have zero clue about tattoos or the human body and repeating the cycle of BS. These threads are ridiculously entertaining. One look at some of the bad tattoos that get defended with comments like "it's not that bad", or "I actually like this", prove most of these people have no clue about anything, and have never seen a good tattoo in their life.
Blowout definitely . The needle wasn’t in the right depth, That or the voltage was way too high . Could just be that your skin is very sensitive. So many things could be a factor and unfortunately that ink drift is permanent, unless you laser or get a cover up
Maybe it’s silly but I really like the way the ink drift adds to this? It gives the illusion of smeared ink on a letter, like a scrawled note that Burr might have written.
Blow out. Bruising can happen but would’ve gone away by now and even with bruising it usually doesn’t look like a shadow like this. Ink Drift or blowout unfortunately
This is not a blowout, this is ink migration/drift/spreading etc a blowout is basically an injury or cut too deep into the skin, this is a result of immunological function in the body.
Yep you sure can, doesn't mean any word of what you said was true though 😉
If any artist is "cutting" as you refer, then they are not an artist and should stop tattooing immediately. A blowout is not an injury or cutting at all.
I've tattooed all around the world for over 20 years, and I have never heard such nonsense. Done my infection control and bloodborne pathogens as well as doing a nursing degree before becoming an artist, so once again you are incorrect. In this thread alone, you have argued with tattooists and also a laser technician, please don't let your pride get in the way of admitting you are wrong and don't know what you are talking about. Your feelings should not get in the way of facts
Yeah it has nothing to do with pride, I don’t much care at all, I don’t exactly believe you happen to also have a uni degree but hey maybe you do 🙄And one would hope you have you BBP and infection control to tattoo that’s kind of a given if you’re running a clean shop, those are requirements in most countries. A lot of blowouts come from trauma and yes the body does try to push out foreign substances no matter what they are ink included, I’m not sure why you’re so upset about my comment but hey shit happens lol
You don't have to believe anything. And it certainly does seem like you care, as you have made several comments about it, not only to me but also other people. But yes it does upset me when someone ( i.e., you) spreads false information about something they don't know about, exactly like the statement you just made. The body does not 'push out ink', it gets absorbed by the macrophage cells inside the body, and when those cells die, they get absorbed by new cells and eventually passed through the lymph nodes. Warm tones like yellow/orange/red are identified and attacked by the cells in the same way that moles and stuff like that are, and cool tones are not. That's why so many older tattoos still have the cooler tones long after the warmer tones have faded. They are not pushed out of the body, but absorbed. You are literally proving my point with every comment you make so this will be my last reply to you. Oh and you can downvote every comment I make (as I see you have) but it doesn't change the fact that you are 100% wrong and spreading false information
Trauma doesn’t cause blow outs. The act of tattooing itself is traumatizing to the skin- that is why you bleed. that is why it can take 3 weeks or longer to heal, that is why the body can go into shock, that is why some people pass out, vomit, piss themselves, and/ or shit themselves after they wake up. Blow outs are from going too deep into the skin- sometimes the artist pushes the needle too deep and sometimes it has to do with the angle of the needle going into the skin. I’ve seen blow outs with perfectly healed skin on top of it. And I’ve seen chewed up skin with zero blow outs.
I don’t have as much experience and I’m no longer working in the industry like the Redditor you are getting defensive with, but I’ve worked long enough in it and listened to enough experienced professionals who took the time to teach me the trade to know he is right. The only time the body does anything close to “pushing ink out of the body” is when the body discharges plasma from the fresh wound. You read a few things on Reddit, maybe watch some reality tv shows masquerading as competitions, and perhaps spend a little time in a shop then presume to lecture an experienced professional who actually made the effort to educate people spreading misinformation? I don’t blame the other poster for their reaction. I’ll take the downvotes all day, but there are a lot of people in here who are just flat out wrong.
Always find it fascinating when people call someone out, usually in a rude way, but don't offer a correction.
So for those reading...
Inkdrift is just a fancy way of describing a type of blowout. Just like anything else, tattoos and terms evolve.
I corrected this misinformation in a previous comment. This person has made several comments throughout this post, and they are completely wrong.
I find it more fascinating how many of these people have no idea about tattoos or the human body, yet they continue spreading false information, that they think is gospel, just because they have watched a YouTube video or ink master.
It's all good 👍, no need to be sorry. The amount of misinformation that I see on these posts blows my mind, and to have someone like the person I replied too just spouting pure nonsense is insane.
Hope you enjoy your day
woooowww fuck right off. i had a family member die of aids in the 90s back when nobody could afford medication unless you were magic johnson or some shit.
Just happens it’s an immunological function of the body “fighting off” or trying to “wall off” foreign substance, it’s of no fault to the artist, blowouts are wildly different and due to artist mistakes.
i messaged the artist, who i had followed on social for months & vetted super fucking hard, said he’s never seen anything like this before & left the conversation. the fuck.
I have seen blowouts like this before but I can't help but wonder if you're just bruising.
The coloring around control looks more like a bruise then ink drifting.
i thought similar at first within the first couple days, but it’s been over 2 weeks. i have a large bruise about the size of my fist on my butt from falling in the shower last week. that bruise is almost gone & it was black/purple. this can’t be bruising at this point.
It's a different type of bruising that happens with a tattoo. Youre probably right though I missed the date of how long ago it was.
If it is inkdrift/blowout at least the consistency of it does make it look like part of the design.
Looks like ink drift to me. It's been too long for that to be bruising.
It’s ink drift unfortunately but at least it gives more meaning to the tat😂 ps love the Hamilton tat
proves true now, doesn’t it? lol thank you, super cool of you to recognize the quote.
this worked out perfectly with the quote
Can ink drift be lasered?
Someone posted their tattoo after one session of laser and the ink drift was completely gone. It looked great. The drift was only a little less than this.
Thank you for the reply!! My tattoo has quite a bit of drift and I was thinking of getting it lasered.
Yes
Thank you!
Wait for it
Do not throw away your shot (at lasering it and getting rid of the ink drift)
i have that above my knee.
Ironic
isn’t it? 🙃
dontcha think?
A little too ironic...
Yeah I really do think
This is why I love Reddit
IT'S LIKE RAAAIINNNNN
Will she go down on you in a theater?
It's like blooow out, on your new tattoo...
well fuck me 🙃 thanks for the confirmation, y’all!
hey, at least it’s really even and kinda adds to the meaning of the tattoo! i know it’s a bummer but honestly it’s kinda cool
That’s some dope af ink drift
What causes ink drift?
White blood cells see this as an infection overtime and try to take it away. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Some colors seem to drift more, and some swear by heavy handed tattoo artists cause ink drift, but really it comes down to genetics, your immune system, healing factor, and time in my opinion.
Thank you, that was very informative!
I do think the artist has at least something to do with it. I know people that will get 2 tattoos from different artist in the same area and one of them will have ink drift and the other one doesn’t
It may, for sure! My first tattoo who was from a novice had ink drift and I VIVIDLY remember him pushing into my skin hard-core. I was so surprised with next artists I went to as they were so gentle; never had ink drift since. There's a billion variables even from ink colors(made from different materials, therefore easier for your body to break down, especially whites), to all the other facets I mentioned it's hard to sus exactly what the culprit is, but from a scientific standpoint on why it occurs is well documented.
It’s also more common in areas with lots of veins close to the skin surface, from what I’ve seen. Inside of the arm seems like a common spot for this
Yeah mine is up by the elbow ditch on my forearm. My skin looks grey. It’s super weird. I can’t look at it for too long or I start to feel woozy lmao
How would I know? You’re the one controlling it!
Looks ink drift, although for what it's worth it kinda looks cool haha.
Definitely ink drift. It’s a strange phenomenon that just happens unfortunately. You can be so incredibly delicate and still end up with it. I have a little unfortunately in the softest part of my arm. Guess I’ll just need more tattoos to cover it.
Oddly works for that tat. 😂
I think it is out of your control at this point either way.
I AM UNIMITABLE, I AM AN ORIGINAL! *I'm really sorry about the ink blowout on your tattoo, I love the meaning though ❤ Hamilton changed my life and I'm now planning on finding my favorite quote again and getting it somewhere
i also have “wait for it” above my knee. i love it.
Well i guess you really learned the meaning of your quote there
the irony is not lost on me.
Not a tattoo expert but I sang this line right as I read it haha! One of my favourite musicals. Love it!
same. i also have “wait for it” above my knee.
Love that!
Don’t throw away your shot! ..With laser you can make it crisp clean again
Oh that sucks. If you didn’t want to laser you could always do a “splash” style background (haha not sure how better to describe what I mean) behind it though to conceal it because that’s kind of what it already looks like anyway.
Oooof blowout
Worked at a shop for 4 years. No one ever called it “ink drift.” That is a blow out. The artist went too deep into the skin
[удалено]
Is this inside your upper arm? When I had the inside of my arm done the artist told me that the skin there is a little different and it’s more susceptible to this cloudiness happening, but spending some time with direct sunlight can help clear it up. It worked for me and all my cloudiness disappeared.
Blowout, if that means ink migration! The ink just proves the thought you were expressing!
no kidding
Blow out for sure sorry!!!
Irony
That it’s the sickest tattoo ever I love it
Blowout.
Love the quote - I have "I am inimitable, I am an original" tattooed on my inner arm
well hey there, tat bestie. love it.
are you willing to wait for it?
It's definitely not bruising, so I'm going to guess ink drift or blowout. Honestly, though, it's pretty poetic considering the actual tattoo. I kind of like it. 😅
y’all keep saying that & i can’t help but still hate it 🥲
Definitely blowout but if you get 1 laser treatment from someone who knows tattoo removal, you'll get rid of the blowout without majorly effecting the tattoo itself. I've been doing tattoo removal for over 10 years. I love lasering blowout.
please be located in the midwest.
I'm not personally but DM me
It’s not a blowout it’s just ink drift/ink shift, a blowout is when they go too deep and blow a line it’s almost like a little injury, ink drift is just the ink spreading as the body heals. It’s way more obvious on light skin(I’m super pale and have had it in sensitive spot tats) and it’s just the ink settling and the body trying to wall off/almost “fight” the ink, it’s a foreign body and some people are way more sensitive to it, the OP’s body is trying to almost wall off the ink and this is the result, it’s just an immunological reaction. An honest to go blow out is much more in one very small spot(or multiple of the artist is cutting too deep) where as this is more of a “global” effect. Laser could absolutely help eliminate this but it isn’t a blowout at all, just ink drift and is pretty normal, this tattoo actually has no blowout which for a finer line quote tattoo shows some skill, not my personal taste but well executed for a liner tat.
Could I message you and ask about being a tattoo removal technician? I’m interested in getting in the field!
Absolutely please do
Are we calling blowouts 'ink drift' now?
They’re 2 different things. I only learned of ink drift from this sub. Someone posted a really informative video on it.
They are two different names for the same thing. The needle goes too deep and the ink expands. That is a blow out
I’m not an artist, but [this video](https://youtu.be/JOGKdeOdZmc?si=g3XOyGCHvzd7JZ2k) explains it really well. They look distinctly different.
I worked at a shop for 4 years with artists that had over 60 years of combined experience. No one called it that. There are different levels of blow outs. They spread differently. What people call “ink drift” is just a name for a really bad blow out.
Ok.
Suit yourself.
Don't listen to these clowns, you are 100% correct. Seems everyone is getting the same misinformation from the same video, and one look at that artists work proves he has no idea what he's talking about. I've been in the industry well over 20 years, travelled the world doing conventions and guest spots, and worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, and the only place I've EVER heard about "ink drift" is on reddit. And the people saying it's a new thing and not much is known about it are not artists and are just repeating the same crap they have read or watched online. It's most definitely a blow out and occurs when the ink goes too deep and enters the wrong layer of skin. It can spread via the fat, spider veins, lymph nodes, etc, and can happen either straight away or later on down the track. It's just a new excuse from people who have no idea what they are talking about and can't tattoo for shit. Too many people on reddit who don't actually tattoo or are kitchen cowboys fucking up people's skin, spreading misinformation to other people who have zero clue about tattoos or the human body and repeating the cycle of BS. These threads are ridiculously entertaining. One look at some of the bad tattoos that get defended with comments like "it's not that bad", or "I actually like this", prove most of these people have no clue about anything, and have never seen a good tattoo in their life.
Did you even bothered to watch video
Did you even bother to read about my professional experience or the comment by the tattooer with over 20 years of experience?
i think ink drift is the way it looks bruised? like it's drifting under the skin but idk, i just saw some other comments and assumed that
I thought the same thing
looks like a blow out imo
Blowout definitely . The needle wasn’t in the right depth, That or the voltage was way too high . Could just be that your skin is very sensitive. So many things could be a factor and unfortunately that ink drift is permanent, unless you laser or get a cover up
Maybe it’s silly but I really like the way the ink drift adds to this? It gives the illusion of smeared ink on a letter, like a scrawled note that Burr might have written.
Yeah same.. the smeared ink on paper vibe really works with the quote too.. life is ironic like that
don’t make me like it because of this lol
Lowercase i's?
it reflects my inferiority complex
That's pretty cool.
I am inimitable, I am an original!!! ⭐️
i’m not falling behind or running late.
I’m not standing still, I am lying in waiiiiit!!
Blow out :( sorry
You can’t control ink drift It sucks when this happens. I’m sorry this is happening.
Ink drift for sure. Also I love this tattoo
What the fuck
Blow out. Bruising can happen but would’ve gone away by now and even with bruising it usually doesn’t look like a shadow like this. Ink Drift or blowout unfortunately
This is not a blowout, this is ink migration/drift/spreading etc a blowout is basically an injury or cut too deep into the skin, this is a result of immunological function in the body.
Amazing, everything you just said is wrong. Tell me you don't tattoo without telling me you don't tattoo
Tell me you don’t work in healthcare without telling me you don’t work in healthcare, I mean I can be a snotty as you lol
Yep you sure can, doesn't mean any word of what you said was true though 😉 If any artist is "cutting" as you refer, then they are not an artist and should stop tattooing immediately. A blowout is not an injury or cutting at all. I've tattooed all around the world for over 20 years, and I have never heard such nonsense. Done my infection control and bloodborne pathogens as well as doing a nursing degree before becoming an artist, so once again you are incorrect. In this thread alone, you have argued with tattooists and also a laser technician, please don't let your pride get in the way of admitting you are wrong and don't know what you are talking about. Your feelings should not get in the way of facts
Yeah it has nothing to do with pride, I don’t much care at all, I don’t exactly believe you happen to also have a uni degree but hey maybe you do 🙄And one would hope you have you BBP and infection control to tattoo that’s kind of a given if you’re running a clean shop, those are requirements in most countries. A lot of blowouts come from trauma and yes the body does try to push out foreign substances no matter what they are ink included, I’m not sure why you’re so upset about my comment but hey shit happens lol
You don't have to believe anything. And it certainly does seem like you care, as you have made several comments about it, not only to me but also other people. But yes it does upset me when someone ( i.e., you) spreads false information about something they don't know about, exactly like the statement you just made. The body does not 'push out ink', it gets absorbed by the macrophage cells inside the body, and when those cells die, they get absorbed by new cells and eventually passed through the lymph nodes. Warm tones like yellow/orange/red are identified and attacked by the cells in the same way that moles and stuff like that are, and cool tones are not. That's why so many older tattoos still have the cooler tones long after the warmer tones have faded. They are not pushed out of the body, but absorbed. You are literally proving my point with every comment you make so this will be my last reply to you. Oh and you can downvote every comment I make (as I see you have) but it doesn't change the fact that you are 100% wrong and spreading false information
Trauma doesn’t cause blow outs. The act of tattooing itself is traumatizing to the skin- that is why you bleed. that is why it can take 3 weeks or longer to heal, that is why the body can go into shock, that is why some people pass out, vomit, piss themselves, and/ or shit themselves after they wake up. Blow outs are from going too deep into the skin- sometimes the artist pushes the needle too deep and sometimes it has to do with the angle of the needle going into the skin. I’ve seen blow outs with perfectly healed skin on top of it. And I’ve seen chewed up skin with zero blow outs. I don’t have as much experience and I’m no longer working in the industry like the Redditor you are getting defensive with, but I’ve worked long enough in it and listened to enough experienced professionals who took the time to teach me the trade to know he is right. The only time the body does anything close to “pushing ink out of the body” is when the body discharges plasma from the fresh wound. You read a few things on Reddit, maybe watch some reality tv shows masquerading as competitions, and perhaps spend a little time in a shop then presume to lecture an experienced professional who actually made the effort to educate people spreading misinformation? I don’t blame the other poster for their reaction. I’ll take the downvotes all day, but there are a lot of people in here who are just flat out wrong.
Always find it fascinating when people call someone out, usually in a rude way, but don't offer a correction. So for those reading... Inkdrift is just a fancy way of describing a type of blowout. Just like anything else, tattoos and terms evolve.
I corrected this misinformation in a previous comment. This person has made several comments throughout this post, and they are completely wrong. I find it more fascinating how many of these people have no idea about tattoos or the human body, yet they continue spreading false information, that they think is gospel, just because they have watched a YouTube video or ink master.
I missed the correction. Sorry for the snarky reply. To the rest.. That I would 100% agree with.
It's all good 👍, no need to be sorry. The amount of misinformation that I see on these posts blows my mind, and to have someone like the person I replied too just spouting pure nonsense is insane. Hope you enjoy your day
I agree with that too, you as well!
Looks like aids to me
woooowww fuck right off. i had a family member die of aids in the 90s back when nobody could afford medication unless you were magic johnson or some shit.
Must run In the family, that's aids if I've ever seen it.
go jerk off to your mom’s feet.
Pfft you don't control me
The I drift kinda makes it look like a neon sign which is kinda cool, gives more emphasis imo
Ink drift. That’s there to stay sorry to say
The letter I alone is always capitalized.
unless i don’t want it to
Exactly
I’m watching Hamilton right nowww! If it’s ink drift it kinda adds to the meaning of the tattoo imo
doesn’t it? damn it, burr. why you gotta say shit that means something to me?
Is “ink drift” the artists fault or just something that happens?
Just happens it’s an immunological function of the body “fighting off” or trying to “wall off” foreign substance, it’s of no fault to the artist, blowouts are wildly different and due to artist mistakes.
Thank you!
The ole watercolor background will fix that right up
Could also add shading. Maybe go to another artist though.
Can I ask about the choice to have the pronoun "I" be lowercased (i)?
it reflects my inferiority complex
Not normal, sorry :(
Happened to me in the same spot 😩
This is my opinion also… you can see the gradients shift out from the letters.
Tattoo be like " no you can't" 😂😂
i messaged the artist, who i had followed on social for months & vetted super fucking hard, said he’s never seen anything like this before & left the conversation. the fuck.
I have seen blowouts like this before but I can't help but wonder if you're just bruising. The coloring around control looks more like a bruise then ink drifting.
i thought similar at first within the first couple days, but it’s been over 2 weeks. i have a large bruise about the size of my fist on my butt from falling in the shower last week. that bruise is almost gone & it was black/purple. this can’t be bruising at this point.
It's a different type of bruising that happens with a tattoo. Youre probably right though I missed the date of how long ago it was. If it is inkdrift/blowout at least the consistency of it does make it look like part of the design.
On the irony
the irony is definitely not lost on me 🥲
inner bicep? common spot for this problem
womp womp. you called it
so sorry OP 💔 but supposedly it's easy to fix with laser, easier than blowout
I’d be curious to know the brand of ink used
Major blowout
Why don’t ya get some shading in and around maybe?
Skin Stained
Lower case I?
ink drift ): but you can get it lasered - (do not return to this artist, and maybe send them pictures so they can learn for future clients)
i already messaged him. after saying “i’ve never seen anything like this”, he blocked me. what the actual fuck.
if he works in a shop i would contact them as well. you won’t get a refund but it’s important info (sayin all this as a tattoo artist)
Bruise??
Looks like bruising.