How Does Melanin Affect Tattoo Pigments?

Tattooing is a complex process that requires many environmental variables working in harmony to achieve amazing results. Today, let’s talk about how your skin interacts with light Ink Fanatic Tattoos energy to produce the colors you see in your tattoo, how light affects pigments, and briefly touch on how colors are affected long-term in the skin.

What is a Tattoo?
A tattoo is the result of a mechanical process in which needles deposit pigments into the skin. Modern tattoos are accomplished with the use of simple (yet scientifically complex) machines, while primitive tattoo techniques do not. Both forms of tattooing are popular in today’s western culture but machine-based tattoo application is far more common.

The tattoo needle/machine combo cycle in an up/down motion depositing pigments as it runs across the skin, resulting in a product that (hopefully) is admired by the recipient.

What Is Tattoo Pigment?

Tattoo pigment is small particles of light refracting/reflecting/absorbing material that give the illusion of a visible light spectrum. These pigments are deposited into the skin and interact with light energy after it passes through the skin’s natural pigment – melanin. Modern pigments are mixed into a solution called a carrier fluid. Carrier fluids are mainly comprised of distilled or sterile water, a biocidal agent, surfactants, and raw pigment.

How Does Melanin Affect Tattoo Colors?

Melanin absorbs energy, and since light is visible energy, more melanin equates to less vibrant colors. The mistake most people make is that darker skin doesn’t seem to have as much color in it when compared to lighter toned skin. This is an incorrect assumption as both color-types of skin can potentially hold as much pigment as the other. It comes down to how much light reaches and interacts with the pigment, and with darker skinned people less is able to make it to the pigment.