Getting a Skin Color Tattoo

Tattooing your skin can be a lot less intimidating than many people think.  But it’s essential to select the right artist.  It understands which colours work best with your skin tone.

It’s best to avoid colours like light blues and pinks that won’t show up well on dark skin.  White ink can sometimes dominate the complexion.

Pale Skin

Tattooing pale skin requires an artist who can choose colours based on the undertone.  Fortunately, there are plenty of options for even the palest skin tones.

People with pale skin can be born with it.  Medical or environmental factors induce pigmentation changes more often.  Examples include iron-deficiency anaemia.  When too little haemoglobin carries oxygen – it leads to the paleness of the skin.

Diseases like albinism and vitiligo can also cause pigmentation.  It alters the body’s melanocytes – the cells responsible for producing melanin.  The dark pigment gives our skin its colour.

The hue of our skin is determined by genetics, and proteins code for different melanin.  How it appears depends on several factors, including lifestyle, health, and sunlight.

Medium Skin

Medium skin is a skin tone just tanned enough to be noticeable.  Yet not so dark that it looks orange.  This complexion can tan even without sun exposure.  It is particularly common among certain ethnic groups.

These individuals tend to have brown hair and olive skin.  They may have freckles or tan easily but don’t usually suffer from sunburn or redness.

Medium-skin people sometimes develop hyperpigmentation or dark patches.  They have spots on their skin that appear darker than usual.  It can occur for various reasons but often from an illness or injury.  It causes extra melanin to form within the layers of the skin.

Dark Skin

Dark skin tones may make it more challenging for tattoo artists to create vibrant designs.  But that shouldn’t be a reason to put off getting inked.

Selecting an artist who specializes in tattooing different skin types is essential.  It gets your design done so that it does not fade over time.

Skin pigmentation is primarily caused by melanin, which lies within the epidermis layer of skin.  During the procedure, a tattoo artist deposits ink into the dermis (the deeper layer beneath the epidermis).  The pigment is released into deeper layers beneath.

Due to low ink-to-skin contrast, Tattoo designs on dark skin may read subtly.  Dark skin tones benefit from larger Tattoo with more negative space.

Light Skin

Skin colour is determined by melanin pigmentation that builds up in the dermis.  The amount of melanin produced depends on how many melanocytes exist in your body.  Those with lighter complexions typically have fewer melanocytes.  Those produce less melanin when exposed to sunlight.

Darker skin has more melanocytes or melanin-producing cells.  As such, dark-skinned individuals are particularly vulnerable to sun damage.  These can cause premature ageing and increase the likelihood of skin cancer.

Blue looks well on light skin, though only sometimes.  The ink is one of them.  Depending on your undertone, green ink may also look vibrant and striking.