Tattoos are fascinating pieces of art on your body. They can mean to symbolize something personal or you want to tattoo for how it will look on your body. Either way, your tattoos can last a good while. But there are certain cases where the tattoo might need a touch quicker than you would think. There are many reasons behind this but what’s on your mind is ‘can you get a tattoo touch-up after 2 weeks of getting a tattoo?’.
Some artists will say it’s possible to get one fairly quickly while others would advise against the touch-up. In both cases, there is some truth attached to the reasoning. To find out how long you have to wait to get a tattoo touch-up, I have laid out a guideline that you can follow about tattoo touch-ups. From what’s done in a touch-up to how much it might cost, learn all about tattoo touch-ups right here!
Key Takeaways
- There are many people that might require a touch-up. It will depend on the tattoo condition and if there are any mistakes to correct or not.
- The wait time for a tattoo touch-up is usually when your skin is completely healed. Otherwise, there are various problems you can encounter.
- The cost of a tattoo touch-up will be dependent on the artist and their touch-up policies. Some do it for free but it will also depend on your tattoo design and size.
Tattoo Touch-Ups: Who Needs It
It is important to know what is done during a tattoo touch-up. You might be thinking that it is just injecting ink into the tattoo again but there is more to it than that! So let’s find out what is who needs to get a touch-up done.
Mistakes on Tattoo
The biggest problem with a tattoo is that you won’t know exactly how it will look until it is fully healed. This will take up to 4 weeks before you realize any mistakes that were done! That is why some artists will ask you to come back once again within the first 6 months to get a touch-up to make sure everything is correct or not.
Many mistakes can happen for a tattoo. From blowouts where the ink bleeds into the surrounding skin to tattoo ink fading faster than expected. Even when you are doing aftercare, something might have been done incorrectly causing the tattoo to look as you would have intended. That is why tattoo artists are more than willing to do a touch-up to repair or correct any mistakes that were made.
Sensitive skin issues
People who have sensitive skin can have various problems with their tattoos. It can range from tattoo ink rejection to the tattoo looking blurry and faded. Sensitive skin has another issue of not healing properly when the tattoo is done. Over the course of the aftercare, people with sensitive skin see that their tattoo is not looking like how they envisioned. That is why people with sensitive skin may need to visit their tattoo artist again to make sure everything is fine.
Sun exposure
If you are someone that spends time on the beach or outdoors with direct sunlight, chances are your tattoo is more faded than others! This is because the sun is probably the worst enemy of a tattoo. The UV rays the sun emits help break up the large ink pigments in the tattoo. This causes the tattoo to lose its color and look faded as a result. If you are someone that spends a lot of time outside, chances are you will be needing a touch-up sooner than later.
Wait Time for Tattoo Touch-Up
Most people who initially don’t like how their tattoo looks want to get a touch-up as soon as 2 weeks after the tattoo has been done! The problem with this is the fact that the tattoo won’t heal within 2 weeks, it requires more time. At 2 weeks, your scab will fall off and the itching will start to reduce considerably. Most people will think that this means that the tattoo is healed but it’s not! The tattoo needs a further 2 weeks after this period for the new skin to accustom to the tattoo ink and settle in the dermis layer.
Most tattoo artists will tell you to wait until the 4 to 6-week mark to let the ink heal properly. The skin is penetrated at more than just the surface level. The ink will be set in the dermis layer of the skin, which is a deeper part of the skin. This will take the whole 4 weeks to completely heal so that you can get a touch-up. So you should definitely wait until then.
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Problems with Touching Up a New Tattoo
You should not get a touch-up after only 2 weeks. The problem that you see on your tattoo looking blurry or cloudy is the tattoo trying to heal. In 2 weeks, your skin will have a waxy and shiny look to it that can obscure how the tattoo looks. At this sight, some are bound to panic and demand a touch-up, but you shouldn’t worry as this is normal.
If you were to get a touch-up on a new tattoo that has not healed, there are consequences to it. Let’s say you want to get a touch-up within 2 weeks. If more ink is injected into a non-healed tattoo, there are even more chances of a blowout of the tattoo. The ink will spread to the surrounding skin and cause your tattoo to look blurry, having a bleeding effect on the tattoo. The lines will look even more obscured as a result!
Let’s not forget that a new tattoo is an open wound. If a tattoo artist is to work on a new tattoo, there is a very big chance that your tattoo will get infected. The wound will be more open and more susceptible to pathogens like bacteria and viruses. With the already existing ink, your immune system is already in overdrive, treating the ink as a foreign substance that needs to be rid of from the body. If you introduce more ink, chances are you will be immuno-compromised afterward. This is exactly why a tattoo artist won’t touch up a new tattoo after only 2 weeks as your tattoo has not fully healed.
Cost of Tattoo Touch-Up
With a touch-up, most people are concerned with how much it might cost. The good news is, usually your tattoo artist will gladly touch up your tattoo free of cost. The catch is that you can do this only within the first 6 months of getting the tattoo and up to a year. It is a good idea to ask your tattoo artist if they will touch up your tattoo for free or not.
Another thing that will determine the cost of a touch-up is the size and design. Smaller tattoo touch-ups are usually done free of cost. But with larger and more intricate designs, it might cost to get a tattoo touch-up. Think of it like this, a touch-up is basically doing the tattoo all over again, giving it a fresh coat of ink. Large designs with more complicated designs will require more time to touch up so you will have to pay your artist their usual rate of tattooing per hour.
And if you are adding more design or color to your existing tattoo in the touch-up, then it would cost you even more money for the touch-up than usual. It will be like doing a new tattoo all over again at that point so the price will be according to how you want the touch-up to be. Just inking the tattoo to make it pop again will require little to no money but if the design is bigger it would cost more as a result.
FAQs
Will a tattoo artist do another artist’s touch-up?
Sometimes it is not possible to always get the artist who has done your previous tattoo to do a touch-up. Most tattoo artists will be happy to do a bit of touch-up but don’t expect them to change the design or change the color. That right is reserved for the original tattoo artist as it is their design.
What is an alternative to a tattoo touch-up?
An alternative to a tattoo touch-up is a tattoo cover-up. Here, the old tattoo is tattooed over to replace the tattoo because you might not want the old tattoo or it is too faded to touch up.
Does a tattoo touch-up hurt more than your first tattoo?
A tattoo touch-up will hurt more or less the same as your first tattoo. By this time, you will be more used to the tattoo needle so it should hurt less. But pain is subjective so it will vary from person to person.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it! A touch-up after 2 weeks of getting a tattoo is not possible whatsoever! If a tattoo artist advises you to get a touch-up within this timeframe is selling you a false promise. A more professional tattoo artist will ask you to wait 4 to 6 weeks to get the touch-up if you need it. Touch-ups are more so for people that need correction done or have their tattoos faded over the years. If you are worrying about the cost, it is always best to consult the tattoo artist about their touch-up policies as they differ from artist to artist.
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