The Art of Tattooing: Understanding Ink Drift and How to Prevent It.

Tattooing is an ancient art form that has been practiced by cultures around the world for thousands of years. Whether used for decorative, ritualistic, or personal reasons, tattoos are a permanent way to express oneself. However, a phenomenon that can affect the appearance of a tattoo over time is ink drift. In this blog post, we will explore what ink drift is, why it happens, and how to prevent it to ensure your tattoo remains as beautiful as the day you got it.

What Is Ink Drift?

Ink drift, also known as ink migration, occurs when tattoo ink spreads beyond the original lines or shapes of the design. Ink Drift can also migrate to a whole new area where the tattoo procedure didn’t even touch. While some degree of ink drift is normal and expected as a tattoo ages, excessive drift can be problematic and disappointing for tattoo enthusiasts. Ink Drift is not the same as Blowout. Blowout is very localized, meaning it stays close to the tattooed lines. Blowout is a direct result of the needle going too deep.

What Does Ink Drift look like?

Ink Drift or Ink Migration looks very similar to a bruise, it just never fades. Ink drift is most commonly Blue, Purple, Black or Green.

Why Does Ink Drift Happen?

Ink Drift happens when your body pulls ink into the fat layer. When your body absorbs the ink into the fat layer, the ink particles doesn’t have anything to hold on to or anything to keep it in place. It doesn’t have anything to bond wit and so it starts drifting or migrating subcutaneously (along the fat in your body beneath your skin layers). This is what causes the tattoo to have a bruised or ghostly effect to it.

What Can be Done about Ink Drift?

Well to be honest not much. If you’re lucky the ink drift will get reabsorbed into your body and expel it naturally. If you’re not lucky the Ink Drift will stay where it is, and your only option would be Laser Removal or getting a Cover up.

Cover ups would be a last resort as you stand the chance of Ink Drift happening again.

What causes Ink Drift

· Shift in Body Fat

Ink Drift tends to be linked to people who have recently had shifts in their body fat. An example of shifts in body fat would be suddenly going to the gym after many years of not going to the gym. Once you start losing weight the Blue, Green, Purple or Black that you have in your tattoo can start to migrate and move to different parts of your body. This shifting of ink causing a bruised like effect is what we know as ink drift.

Fat Grafting surgeries like BBL’s or Breast Augmentations can also cause Ink Drift, due to fat migrating.

· Menopause

Menopause can cause "ink drift" in tattoos because the decrease in estrogen levels during this time leads to a significant loss of skin elasticity and collagen production, resulting in thinner, looser skin where tattoo ink can more easily spread or migrate over time; essentially, the skin's structure weakens, allowing the ink to move more freely.

Estrogen plays a crucial role in maintaining collagen levels, which provides skin with its firmness and structure. When estrogen declines during menopause, collagen production decreases, leading to skin thinning and loss of elasticity.

Reduced estrogen can also disrupt the skin's barrier function, making it more susceptible to dryness and irritation, which can further contribute to ink migration.

Some research suggests that menopause may also affect blood flow to the skin, potentially impacting how well the ink particles are held in place.

How Can you prevent it?

You can’t. It’s a phenomenon. There is no way to guarantee if you will or won’t get it, until you get it.

Ink Drift is a phenomenon that happens. There is no way to tell if it will happen to your or not unless you have experienced it previously. It is important to remember that Ink Drift is not your fault. Ink Drift is also not your artist’s fault.

Ink Drift is something that can happen with any combination of different events in your skin, and there is nothing you or your artist can do about it. You can’t predict it and it’s a blameless occurrence. It is important to stress this because when Ink Drift occurs the first thing you want to do is blame your artist and their abilities, because well it sucks. Ink Drift is very rare which is why it is so difficult to predict.