Tattoos are the only thing you wear 24/7. So obviously, wear and tear is going to happen.
Black shirts fade, jeans thin and get holes just like socks, underwear elastic gives way; and those are just some of the more mild things our well-worn clothing suffers over time. Why would tattoos be any different when subjected to daily wear?
So is a touch-up meant to correct some of the damage that living and wearing it will cause? Should this be free for a certain time period, or even indefinitely?
It would be nice if everything had a lifetime warranty with full coverage. Yet just like you have to go buy new clothes when they get threadbare, or pay repairs on your car, the same mentality should be taken in regards to your tattoo maintenance.
Now, there are many artists that offer a free touch-up on the tattoos they create. This is a wonderful thing, and yet also, a limited warranty. It is also a confusing term that has a variety of meanings and interpretations based on who is talking about it.
Generally, a touch-up is minimal work on a tattoo that was recently done. It is more of a follow-up, where the artist can go in and refine aspects of the tattoo that either healed differently than was expected, or suffered from a poor healing period. This will usually cover darkening shadows, adding highlights or smoothing out some gradients or color saturations. A follow-up style touch-up should ideally take no more than 30 minutes.
Many artists will do this for free, especially if done in the 2-4 months following a tattoo that has healed. However, some artists charge, because this step is still necessary to fully completing the tattoo for the long haul of your life and still requires time and supplies, which are part of how an artist dictates their pay rates.
Yet many people are quite content and happy with their tattoos 2-4 months after receiving them. In fact, most find that their tattoo is vivid and bright for years afterwards and never think about this ‘follow-up’ session as a necessity or desire.
What often happens usually occurs years later. Sometimes as few as 2 years, sometimes 5 or more in the future, a person will notice their tattoo has faded, or seems a little monotone. This can be very frustrating for some people, and their natural conclusion is that it just needs a little ‘touch-up’ to look really good again!
Unfortunately, years later, if a tattoo is faded, dull, lost detail and so forth, there is no ‘little’ touch-up option. Usually it will require repairing the whole tattoo, which will take over an hour, to multiple hours. You cannot just darken or brighten one area of a tattoo, because when it heals, it will look different from the rest of the tattoo.
Many people are not experienced or knowledgeable in the tattoo industry, so they are often confused by the why’s, why not’s, can and shouldn’t aspects an artist will try explaining. In the end, it is usually always a good idea to simply ask what your artist considers a touch-up.
