Everything You Need to Know About Getting a Tattoo Touched Up

Tattoo touch ups are extremely common to the industry, with almost every artist offering the service to their clients. Touch ups help the tattoo stay fresh and sometimes, a great piece needs a second place after a few months of healing. Take a look at our guide to getting your tattoo touched up and let us know if you’ve had a touch up in the comments section.

There are two major types of cover ups and they depend heavily on the age of the tattoo. The first type of touch up is for new tattoos under one year old. Sometimes during the tattoo healing process, line work or color saturation will fall out in some places. This typically isn’t drastic, however, many clients will opt to get these spots fixed after the healing process is completed. When it comes to this type of touch ups, many artists will provide this service for their clients within a certain window of time. It’s important for clients to discuss the possibility of a touch up with their artists and understand the reality if they’re getting inked by someone out of state or the country.

The second type of touch up fixes up older tattoos, let’s say upwards of ten years old. These touch ups may be a little more dramatic, in terms of bringing back color or shading into the tattoo. And in some circumstances, going to the original artist is no longer an option or a client may seek out someone with a more advanced skill set for a rework.

When it comes to getting a touch up, there’s a certain etiquette that clients should go about. In most cases, it’s recommended that a client revisits the original artist when possible. Many tattooers feel uncomfortable working on another artist’s piece, however, there are definitely unique circumstances for certain touch ups.