As you age, skin will sag and wrinkle, sagging and wrinkling your ink with it. But proper care can ensure the best looking tattoo possible even at an advanced age.
Crepey skin can be tattooed, with some caveats. Because crepey skin occurs where the skin has lost collagen and elastin, it's looser and saggy. Tattooing loose skin can be tricky because the image will stretch along with the skin, so that portrait of a mermaid may end up looking like an eel-lady.
Seeing as there's no good reason older adults can't get tattoos, we've rounded up a few questions you might have about what it's like to get a tattoo, as well as tips for tattoos on older skin.
Unfortunately, tiny tattoos may not age well. Tiny tattoos are small and have lots of detail in one concentrated space. These intricate details will be lost with time as your skin changes.
The good news is you're never too old to be inked and nowadays, tattoos have moved past many of their negative associations and are widely accepted.
Choose a design that will work with you — and your skin: Fragile skin also means that the kind of intricate designs younger people get are far more difficult to do on seniors. With this in mind, it's better to choose a design that's bold and simple, and a design that won't take a dozen separate sessions to complete.
Whether you're 40, 60, or 80 (kudos!) getting your first tattoo later in life can be a great way to celebrate your life, so don't hesitate any longer.
Dull, faded tattoos
The skin renewal process slows down, and as a result, the topmost layer of the epidermis (the stratum corneum) gets thicker. Thicker stratum corneum blocks the light from going through and reflecting from the skin, as a result, the skin starts to look matt and dull.
You should expect your upper arm and abdomen to sag more as you age, which can affect how a tattoo in those areas would look. "Shoulders and ankles have tight skin, and the skin does not sag and become as loose over time, unlike the upper arm or abdomen," Edgar Fincher, a dermatologist, told Allure.
Age is just a number many people believe, and there's no age limit to say when you're too old to get a tattoo. Many people are still getting tattoos into their 70's and 80's without any issues.
You're never too old to do anything. Getting a tattoo could be about me thinking I can do what I like now. It doesn't matter what I say or do in my old age.
Shoulders and Calves:
These areas are great in that they avoid many of the problems with aging like stretching and wrinkles. If you get pregnant, your shoulder tattoo will be just fine. These are other locations that are generally easy to cover from the sun and others, but can also be shown off nicely.
Choose a place with more cushion, less bone and more fat or muscle. Examples of these places include the outer arm, outer thigh and calf muscle. Avoid areas that are seldom exposed and areas with thin skin, like your hands and feet, in order to help bypass any extra pain.
Areas like the feet, hands, stomach, chest, elbow, lips, and inner ear are not good tattoo locations.
Keep in mind: Of the people we talked to (the majority being teenagers to twentysomethings), a whopping 78 percent regret at least one of their tattoos. And 19 percent of participants with two tattoos regret both. Planning ahead is the best way you can make sure you don't suffer from tattoo regret.
A fine line tattoo typically begins to lose its definition after about 15 years. Bigger, bolder lines maintain their look for longer with proper care. At 40, many people will still have their tattoo in great shape, but if not, a touch-up is a great solution.
Guess how tattoos stay there forever, even as your skin cells die and are replaced? French researchers say they have found the answer, and it's a little bit surprising. They found that immune system cells called macrophages eat the ink, and then pass it to their replacements when they die.
Realism tattoos are a popular art form for many people, but most often go unrecognized for their design complexity and the aging factors that come with them. Realism tattoos look best when brand new, but fade over time due to various external factors.
1 Your Inner Forearms
The inner forearm, also known as “the next place Marci wants a tattoo,” is more or less the only area on the arm that can effectively avoid signs of aging. “The proximal [upper] arms can stretch and contract significantly with changes in both muscle and fat, Dr. Kraffert explains.
Boyle further explains that the risk of not going to an artist who is highly skilled in fine line tattoos is getting ink that becomes a blowout — where lines end up being thicker and thinner in different places — or a fallout — where the ink falls out of the skin during the healing process — as the design itself is ...
The most painful spots to get a tattoo are your ribs, spine, fingers, and shins. The least painful spots to get a tattoo are your forearms, stomach, and outer thighs.