Tattoos have been around since ancient times and are a terrific way to express yourself. People acquire tattoos for many reasons, including expressing their love for their significant other or children, concealing scars, or simply displaying some awesome artwork on their skin canvas.
However, not all tattoos work out well, and even the best ones might overstay their welcome. There are a variety of reasons why you would wish to get a tattoo erased, as well as a variety of methods for doing it.
After a breakup, tattoos of a partner’s name that were once a symbol of love and appreciation may not be as alluring, especially if you go on to another relationship.
The half-naked pin-up you got for your 18th birthday could be preventing you from getting a meaningful career, and obscene tattoos are less appealing if you have children.
The ink quality is often just plain awful, with crooked lines and uneven shading. There are still methods to eliminate humiliating, unsuitable, or unsightly ink if a cover-up isn’t an option or isn’t desirable.
Fortunately, many of these operations may be performed safely at home, allowing you to avoid costly and unpleasant surgical procedures. When removing a tattoo, you should always use utmost caution to avoid leaving a wider and more unsightly scar than the artwork itself.
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Surgical Remedies vs. Removing a Tattoo at Home
The widespread problem of undesired tattoos paved the path for a burgeoning business of tattoo removal products.
In reality, there are a variety of surgical and medicinal techniques that can assist you in removing one.
The following are a few of these procedures:
Dermabrasion
Dermabrasion removes the top layers of skin around the tattoo location with a rotating instrument. To remove all of the ink, numerous sessions may be required, and a specialist must perform this treatment.
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is a painful procedure that employs extremely low temperatures to destroy the skin surrounding the tattoo location. Cryosurgery is costly, and it may take multiple procedures to completely remove a tattoo.
Surgical Excision
Surgical excision is administering a local anesthetic before cutting the tattooed skin away. The treatment is only recommended for minor tattoos and takes longer to recover from than other options. Surgical excision might sometimes be costly.
Intense Pulse Light
This tattoo removal method is similar to laser tattoo removal in that it burns away the inked flesh. The skin then heals on its own, frequently leaving a scar. This approach is less unpleasant than laser surgery, but it is significantly more expensive because you are typically paid for each light pulse.
Laser Removal
Laser removal removes ink from the skin by destroying pigments in the skin with a laser beam. This process is both unpleasant and costly, and it generally takes multiple treatments to completely erase a tattoo.
Chemical Peels
Chemical peels include applying a chemical mask to the skin to break down and peel away the top layers of the skin, eliminating the ink as it does so.
Chemical peels leave the skin sore for days afterward, cause minor scarring, and are rather expensive. These procedures, on the other hand, are far from simple. In truth, all surgical tattoo removal treatments have two things in common: they’re both costly and unpleasant.
Even the cheapest operations, such as a minor removal, can cost hundreds of dollars. Many surgical methods leave a terrible scar and have a lengthy recovery period, which might keep you out of service for large tattoos or those near your joints.
Many of these treatments come with potentially serious dangers in some situations. Furthermore, surgical procedures are not always the quickest choice because there is usually a wait time before getting in for surgery.
House removal procedures are frequently selected for this reason, as well as the ease of not having to leave your home.
Examining the Natural Tattoo Removal Options
There are various alternatives for removing a tattoo at home, just as for surgical removal treatments. When researching and planning to remove a tattoo yourself, keep the following factors in mind: the procedure’s safety, the total cost, the risk of scarring, and the degree of suffering it will create.
Thankfully, there are various inexpensive, painless, and completely safe ways to remove the ink on your own. We’ll go through your options and help you decide on the best removal approach for you.
Salt
One of the most common ways for erasing a tattoo at home is to use salt, which requires items from the grocery store (or probably just your pantry).
This procedure includes exfoliating the skin with salt, which speeds up the natural shedding process. To make a paste, combine a couple of teaspoons of salt with warm water. After that, gently massage the skin for up to 30 minutes with the paste. After that, clean the skin with warm water.
Because salt is abrasive, it aids in the removal of top layers of skin, making it easier to reach the ink. Chemicals in table salt also aid in the breakdown of ink, allowing it to fade more efficiently.
For optimal effects, do this at least twice a day (morning and night) for a prolonged length of time. Your tattoo should start to disappear after only a few sessions.
Sand Powder
The sand powder may be found in certain places and on the internet, and it’s used similarly as salt to help remove tattoos at home.
To help break down the top layers of skin and remove them into deeper layers, combine the sand powder with aloe vera lotion to make a paste, then massage it into the tattoo region for up to 15 minutes.
The sand powder is far more abrasive than salt and should be handled with caution. Because it eliminates skin layers at a faster rate, this treatment can be painful, but when applied properly, it should leave little to no scars or significant discomfort.
After applying the sand powder combination, rinse the area with warm water and apply a moisturizer to the sensitive skin to help it heal.
This process should be repeated up to twice a day for as long as the tattoo has to be removed.
Aloe Vera and Honey
Making an exfoliating lotion with aloe vera, honey, and salt is another common and successful ink removal approach.
The aloe vera gel softens the skin around the tattoo, making it easier for the salt to remove the ink and layers of skin.
Honey calms the skin, reducing the risk of scarring and preventing inflammation. Equal parts aloe vera gel, honey, and salt should be mixed and applied to the affected region, rubbing thoroughly for up to 30 minutes.
Then, rinse the area with warm water and continue the treatment as needed, up to twice a day for as long. After 4-6 days, the tattoo should start to fade.
Lemon Juice
Another common way of safely erasing tattoos at home is lemon juice. You’ve probably heard of using citrus juice to lighten your hair, and the same principle applies to breaking down and removing colors in ink.
This procedure is straightforward. Squeeze the juice from a fresh lemon into a bowl after cutting it in half.
Then, massage the lemon juice into the tattooed region for up to 30 minutes using your fingers. Many individuals combine this with the salabrasion procedure to speed up the removal process, which uses lemon juice instead of water.
Tattoo Removal Cream
Tattoo removal cream comes in a variety of types that can help fade your tattoo over time. This isn’t the quickest way to get rid of tattoos, but it’s certainly one of the least time-consuming since it simply requires you to use a cream 2-3 times a day.
This ointment includes chemicals or herbs that help break down pigment molecules in the skin, allowing the ink to break down and fade the look of tattoos over time.
Results usually appear within a few weeks, and the ink might take many months to fade entirely. These creams, on the other hand, leave no scars and are far safer than many other techniques of removal.
You might be able to find them at a local pharmacy store or a tattoo studio. When all else fails, buying online provides a plethora of possibilities.
Homemade Removal Cream
Aloe vera, Paederia Tomentosa, and Vitamin E can be combined to make a cream that dissolves ink and works similarly to typical tattoo removal lotions.
To create this cream, combine all three ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir well. Allow 10-20 minutes for the cream to set after applying it freely to the region two to three times a day.
Then, using warm water, clean the area and pat it dry. Apply the cream after a hot shower, when the pores are open and ready to absorb the cream, for the greatest effects.
You may also open the pores by holding a hot towel over the region for thirty seconds before applying the lotion. This should be done every day until you get the results you want. After a few weeks, you should see noticeable effects.
Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender oil is by far one of the most popular essential oils used in regular hygiene procedures. Because it can help skin heal, eliminate redness, and calm inflammation and itching, it’s best used in conjunction with an abrasive approach like salt exfoliation or sand powder.
To avoid injury and guarantee that the new, ink-free skin comes back fast and with little scarring, apply a few drops to dry skin after using another tattoo removal treatment.
Hydrogen Peroxide
This is another technique that may be used in conjunction with others to improve outcomes and prevent scarring.
After employing an exfoliating procedure, apply hydrogen peroxide to the skin. Peroxide can aid in fading ink and, more crucially, disinfects the skin, reducing the risk of infection and scarring from protracted healing.
Methods to Avoid When Removing Tattoos at Home
While there are numerous safe and efficient procedures for getting rid of outdated or unsightly tattoos at home, there is also a lot of misinformation floating around about other methods that aren’t so safe.
There are several ways of removal that should be avoided at all costs. These procedures are sometimes employed to erase a tattoo quickly, but they can cause major scarring and even poisoning.
Remember that some surgical techniques, like laser removal, might take up to four or five sessions. Using any of the above procedures should not result in major skin harm.
Bleach
There are several at-home tattoo removal procedures that employ bleach. At all costs, these approaches should be avoided. Bleach is extremely harmful and should not be used on the skin.
Chemical burns, scarring, itching, and other major skin irritations are all possible side effects of this approach.
Sandpaper Method
Some methods suggest removing tattoos with sandpaper, which is comparable to sand powder or salt but more abrasive.
Sandpaper methods should be avoided since they remove skin quickly and are likely to leave scars. Furthermore, sandpaper removal treatments are frequently excruciatingly uncomfortable.
Salabrasion
Salabrasion is similar to the salt procedure, and only it includes rubbing the salt into the tattoo location using a wooden sanding block or another abrasive tool.
The location is then coated in salt and wrapped for several days before the process begins again. As you may expect, this procedure is extremely unpleasant and frequently results in significant scarring.
How Long Does It Take To Get A Tattoo Removed At Home?
There is no simple answer to how long it will take for your at-home tattoo removal procedures to produce results. Because everyone’s skin reacts differently and every tattoo is different, what works quickly for one person may take a long time for another.
It’s crucial to be patient and understand that the length of time it takes to remove anything depends on various things. This might involve the following:
- The thickness of the skin or the region where the tattoo is located.
- What is the number of colors in the tattoo?
- The design’s dimensions
- The intensity of the tattoo
- The sort of ink that the artist used.
What is the frequency with which the tattoo removal process is used?
If you’re feeling frustrated about your tattoo removal, remember that, aside from having the tattoo cutaway (surgical excision), most surgical methods require time to remove a tattoo successfully.
Laser treatments and other removal procedures like dermabrasion are often repeated for 4-5 sessions on average. Even at a low fee of $100 each session, this can go into the thousands of dollars.
The suggested wait period between surgical techniques is up to 6 weeks, depending on the type of surgical approach employed. There is no method to get rid of ink “overnight.”
These techniques have been demonstrated to be beneficial throughout time, and some have even been employed since the dawn of time.
You will be delighted with the results if you take your time to remove your tattoo at home carefully and securely without causing yourself injury.
