Thinking about a cover-up or a scar camouflage?

Maybe you had a tattoo done by someone with no experience or skills, or maybe while you were drunk on holiday in Ibiza or maybe you had the name of a boy or a girl you don't date anymore and you realised you made a big mistake.

Maybe you had a small accident that caused you a scar on your leg or on your arm and you don't feel confident anymore wearing a skirt, shorts or a t-shirt. What are your options?

If you're thinking about covering-up a scar or a tattoo that you hate or don't want anymore, here are some tips and advice that will give you more knowledge about the whole process.

Normally, when you approach a tattoo artist for a cover-up or a scar camouflage, the artist will need to see the tattoo or the scar you want to cover in person. During your consultation, a few things will be assessed like the placement, the size and darkness of the old tattoo, or in case of a scar, how big, how old and what kind of scar you suffered.

All these things are very important because they will affect not only the success of the cover-up, but they will also allow your tattoo artist to understand if it's actually doable: if the scar is too fresh and still active, it's not a good idea to tattoo over it as this could damage the tissues. Some scars can also take 12 months to settle and to stop being active.

Once you've given your tattoo artist all the info he needs about your scar/old tattoo and you're basically good to go, it's time to talk about your new ink.

The average size for a cover-up/scar camouflage is about twice the size of what you'd like to cover; as usual, the bigger the better. This is because a cover-up normally needs some black and some skin to capture the eye's attention and make the viewer focusing on them, rather than focusing on some small details that might still be slightly visible.

Some tattoo styles work better than some others, for many reasons; American traditional tattoo and Japanese tattoo style are some of the best for that task, as the use of bold lines, heavy black shading and solid colouring (for the American traditional tattoos), or the use of certain patterns (like scales in certain animals or kimono patterns), black background, and certain colours (for the Japanese style), can make your unwanted tattoo or scar disappear or hard to detect.

Other different styles that work well for cover ups are blackout (easiest way), tribals, dotwork and any style that imply the heavy use of black and opaque grey tones.

There are also styles that don't really work or they're trickier to work with, specifically styles that use only black and greywash and styles that use the skin tone to give depth to a design.

Sometimes, if your tattoo artist is not 100% convinced about the success of your cover-up, they might suggest you to have some laser sessions; this process will decrease the darkness of your old tattoo, not only giving you a better result but also giving you more options on the subject and colours that can be used.

How does the laser work? The laser breaks up the pigments through a high-intensity light beam in a way that your body can get rid of them through your immune system. It is sometimes a long process and the cost depends on the size and the amount of sessions you need, in order to reach your goal.

Your skin needs some time to heal between each session and even longer between the last treatment and your tattoo session, but the results are very different from a simple cover-up.

Unfortunately laser treatment doesn't do miracles! Some colours are harder to detect and the dark ones are the easiest to get rid of but on the other hand, light colours are the easiest to cover.

Last thing, before booking a consultation, make sure that the tattoo artist you chose has gained experience in this kind of tattoos and can show you pictures of cover-ups he's done.