The dullness you once saw should have disappeared. This is normal and will dissipate after a week or so, but regardless of this scab fading, your tattoo will still not be as bright as it was when you first left the shop.Īfter your tattoo has fully healed, which is usually around one month for most people, your tattoo should be sharper and brighter in color. In addition to this, your tattoo may go through a cloudy or milky stage where the tattoo appears exceptionally dull or clouded. The clear wax in this case is your epidermis regrowth. The best way to imagine it is to consider a drawing made with marker on paper that you color over with clear wax you can still see the color and image below, but it certainly does not look as bright or potent as when it was initially drawn. And if you pick at or peel away these scabs, you can take ink with them. But your layer of epidermis is regrowing, which is likely to dull the pigment that sits below it. Because your tattoo ink has been deposited in your lower dermis, these scabs on your epidermis do not influence the ink.
Your tattoo will form scabs to help heal the tattooed area. While some ink loss is a normal part of this process, if your artist is inexperienced, this could be a major part of tattoo fading or a black tattoo looking grey. This is when your body pushes out any excess blood, plasma, or even ink from your tattoo, to make way for scab formation. The first stage in tattoo healing is when your tattoo goes through a process called weeping. For black tattoos or tattoos with thick, black details, this can sometimes result in a more intense healing process.
This mending can look and feel different for each person and each tattoo. As such, it goes through a cell regeneration process that tries to mend the wound. How the Healing Process Turns a Tattoo GreyĪ tattoo is an open wound and this trauma done to your largest organ, your skin, needs to be rectified by your body. 2 Reasons Why a Black Tattoo Might Fade.1 How the Healing Process Turns a Tattoo Grey.