How Much Is A Tattoo Touchup?
Just got your first tattoo? You might expect it to last forever. While the tattoo will stay on your skin for the rest of your life, it will not retain its original glamor. You will need to visit the parlor every once in a while for touchup sessions so that the tattoo does not fade over time. Are touchups on tattoos free, or are they quite expensive? Let’s find out.
Are Tattoo Touchups Free?
In most cases, they are not. Sometimes artists might offer the first touchup session for free, but that’s just about it. Your tattoo touchup cost will depend on the condition of your tattoo. That said, if you notice some flaws in the design, the practitioner is likely to cover it for free. Other than that, you will have to pay for touchup sessions.
How Much Are Tattoo Touchups?
How much does it cost to retouch a tattoo? As we mentioned earlier, the touchup expense will vary depending on the present condition of your tattoo. Here are the estimated costs for some tattoo touchup situations:
Fading Colors
If you feel that your tattoo has been looking a bit pale lately, it means it has lost the vibrancy of its original colors. It’s normal for the tattoo ink colors to become lighter as time passes. Fading colors is a pretty good indication that your tattoo requires retouching. How much should you expect to spend in this particular scenario?
Your tattoo artist will reapply the ink in the most faded parts of the tattoo instead of recoloring it completely. It will not take an extensive session. Only a short amount of work can restore the glory of your tattoo unless it has severely faded. For a minor touchup, the artist will charge you $30-$40, or even less. For a bit more elaborate work, prepare to spend $50+.
Adverse Body Placement
The tattoo is susceptible to faster color deterioration if you choose to have it on a part of the body that sweats too often and frequently moves. For example, a tattoo on your elbow or hips will have to go through more skin stretching, friction, and perspiration. So, the tattoo ink will discolor sooner.
In this case, you will have to seek touchups more often. The cost of each session should be lower than $50. That said, you will have to spend more on touchup expenditure since you will have to visit the parlor more. You won’t be paying much per session, but the cost will mount up since you will go for touchup sessions more regularly.
Tattoo Gets Infected
It’s easy to avoid post-tattoo infections if you adhere to an ideal aftercare routine. But a lot of things can go wrong and lead to infections if you are not cautious enough.
It could start from the contaminated equipment used by the artist or exposing the tattoo to high friction, heat, and dirt. If you end up having a tattoo infection, you have to schedule a touchup session.
Infections from tattoos are unpleasant and severely harm inked skin. You can imagine the damage all of this may do to the real tattoo as the skin becomes bloated and red and occasionally even begins to bleed and leak ink.
Fortunately, medications and prompt action can prevent the infection from worsening and help the skin recover. But what happens afterward?
After your skin heals from a tattoo infection, the tattoo will damage substantially. You must go to an artist to retouch the tattoo and bring it back to its original form. This could cost more than a regular touchup. The estimated cost could be as much as $150-$250 since post-infection tattoo damage is often too severe.
Tattoo Blowout
Skilled tattoo artists push the ink to the dermis layer of the skin while drawing a tattoo. This is critical in keeping the ink secured underneath the skin. Inexperienced artists tend to push the tattoo ink even deeper, which is not ideal for ink retention. At some point, the ink will resurface to the skin and spread out of the tattoo lines during the recovery process.
Thankfully, a blowout is not a problem that can’t be taken care of. Making subtle additions to the design or extending the tattoo lines can salvage a tattoo if the blowout is too noticeable. A tattoo cover-up or partial fading might not always work to neutralize the effects of a blowout. Since the touchup is more complex, you might have to cough up more than $100.
Final Words
The key takeaway of this discussion is the sooner you address the tattoo fading issue, the less you will have to spend on touchup fees. If you ignore the tattoo for too long, it will degrade substantially. So, it will be a greater challenge for the artist to retouch it and deliver the rejuvenating effects you had been hoping for. Unsurprisingly, it will set you back more.
