Saturday, April 11, 2009

About Blacklight Ink

There are a lot of questions about black light tattoos posted in the comments. I thought I would take a minute to address some of them.

The most widely used UV reactive ink is Chameleon Ink which has a few special qualities. The black light reactive dye is encased in polymer microbeads which are suspended in sterile, distilled water. The same polymer that is used to make these microscopic beads has been used in dental prostheses, bone repair, eye lenses, orthopedics and in pacemakers and is better known as Lucite. These microspheres are 4-5 times the size of a red blood cell and are well tolerated by human tissue (no rejection). This means that the dye used never actually comes in contact with your system, but is safely inside the polymer microbeads. This is the same ink that has been used for decades to track fish and wildlife and is approved by the FDA (as far as I know, no other tattoo ink has FDA approval). (Read more about this technology here!)



Blacklight reactive ink comes in a wide range of colors, most of which are visible under normal light. UV inks are not quite as bright as normal inks under regular light. For an "invisible" tattoo, it must be done in white ink on light skin. Some scarring may occur because of the tattoo process that leaves the tattoo still visible under normal light. The Chameleon UV inks are water-based and blend differently than normal tattoo inks. Therefore, UV tattooing should only be done by experience professionals.

Can anyone vouch for any other brands of blacklight reactive ink? I've also heard of Skin Candy Black Light tattoo ink, but don't know how its made/what's in it. As far as I can tell, Chameleon ink is safe and lasts.

5 comments:

TheDungeonInc said...

Hi, I am from The Dungeon Inc. where "Richie" is located here in Colorado. We sell the Titanium White (Invisible) on our professional web site at www.thedungeoninc.com, and we do not mix, dilute, or cut the pigment. We get it from the same manufacturer as Crazy Chameleon got theirs from. Skin Candy makes his own, and I can not say what he makes it with, or mixes it with. We trust the manufacturer.

rose-thorn said...

WOW. I've been trying to think of what I would do for my only tattoo, I want it to be one of a kind and special, and my only one. An "invisible glow-in-the-dark" tattoo sounds perfect, not to mention easy to hide for work! ;) Shame that you need a blacklight instead of just normal darkness, but I guess you can't have everything- and this is awesome enough as it is! lol

rose-thorn said...

WOW. I've been trying to think of what I would do for my only tattoo, I want it to be one of a kind and special, and my only one. An "invisible glow-in-the-dark" tattoo sounds perfect, not to mention easy to hide for work! ;) Shame that you need a blacklight instead of just normal darkness, but I guess you can't have everything- and this is awesome enough as it is! lol

elantra500 said...

do you know if there is anywhere in Australia you can get these tatts done?

danadoll77 said...

I just wondered how you know if you have the right black light for running a black light tattoo?