Probably many have never heard of a man named Lucky. However, Lucky, whose full name is Lucky Diamond Rich, is a person who can boast of having the most tattoos on his body, although he claims that now, after years of drawing, it has become just one tattoo that covers his entire body. Due to his love for ink, Lucky also holds a Guinness World Record, and ink can be found on his eyelids, the skin between his toes, and even on his gums.
Tattoos were once associated with sailors, rebellious bikers, and for those of us who grew up in the 90s and earlier, many tattoos from the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) remain in our minds, often seen on the arms of older people. However, they have long lost their traces of marginal art as research shows that a quarter of Europeans aged between 18 and 35 and nearly a third of adult Americans are tattooed.
Given that a vast number of people have colored their bodies, documented complications are relatively uncommon and usually involve bacterial infections or allergic reactions. However, this was enough for European regulators to introduce new regulations on tattoo and permanent makeup colors at the beginning of 2022 to reduce the risk of including ingredients that could be harmful to health. These new regulations have caused an upheaval among tattoo-artists as well as among manufacturers of tattoo colors.
New Regulation
Marin Urbanc, tattoo–artist and owner of Gandalf Tattoo studio, says that at the beginning of 2022, working with tattoo colors that do not meet REACH regulations was banned.
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—– This means that all tattoo colors are banned in the European Union, not just some. The official reasons are that the colors we previously worked with are potentially carcinogenic and contain allergens above the permitted level – explains Urbanc.
The story of the bans began back in 2016 at the initiative of the then German Minister for Consumer Protection and current High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt. Due to this initiative, the EU banned 4,000 chemicals at the beginning of last year, such as some azo dyes and isopropanol alcohol, which is a common ingredient in tattoo colors. This new chemical legislation is known, as Urbanc mentioned, as the REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals), which suggests that safer alternatives to these harmful chemicals are readily available on the market and that a shift towards them must be made.
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The expulsion of 25 pigments from coloring products does not necessarily mean dullness in the tattoo and permanent makeup market. Supposedly, less risky shades are slowly being developed
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In addition to colors produced in the EU, the new rules also apply to all inks imported into the Union, and regulators stated at the beginning of the ban that the new restrictions would ‘reduce serious health effects such as cancer, chronic allergic reactions, and other inflammatory skin reactions associated with inks used for tattoos and permanent makeup.’
Ingredients in the Body
Modern tattoo inks are complex ‘inventions’. They include insoluble pigments that provide shade or color, binding agents that keep the pigments suspended in liquid while being transferred to the skin, and water and other solvents such as glycerin and alcohol, which affect the quality of the ink, along with preservatives and other additives.
After injection, part of the pigment permanently remains in the skin but can also migrate to lymph nodes. When exposed to sunlight or during laser removal, pigments can also break down into new, potentially more toxic compounds and circulate throughout the body, say studies that prompted the new regulation.
Additionally, over the years, manufacturers of traditional inks have incorporated heavy metals such as barium and copper into their pigments to create an ever-expanding palette of colors, and neurotoxic agents such as cadmium, lead, and arsenic have been documented in some inks at high concentrations. These elements can also be found in so-called vegan inks, which only exclude animal-derived glycerin and other animal ingredients.
Since 2015, the EU has required manufacturers to label inks containing hazardous ingredients, but since raw pigments are produced on an industrial scale for use in all kinds of products, including clothing and cars, they are not always of the purity one might hope for substances injected into someone’s skin.
Many Unknowns
Ines Schreiver, co-director of the Center for Dermato-toxicology at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Germany, stated that fundamental questions about body exposure to inks remain unanswered. Among the unknowns is how much ink enters the body, the relationship between that exposure and the side effects that occasionally follow, and any diseases that may appear years later.
– I would not use the word ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’ to describe tattooing. I always say that one should be informed about possible side effects and uncertainties – she says.
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A quarter of Europeans aged between 18 and 35 are tattooed, and nearly a third of adult Americans. Few have reported complications related to tattoos
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After prolonged considerations by the European Chemicals Agency, the European Commission decided to focus on substances known to be dangerous, banning a long list of chemicals already prohibited for use in cosmetics and sharply limiting the concentrations of certain corrosive or irritating compounds.
Quickly Adapted
Božidar Tunjić, owner of the tattoo-studio Stinger, says that all manufacturers rushed to adapt to the new conditions and that shortly after the announcement of the new law, some of them quickly removed banned ingredients from their colors to continue operating smoothly as soon as possible.
– There are many suppliers on the market today, but every responsible tattoo-studio will order its colors from authorized suppliers. There has always been everything on the market, and that is why I always recommend clients to freely ask their tattoo artists which colors they use – emphasizes Tunjić.
Dr. Jørgen Serup, a Danish dermatologist who has been running a ‘tattoo clinic’ at Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen since 2008, said that the regulations were delayed. However, in his opinion, they were poorly targeted, prescribing many substances that would never be used in tattoo colors and not addressing known issues such as bacterial contamination of ink during production. Among the thousands of patients he has treated for complications, he found that red ink is more frequently associated with allergic reactions than blue and green, which were the first to be banned. However, regardless of what some doctors say, the ban has been in place for a year now, and it is up to everyone to adapt if they have not already.
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—– We are now working with colors that meet REACH regulations. From legal distributors in the EU, you can only buy REACH-approved tattoo colors since 2022, and I, as before, buy tattoo colors from distributors in Finland. Legal tattoo salons have no problems obtaining tattoo equipment; I do not know about those who work illegally – explains Urbanc.
He adds that in the meantime, most manufacturers have adapted to the REACH regulation.
– At the beginning of 2022, there were difficulties because the color palette was significantly poorer, but today there is almost no difference except that REACH-approved colors are somewhat more expensive than colors for the rest of the world. In 2022, a significant number of clients went to get tattooed in Bosnia or Serbia due to the new circumstances because the REACH regulation does not cover them – he explains.
Thin Lines and Full-Blooded Works
Despite the new regulations, tattooing remains mainstream, so there is no fear for the industry, says Tunjić. Materials and tools have advanced tremendously, and tattoos have become true little works of art.
– Recently, we are witnessing the thin line trend. These are very thin tattoos, almost resembling technical drawings. Tattoo-artists are still divided about it because such tattoos use the thinnest needles, similar to those for permanent makeup. Such works tend to fade significantly. I still prefer a true full-blooded tattoo, but since all of this is part of art and taste, I leave it to everyone to choose what they find most beautiful – concludes Tunjić.
The owner of Gandalf has a slightly different opinion. He believes that tattooing cannot be called an industry, as the writer of these lines has called it, but that tattoo artists are actually craftsmen, and one can talk about industry when discussing manufacturers of tattoo equipment.
– I do not follow trends. For more than thirty years, I have been working according to the principles of hard craft rules. Trends in the profession are what they are; they have existed before and are transient, lasting from five to ten years. Over time, all trendy ‘tattooists’ either profile themselves or give up tattooing. A negative trend is the so-called McDonaldization of tattooing, where there are no criteria, anyone can tattoo, and the craft is subordinated to profit – notes Urbanc, adding at the end a sentence related to regulation:
– While we are talking, I am smoking a cigarette that was legally purchased in the European Union. How many carcinogenic substances and allergens does one cigarette contain?!
