A "bad" tattoo ?

Getting a bad tat is a little like totaling your car. If it's going to cost more than the car is worth to fix it, you just end up getting another car. And no matter how good your insurance is - it's never going to turn out better. It's always going to cost you.

That's why you should be very picky when it comes to what you have inked. Once it's been etched, there's no going back. Or is there? Even though it's a bit of a horror story we've all heard - get a little drunk and wake up with some new tattoo that looks like a bug on a windshield, it's not really the end of the world.

Now, the skin where that tat failure sites is never going to be the way it was again more than likely. There is no magic eraser that will just wipe it away as though it were never even there, but there are somethings you can do to make it look a whole lot better.

We're not even going to talk about laser removal much here because everyone already knows it is only partly effective and what you are trading is a tat for a scar. It's not a great trade-off considering the cost involved.
Image via Wikipedia
But there are some other options for you to consider. Now, if you go read any forum about tattoo removal you're basically getting yourself into the realm of dumb vs. dumber. So be realistic when it comes to tattoo removal.

First of all, make sure you have realistic expectations. Since you can't have pristine skin again, don't think you're going to find something that will do that. There are basically two options and they both start with the same thing.
There are products on the market out there that have been knows to do a decent job at lightening tattoos. It's going to take a while, and you may have to try a couple of things to see what works best for you, but it's the easiest way to go - and the cheapest.

Everyone has very different skin. What works for one person may not work for you and it's not exactly the fault of the product, so don't cry about it if something doesn't work. Just move on to something else until you find one that does.

The fading products all use about the same process - a mildly acidic formula that coaxes the ink to rise to the surface of the skin where it will be naturally flaked off as you shed cells. It's never going to get all of the ink out, but it may get light enough so that no one ever notices there was a tattoo there. That's option one.

Number two is that you may take just enough time to get the tattoo light enough to be able to go over it with another one much more to your liking. Most good tattoo artists are well-versed in how to turn a bad tattoo into a better one. You might rather not have one at all, but if you can't have that, you can a least go with a good one.

So don't despair, don't fret and certainly don't cry about it. Be patient and use a little of this and a little of that until you find something that works. after a while you will either have a tattoo so light you can live with it, or a tattoo light enough to replace with something more like what you wanted in the first place.