As a vegan, you quickly learn that the world depends heavily on animals or animal by-products. Everything seems to be made from animals; from the food we eat to the things we wear.<\/p>\n
You also quickly learn that it can be pretty difficult, and in some cases almost impossible to find vegan alternatives to non-vegan products. Luckily, the world has recognized the need to support vegan needs as well, and generally start turning away from the animal, to plant-based production.<\/p>\n
Almost every major industry in the world has either gone vegan or provides vegan alternatives; that is why you can nowadays buy a vegan shampoo, vegan meat, or even buy vegan clothes. But, what about tattoo ink? Has the tattoo industry joined the vegan movement, and how can you get tattooed as a vegan?<\/p>\n
These are the important questions we’ll try to answer in the following paragraphs. So, without further ado, let’s get started!<\/p>\n
Before we get into the topic of the vegan tattoo, we first need to understand the need for vegan ink. Now, as you may know, tattoo ink generally contains a lot of animal by-products. For example, the standard ingredients of a regular tattoo ink<\/a> contain;<\/p>\n In order to create a tattoo ink<\/a>, manufacturers used things like iron oxide, logwood, cinnabar, cadmium, witch hazel, ethyl alcohol, and many more other chemical ingredients. It is essential to mention that the majority of the ingredients used to create anything, from black to red ink, are pretty much toxic and contain heavy metals. And, of course, alongside these ingredients, there are the animal by-products used to either enhance the pigment or to act as pigment carriers.<\/p>\n Therefore, as a vegan, it can be almost impossible to get tattooed with ink that either doesn’t contain toxic chemicals or animal by-products.<\/p>\n Now, the good news is that vegan tattoo ink is a thing. Though not every tattoo artist has vegan ink as an available alternative, many tattooists are willing to order vegan ink if their customers are asking for an alternative. So, that is a good thing as well.<\/p>\n But, we still need to take a closer look at vegan ink and find out what exactly makes it vegan.<\/p>\n The main thing that differentiates between vegan and non-vegan ink is the use of vegetable- or plant-based ink stabilizers, binders, and carriers. The majority of vegan inks contain vegetable glycerine and plant oils instead of animal-derived glycerin and oil<\/strong>. Generally, vegan ink brands explain the ink ingredients and point out which animal-derived ingredients are replaced and what exactly acts as their replacement.<\/p>\n If you want to get tattooed using vegan ink, it is important to either find a vegan tattoo artist or ask a regular tattoo artist to order vegan ink and use it for your tattoo. You’d be surprised with how welcoming the tattoo community is of this new wave of vegan ink.<\/p>\n Now, this may be less known information, but the majority of tattoo transfer papers<\/a> used in the process of tattooing are not vegan. The transfer papers are made using lanolin, also known as wool wax of wool grease. It is made from sheep’s wool and acts as a protective barrier or a moisturizing agent in these transfer papers.<\/p>\n It is important to mention that vegan transfer paper is not as developed of an idea as vegan ink. The only brand that creates vegan transfer paper is the\u00a0ReproFX Spirit Thermal Tattoo Transfer Paper<\/a>. This paper is made with vegetable-synthetic blends to replace animal-based waxes used in traditional transfer paper.<\/p>\n If you want to pursue a vegan tattoo, then make sure to check out the following vegan ink brands as well;<\/p>\n Here are some other vegan tattoo ink brands you can check out; Stable Color, SkinCandy, Waverly Color Co., Feldman, Intenze Tattoo Ink, Electric Ink USA, Star Bite, as many others.<\/p>\n When tattoo artist uses vegan ink to create tattoos, it is essential they adjust all of the other tattoo-related items and elements as well. For example, we mentioned the vegan tattoo transfer paper as a good starting point.<\/p>\n What would also be good to do is switch from standard soaps and moisturizers to vegan ones. A tattoo artist cannot just replace one thing with a vegan alternative and call it a day. For people who are vegan, it is essential that the whole process is vegan-focused.<\/p>\n Other things tattoo artists can replace with vegan alternatives include moisturizing strips on razors, which can also contain animal-derived waxes and lubricants. It is also essential that tattoo artists recommend proper vegan aftercare for their customers; like vegan moisturizers and lotions for tattoo aftercare.<\/p>\n Here are some of the vegan alternatives to standard tattoo aftercare items;<\/p>\n Talking about vegan ink without considering things like safety would be wrong. So, let’s tackle this as well.<\/p>\n Now, considering that animal-derived ingredients are not to be found in vegan ink, one would consider it significantly safer than regular ink. Remember how we mention that standard ink contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals? Well, those things can cause some serious health issues, like tattoo and skin infection, allergic reaction, fever, and so much more.<\/p>\n So, is vegan ink safer than regular ink in this sense?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, vegan ink has only animal-derived ingredients replaced. The other ingredients, which give it pigment and other ink characteristics, remain the same as in regular ink. So, unfortunately, vegan ink can still contain things like toxic chemicals and heavy metals. Therefore, vegan ink isn’t necessarily safer than regular ink<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
So, How Can I Get a Cruelty-Free Tattoo?<\/h2>\n
Vegan Tattoo Ink<\/h3>\n
Vegan Tattoo Transfer Paper<\/h3>\n
The Best Vegan Ink Brands<\/h3>\n
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Other Vegan Tattoo Items\/Products<\/h3>\n
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Vegan Ink Safety<\/h2>\n