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Everything you need to know before getting a tattoo in these styles!
If you want a microrealism or fineline tattoo, you might have heard common responses like "it'll age terribly", "it won't last", "it will become a blob", etc. And people might mean well when they provide these warnings. You also might have heard the opposite end of the spectrum of thoughts on fineline, like "it'll only age poorly if you have a bad artist", "it onlyl spreads if it's blown out", etc.
When we look at the science of how tattoos age in the body and why their look changes over time, we see a much more nuanced picture. Both sides might have partial truths in them, but neither provides the full picture. And understanding how tattoos work is key to making an informed decision on whether microrealism and fineline is for you - both how it will look on your body not today, and how it might look a year from now, 10 years from now, and hopefully many more.
Please keep in mind that this information is not to dissuade anybody! It is simply to acknowledge the reality that tattoos will be on you forever, and that the thought behind the commitment should account for that. A vast majority of people cannot afford laser treatments, or even if they can, they can still suffer from body dysmorphia or general displeasure with their own body until these treatments are given the time they need to truly achieve a removal. So this is a process I always encourage people to undergo with informed consent to the best of my ability!
Blowout vs natural ink spread
If you've ever deep dived into tattoos, you might have heard the term "blowout" before. You might have even heard this term be used correctly and incorrectly when it comes to describing how ink can spread. So what is a blowout, and how is it different from the spread we see when ink ages naturally?
Blowouts are a phenomenon that happens when an artist goes too deep. Ideally, artists are aiming to deposit ink into the dermis - the second layer of skin. There are three layers total, called the epidermis, the dermis, and hypodermis. If the ink goes too deep, it spreads to the fat surrounding the skin. (If you've ever felt how slimy fat is when cooking meat, you can probably imagine how easily a pigment could spread across that surface.)
This can happen due to lack of skill on the artist’s part, but there are also certain locations that are naturally very prone to blowouts because the skin is much thinner. For example, near the inner fold of the elbow, and behind the knee. There are other potential causes for thinner skin that is more prone to blowouts as well, like significant aging, and certain disorders.
In this phenomenon, we see the partial truth from above - an artist's technique can indeed influence whether ink spreads in the skin a certain way. However, blowouts are a phenomenon that happen immediately, on the day of the tattoo application. This is often seen as a grey "haze", even when the tattoo is fresh. But then, what is natural ink spread?
A well aged 3 year old fineline tattoo.
Another natural healing process over 3+ years, where we see how the dimensionality of the body doesn't allow for things like perfect shapes to look the same from every angle. Keep in mind this tattoo will keep aging for many years to come.
Natural ink spread is a phenomenon that will happen naturally as tattoos age and heal. This cannot be prevented no matter how skilled the artist is nor how good your aftercare is, because it’s how our immune system works.
From immunology.org, “macrophages are specialised cells involved in the detection, phagocytosis and destruction of bacteria and other harmful organisms”. This is a very rough summary from someone who is not a biologist or immunologist, but these cells identify the ink as a foreign body, and they attempt to kill it. However, macrophages cannot kill the ink, so it decides to "quarantine" the foreign object instead - it envelops it, and holds it in place. This is good, because it means the ink won’t move much and won’t be eaten away by your immune system as it heals!
However, macrophages do eventually die themselves at some point. From ResearchGate.net, “Unlike neutrophils, which are short-lived, macrophages can live for months to years.” “[They] can live up to several months. They can engulf lots of bacteria and finally die due to their own digestive compounds.” So the ink particle it holds eventually gets released when that cell dies, and can move around until a new macrophage identifies it as a threat and engulfs it again. Visually, what this means is that designs will seem to “blur” as the ink spreads over the years.
This can be confusing, as ink spread can also look like a general "haze" around the tattoo. However, the key here is that this happens naturally over the years, and not right away.
Does fineline spread more than other styles?
Well, no. And yes.
It's an extreme example for the sake of visualization, but say you have a line that's 1mm wide and a line that's 5mm wide - blurring them both by 1mm over the years will look very different (100% of the width of the first one, versus 20% on the second). So bigger designs also "blur", but they tend to not look it so much, because the blurring is smaller relative to the size of the initial line. So sizing up even an inch or two can make a huge difference in how legible your design stays.
We can see on the example on the right how much it feels like the lines haven't moved at all when we have a large enough size, and thick enough lines. But if you really take the time to break it down, the whiskers are thicker. The top hat line is slightly thicker, and the hair on the white chest fur is thicker too. And this tattoo won't just be around for 6 years if this is a young adult in any way, it'll be around for decades and will keep aging. So seeing how well it has preserved the design so far is a wonderful sign that it will say very recognizable over the years!
A 6 year old tattoo.
How do I decide if a microrealism or fineline project is for me?
As I mentioned, this is not meant to discourage anybody. It is meant to create informed consent for people who do choose to do these styles.
For some people, the appeal of fineline or microrealism is largely how sharp it looks fresh, especially on social media. And I see a lot of people who struggle with how it has changed over the years, and are stuck with either a tattoo they no longer love forever, or with a very expensive, time consuming, and painful laser project. So to me, it isn't about avoiding styles that change more over time, but being aware of what changes to expect, and making sure that you're okay with the potential results. So if that's you, you might want to consider other solutions to appreciate the art, like temporary tattoos, prints, etc.
And if not, and you are okay with how aged tattoos look and maybe are even okay with it losing legibility, this could be a non-issue. Some people see tattoos as a way to mark a time in their lives, as a reminder to themselves that doesn't need to be legible to others, and have other views on the matter that generally won't lead to any discomfort or dysmorphia if the tattoo changes significantly.
Personally, I always recommend that any client considering these styles spends some time perusing aged tattoo websites.
This site has some great examples of aged tattoos where you can really see the ink spreading under this tag, and specific examples of micro sizes under this tag, as well as this subreddit for aged tattoos. Other individual factors come into play like genetics, technique, but size is definitely one of them, and you can see how the designs that are tagged as large generally have a better time over the years. I highly recommend just perusing and feeling out the differences, how much negative space is needed for certain details to stay, just so you can make the most informed decision before deciding on a size and design!
If you're still comfortable with the size and design and are okay with the ways it might change over time, I'm happy to schedule you in! Again, it's just about going into it with informed consent. :)
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