6 Myths About Tattoos, Debunked

1. You should take a painkiller before getting a tattoo.
Don’t. Painkillers are blood thinners, which means they’ll cause more bleeding during the process. Your body is normally proactive at restricting blood loss, but when you’re on painkillers, your blood isn’t thick enough for the normal clotting process.

2. You can’t give blood if you have ink.
Wrong. The American Red Cross lets you donate blood if you were tattooed at a shop that is state regulated. As long as your artist used properly sterilized machines, you’re in the clear to donate blood!

3. You can get diseases from infected tattoo needles.
Totally false, as long as you get a tattoo at a properly licensed parlor. It’s a longstanding myth that you can get HIV from tattoo needles, but there are no reported cases of HIV infection from a tattoo in the U.S. There are three from dentists’ offices.

4. You can’t remove a colored tattoo.
Nope. Modern and sophisticated processes can remove all ink, regardless of color. Colored ink is harder to remove than black, so it may take a few more sessions to remove the color, but it’s by no means impossible.

5. The chlorine in swimming pools can fade your tattoo’s colors.
Tattoo ink is deposited into a lower level of skin. It’s not on the surface, so water can’t penetrate it. No type of water will have an effect on your ink. That being said, it’s important to remember to stay away from water if your tattoo is new.

6. Getting tattooed hurts more than giving birth.
It hurts, we’ll give you that. But it’s nowhere near the excruciating process of childbirth. The level of pain depends on the body parts where you’re getting inked, but even the worst pain resembles the sensation of scratching a bad sunburn.