A lot of people in the world change their lifestyles and decide to live cruelty-free. Veganism becomes easier and easier to adopt, and even some tattoo shops opt for making kinder choices. Surprisingly enough, tattooing is not a cruelty-free process, as inks contain different types of animal byproducts. However, now, there are more and more shows which opt for vegan inks instead, which some consider it of being a healthier and better option.
- Helping the environment.
There are a lot of people nowadays that opt to live a vegan lifestyle as a way of helping their environment, save the lives of animals, become healthier, or something more. This means that they do not consume any product which is made with animals or their byproducts. So, there will be no more dairy, honey, or eggs.
- Shocked by some findings.
There are people that try to take it a step farther, as well as live their lives as cruelty-free as possible, but that may be quite difficult. When a person starts looking into the cruelty-free product, he or she may be shocked by the finding that there are a lot of different and everyday items that have been made with animals.
- Tricky to go 100% cruelty-free.
From apple juice to razors to tattoo ink, it may get tricky trying to go 100% cruelty-free in different aspects of life. That is right, meaning that even tattoo ink is not safe from any kind of animal product, but that is not all as well.
- Animal-derived products.
It turns out that the whole process of getting tattooed is marred by animal products, as The Vegan Society claims. Stencil paper is usually made with the use of lanolin, which is a fatty substance that is derived from the wool of the sheep. Gelatin or animal-derived glycerine can be found in razor strips too.
Bone char or shellac, the one that is made from beetles, is usually found in tattoo ink in order to help in the increasing of the pigment. Also, it can contain animal-derived glycerine or gelatine as a stabilizer too.
However, luckily high-quality vegan versions become more readily available. Nowadays, there are more and more tattoo shops that are catering specifically to vegan and cruelty-free clientele.
If you are one of the people that are not sure if they are going to last, and they think of it in the following way. As to Tonic, almost half the population of people that are aged 18 to 35 have tattoos nowadays, and only 6% of them are identifying themselves as vegans. There is a good number of clients, particularly if those tattoo artists are good at their job, and no one is going to care if the shop is vegan or not.
- Considering it a healthier option.
A lot of people like the idea of getting vegan tattoos for some ethical, as well as moral reasons, but that also led others to ask if there are some other pulses to it. Some of them claim that vegan ink is a healthier alternative to some traditional inks.
Just like any other invasive procedure, tattooing also comes at a risk, even when a person goes to the most sanitary shop which ever existed. Most of the risks, which include autoimmune reactions, skin infections, as well as any other complications, hardly ever have to do with animal products consisted of the tattoo ink.
- Big promises and sales tricks.
However, this has not stopped people, as well as companies from spreading the news that the vegan ink is much healthier. World Famous Tattoo Ink, which is a company that makes and also sells tattoo ink worldwide, makes pretty big promises with their vegan inks. On the website, they claim that the vegan ink is quite better for the immune system and the overall health of people, and also more reliable, as well as safer on the skin.
However, this has not been proven yet. The vegan ink is seriously only an excellent way of doing some good for animals. The junior leader of Tattoo Ink Research at The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, named Ines Schreiver, said that there is just one thing that could technically make the vegan inks better than the traditional ones. Shellac misses from the vegan inks as it is a product of insects. Also, it is something that can cause an allergic reaction, which is known as contact dermatitis, but that is not enough proof that will support the health claims.
- Educate ourselves about the tattoo.
However, we should not let any of that scare us. There are millions upon millions of people that are tattooed, and our best bet to stay safe will be to educate ourselves. For example, we can do that by speaking to the shop in which we get tattooed, make sure that proper sanitation is also being utilized, and ask about the tattoo ink, whether it is a vegan or traditional one. For example, if we are thinking of going vegan with our following tattoo, there are a lot of options out there for us too.
