Cover up or Laser? Which is the better choice

 Many of us have tattoos we regret. I’m no different. I have several regret tattoos ranging from tattoos I got for exes, to stuff my younger self thought was funny and now in my 40’s is just cringe. I dislike a lot of my tattoos but, being honest the pain of laser scares me more. Many people choose laser to make things go away but now I’m gradually working to cover up pieces I hate instead. If you want your mistake tattoos gone sometimes a cover up just isn’t possible, so how do you decide which one is better? 

 Black on Black

Cover ups take a lot of skill, but even the most skilled can’t cover up something dark with light. Tattoo ink is transparent and simply packing color over it will temporarily lighten it but eventually once it fades down the black will show through. If you have a particularly dark tattoo you may have no options but a black out or a dark design. The popularity of blackouts and blastovers is definitely on the rise, and while it is possible to power color or white over a black out the end result is usually muted and can be spotty. 

For an especially dark tattoo you’re often best lasering it. That isn’t to say it has to be completely gone, but even lightening it up a few shades makes your cover up options a lot wider. 

For older tattoos where the black may have faded out you may have a little more choice, but it’s never going to be an option to it something pale or delicate over it, unless it’s practically gone, without it showing through. 

Black or dark ink is REQUIRED for a cover up. We have to use it to camouflage your old tattoo into the new. 



Bigger is Better

I usually warn clients that the average cover up is 1/3-2/3 bigger than the original. This gives us enough “fresh” skin to camouflage the dark area where the cover up is. If you’re not willing to sacrifice that size or your tattoo is already very large you may not have that option. In which case laser is your only choice. A cover up cannot be smaller than the existing tattoo as it will simply stick out from behind it. 

While we can get creative with the design compromises often need to be made to make specific designs work. Each cover up is unique in this way so it’s imperative that you listen when your artist says something isn’t going to work or needs to be bigger to cover it if you want a good outcome for your tattoo.

The current fad for tiny tattoos is going to lead to a lot of cover ups once they age out and stop being readable. So it’s a good thing they’re already small. 

Laser to “fix” a tattoo

In situations where poor execution is part of the problem laser can help avoid a cover up. For example, a blow out or spread, or even just removing a misspelled letter. A cover up may not even be necessary at that point as the laser session can remove the mistake and a skilled artist can “fix” it after.  You can always tattoo over the area that has been lasered so it may not even need to be completely gone depending on the design you want and what you’ve got. Obviously, the less of the original that is there the more options you have for cover or putting something totally fresh. 



Which is better? 

Every cover up is unique. There’s no absolute answer to this because of that. It’s all about what you want to achieve at the end of it. If you want the tattoo gone both methods (if done right) can achieve that. 

Want to know what designs work well for cover ups? Check in on my instagram for that info post!

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