C0nsidering that lazer tattoo removal can easily be $2000-$4000 or more, depending on several factors like tattoo age, color shade, size, type of ink and so forth, for many, using a tattoo removal cream like Wrecking Balm seems worth trying. 

Keep in mind, the Wrecking Balm Tattoo cream removal kit is comprised of things you can get at a drug store- for a lot cheaper.  (the main ingredient in their tattoo removal cream is  1% hydroquinone, a skin whitener. Care must be taken in using it, as it can irritate or even scar the skin).

 I’d like to hear what the experience is of customers who tried Wrecking Balm for fading their tattoo. Did it work for you? how long did it take? how much did you spend? how much did your tattoo fade? 

page topic: Reviews of Wrecking Balm Tattoo Fading Cream. Does it work? your experience?

Laser tattoo removal is still expensive, although, like other laser applications the price should continue to decrease somewhat as local laser center competition increases.  It also can be painful and most centers suggest taking certain kinds of pain relief medication before coming. They are cautious about what kind ot take because some can aggravate the procedure.

A newer form of laser tattoo removal, (technically not laser but in the same genre) is Intense Pulsed Light Therapy, or IPL.  Instead of laser light, it uses very high intensity “normal” light. A gel is put on the skin and then a PLT wand is used to send pulses of light into the skin.  It’s usually more effective and also less painful and can require fewer sessions.  It also is currently even more costly than laser surgery. Quite a bit more.

In short, laser tattoo removal is the most dependable, and also currently the most expensive.

page topic: laser tattoo removal: the best way to remove a tatoo

Tattoo Fading Creams: Do Wrecking Balm, Tat B Gone and other Tattoo fading creams work?

There are lots of ads for Wrecking Balm, Tat B Gone and other tattoo removal creams.  They usually promise to greatly fade your tattoo in a matter of weeks.  What is their revolutionary system? 
Basically, the main ingredient of most of these creams is 1% hydroquinone, a skin whitener.  This is available at your local drug store.  If not used carefully, it can irritate skin and in extreme cases lead to scarring.  The other ingredient is an exfoliator spray, which is a mild dermabrasive also available in drugstores.  The final ingredient is multi-vitamins like E and A, which as you might not be shocked to find out, tend to be available in drugstores.

So,  a person can pay quite a bit more to get these things all together in one handy tattoo removable skin cream kit, or they can go to their local drugstore and get the same basic ingredients for about 1/10th the price.

The next question is though, are they worth getting? Do these tattoo fading cream systems work?  On various forums and blogs, etc. there were a variety of comments.  A majority reported little to no noticeable fading after several weeks.  But several- maybe 30% or so (?) did say they had noticeable fading, and some of those said it faded enough to be less noticeable and to be easily covered over with makeup or in a few cases it was mentioned that they covered it with another tattoo.
There were also a couple of responses of how amazingly thrilled they were with this amazing product, but to me it smelled a bit like spam that has been sitting out all day, and I wasn’t convinced they were authentic comments…

The bottom line is that there’s no question that laser tattoo removal is the most effective and dependable, but also more expensive.  Considering that most tattoo fading cream systems are between $125 and $225, and that’s for a few months supply, a very real question is would even one laser treatment possibly do more to help you fade your tattoo, for about the same price?  Again, one session of laser tattoo removal isn’t going to do THAT much, but indications are, it still might do more than the fading creams. 

Feel free to comment here on your own experience.

Page topic: tattoo removal creams like Wrecking Ball and Tat B Gone. Do they work?

Tattoo Removal: What works and what doesn’t.

There must be a lot of people out there trying to remove their tattoos. I got some emails from people wanting to talk with my friend who did the tattoo removal story, to ask her what her advice would be now that it’s over. So I talked with her and did quite a bit some research on my own about removing tattoos.The bottom line is that laser tattoo removal works.  It can take 3-8 sessions, sometimes more, depending on how old the tattoo is, the kind of ink, and other factors. But laser tattoo removal does work. It breaks up the ink particles so that the immune system can carry them away.  It’s also expensive. It could cost you anywhere from $250- over $1000 to get your tattoo removed. Also, not every tattoo will definitely disappear 100%. But laser tattoo removal is definitely the strongest and most effective option.  A sister approach is  Intense Pulsed Light Therapy. It’s just a refined, and less painful (and usually more expensive) newer version of laser tattoo removal. Aside from that, some users report tattoo fading creams, like wrecking balm and Tat B Gone don’t do anything. Others report they did fade their tattoo some.  But they aren’t going to make it go away, or make it nearly invisible.  If you think you will be satisfied with some increased fading, and want to try one of these, you can. You can also get at your drug store the basic active ingredients, for less than 1/10 the price.    If you are going to buy the creams, some of them run about $200. You might be able to get at least one laser session for that. Aside from those two options, you can either use make up to cover it- start with a base lighter than your skin, then add make up matching your skin, then a bit of powder- but ONLY if your tattoo has finally healed. Or you can cover over your tattoo with another one. It’s hard for this to be really effective without fading the tattoo first, unless it’s already considerably faded, and the new design works.  

The other options seem archaic now: Intense dermabrasion, (sandblasting the hell out of your skin) and excision, which is a surgery where the skin with the tattoo is cut out and then the surrounding skin is stitched together.  These were the main options 20 years ago, but now laser surgery is preferred in more than 99% of all tattoo removal situations.

page topic: tatto removal: What works and what doesn’t for removing tatoos: laser and fading creams

A few months ago, one slightly intoxicated night, I apparently consented (and even paid!) to have a tattoo jackhammered into my upper arm.  I [heart] Cass.   The tattoo guy dug out a nice bright red heart. How cute!) What an unpredictable turn of events that scarcely two weeks later, Cassidy decided his love for me was mostly out of appreciation that I introduced him to my now ex-best friend.  How cute!

Even before Cass upgraded to a more upscale model, I felt embarrassed and awkward for those two weeks, about declaring my love for him on my arm.  But once we were over, embarrassment turned to humiliation.  I clearly had to lose my tattoo.

So I googled tattoo removal to check out my options.  Basically, it was pretty straight forward:

1.  Live with that tattoo, in eternal humiliation and shame.  
2.  Find a creative way to change what it says by adding or changing a letter. Maybe “I heart Class.  Or maybe I haaate Cass. 
3.  Use a tattoo fading cream, like Wrecking Balm or Tat B Gone for a couple of hundred bucks.
4.  Buy the same basic ingredients that are in fading creams, but at a drugstore for $12.

5. Dermabrasion (sandblasting the tattoo the hell out of there)

6. Excision, a surgery where they just cut out the tattooed skin (not recommended for those with 100% tattoo coverage on their bodies, or for those with tattoos in more intimate places).

7. Laser tattoo Removal, where they burn your tattoo to a crisp and bombard it until it’s smashed to smithereens.

A stayed up all night with some redbull and vodka- small doses of each so they wouldn’t battle each other in my brain too badly- and I mulled over my choices.

 Option number 1: NFW! No Fricking Way! Not even a remote option.

And Option 2: While the thought of having “I haaate Cass” on my arm made me smile with revenge, my refined sense of subtle wisdom, back from a two week vacation, somehow sensed this may not really be the most mature way to go.

As for Wrecking Balm and the other tattoo removal fading creams, at least according to some sites, people who have shelled out the $200 have found that the ingredients are available at your local drug store: 1% hydroquinone, which is a skin whitener that has apparently recently become more available since Michael Jackson has slowed down his hording of it (whether or not he actually took baths in it full strength, and who might have been with him during those baths, and what age they might have been, I have no idea and certainly don’t mean to imply anything or start any rumors about his scandalous underage hydroquinone bath escapades.) 

The other main ingredient, a “demo-abrasion” spray,  is apparently a dressed up exfoliator spray, also available at drug stores.  And the final ingredient is multi-vitamins including all those good skin-de-tattooing ones like E and A and some of the other early letters.  I got the feeling the marketing team was like “We need something else to make them feel less ripped off. How about detattooing vitamins? They’ll buy that. 

Based on what I saw online, while some people say they had some luck with their tattoos getting gradually lighter than before, the vast majority of the comments on the forums I lurked at consistently reported a very noticeable lightening of their wallets, but very little or no noticeable results for their tattoo.  Given that derm-abrasion techniques have been used for centuries to remove tattoos, it’s likely that over time- say 2-3 decades- real improvement would be noted.  But gradual fading is different from actual removal, and Options 3 and 4 just didn’t seem very dependable, efficient, effective or good for impatient, humiliated people.

Option 5, sandblasting away the tattoo by way of a professionally trained derma-blaster, which is a more intense version of gently scrubbing at home, will fade and lighten most tattoos up to a point, but it takes many sessions, costs a lot, causes a lot of pain, and is almost always less effective than lasers.  Besides, if you’re gonna go that route, scraping your skin with e brick a few hours a day would probably just about equate it.

Option 6, tattoo removal thru excision, seemed pretty extreme to me, and is no longer recommended in the vast majority of cases. It can leave scars, unnatural localized skin tightening, and just isn’t worth it.

That left me with option 7: Laser tattoo removal.  All the info said it isn’t fun, it isn’t cheap and it isn’t instant. But it works better than anything else if you really want to get rid of that tattoo.   I googled “tattoo laser removal” for my city and found a few candidates. Satisfied my night’s work was done, I congratulated myself with a several more little sips of vodka (which a downed all at once for efficiency) and called it a night.

First thing in the morning, I called around and most tattoo removal clinis had quite the waiting list.  At least I wasn’t the only fool who broke the golden rule of tattoos: NO NAMES.  I found one a bit cheaper than the others, a nice sounding man with the right experience and credentials, who could see me the next day.  I went in first thing the next morning, nervous but determined.    

He took a long hard look at my arm and said “Nice tattoo.”  I told him he was welcome to have it second hand, cheap.  He started with the C, since it was the biggest letter, and while he worked he started telling me about his wife, and how they were expecting their first child in a few days.  He finished the C, and to my surprise, it didn’t look that different, aside from some pretty strong redness and irritation.  “It will take a couple of weeks for it to clear out” he said.  He also said one treatment likely wouldn’t be enough, but I would see the fading noticeably.  Right about then he got a call- his wife went into labor.  “Sorry, I have to go NOW.” And before I could say anything, he was out the door.

Just as the door slammed it hit me. Not the door. The realization: With the C gone, my tattoo was quickly on its way to saying “I love  ass”.

I drove to another laser tattoo removal center, and told the receptionist with more determination than I’ve ever mustered before “I’m sorry, but I swear to all that is holy, and to all that isn’t, I’m not leaving today until someone works on my tattoo”.  It’s amazing how far the hysterical woman routine can get you. Especially when it’s real.

Now, a few months later, there’s still a very light but noticeable tattoo (including the C, thank God).  I easily cover it with a little make up, and the laser center says in another month it will be pretty much gone.  At $1300, so will a big chunk of my savings.  But since I was stupid enough to engrave someone’s name on my arm in the first place,  I can’t think of a better way to spend the money, than to have it removed.

I emailed my ex-best friend with all the tattoo info I learned.  In case she decides to declare her love for Cass, who is probably already looking to upgrade to a newer model, she’s gonna need it.

Page topic: My tattoo removal story: One woman’s journey to becoming tattoo-free. A funny essay by a friend.

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