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Wrecking Balm and other Tattoo Fading Creams: Do They Work?

Does wrecking Balm work?

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?

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18 Responses to “Wrecking Balm and other Tattoo Fading Creams: Do They Work?””

1. Lauren Says:
   May 28th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

   I’ve been using tattoo off for 3 months now and have seen little results. It is fading though and my tattoo is not that old. It’s also green & black so the people of tattoo off said it’d take awhile.

2. Brandon Says:
   July 12th, 2008 at 2:22 am

   I have 5 tattoos that i would like removed and am looking for alternatives to the laser because i am in no rush to undergo all that pain, from what ive heard. Anyway, I saw an ad for a cream online called Nuviderm, I understand its a TCA cream and gradually will fade the tattoo by destroying the layers of skin and replacing it with new skin, having a similar effect as a chemical peel. What I am wondering is has anybody actually tested this? Does it work? What intrigues me is the company actually has an 8-month money back guarantee. Thats really good. In my opinion, to have a guarantee like that it must work right? I would love to hear the opinions from people who have tried this product. Thanks

3. penny Says:
   July 16th, 2008 at 12:39 am

   hi,
   if somebody could give me some help on skin bleachers….could they help to fade a tattoo?? I only just had my tattoo done & my b/f hates it. I have managed to get some of the ink out by not covering it with cling film like I was told to do to seal it. Also the ingredients you menyioned above for creams, do you have to mix all those ingredients & at what ratio?
   Thanx
   Penny

4. Kaylee Says:
   July 31st, 2008 at 3:20 pm

   Penny,
   I think YOU should hate it. Not your boyfriend.

   On a side note, I know Wrecking Balm does not work.

   I have heard good things about Tattoo-Off and Tat-b-gone but I do not know from personal experience if they work.

5. Dorothy Says:
   August 13th, 2008 at 7:40 am

   You use the hydroquinine 2ce a day and a exfoliator scrub every 3 days…I have also heard that Niacin helps with the tat. removal process..
   not sure
   but give it a try

6. Shavon Says:
   November 10th, 2008 at 8:29 pm

   You guys must do your research on hydroquinone. It causes cancer. So just live with the ink on your body. thank god tht you are still alive

7. Dez Says:
   December 2nd, 2008 at 2:15 pm

   Shavon-
   hydroquinone is used to lighten the dark patches of skin. There has been no proof that it causes cancer. Mild irritation may occur or be more suseptable to sunlight.One can find information
   claiming that aspirin, milk, coffee and other seemingly innocuous
   items are harmful as well, and used incorrectly, they could be
   (Remember the McDonald?s hot coffee litigation?)!

8. lindsay Says:
   December 6th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

   i am a licensed cosmetologist. Ive also done my research on hydroquinone. It is perfectly safe in regular doses. It has been bannend in a few european countries due to unreasonably high percentages being put into creams and people using it for years. Proactiv even temporarily pulleld their skin lightening lotion w only a 2% to really research the issue. They rereleased it without needing to change the formula. So the general consensus on the subject is to use a microderm session then skin lightening cream?

9. Theodore Says:
   December 10th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

   Responding to Brandon – Nuviderm has a 6 month guarantee and it does work, but you need to follow instructions.

10. Jenny Says:
    December 30th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    I was interested in tat removal as well, and did some research on hydroquinone. It seems so bad, like causing leukemia in the test rats, plus it might cause cancer, scar the skin. Why take the risk? I’m just going to have to live with my mistakes, or find a good tattoo to cover it.

    I also thought Wrecking Balm was FDA approved, but if you look further into their site, ONLY the exfoliating device is FDA approved, not the stuff you put on your skin. Misleading…

11. Laura Says:
    February 17th, 2009 at 11:44 pm

    I have had three tat laser removal sessions. That is $750.00 with visible fading, but I will need about three more sessions. Even if creams don’t do as good a job, they are still cheaper.

12. brandy Says:
    March 25th, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    well i just bought wrecking balm like 3 months ago.. how everi herd over and over andover again even from my husband that it doesnt work. well it does. i found myown method that it tells you not to apply erosion head more than 45 second maximum a minute. well i did. i did it for 10 mintues and yeah my skin had to get used to the ruff ness of the erosion head but after a while it faded

13. Juan Says:
    July 4th, 2009 at 5:42 pm

    I have used Nuviderm and it does work but you need to follow instructions. It took about 5 treatments before I really noticed a big difference and by about the 10th time the tattoo was so faded no one noticed it unless I pointed out the location.

14. chichi Says:
    July 14th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    please someone let me know if wrecking balm really works… iam really scared it may damagged my skin…

15. mtn.girl Says:
    September 1st, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Tat B Gone told me there was no skin bleacher in their product and it was made in an FDA approved lab. I bought it and have been using for nearly 5 months. At first I thought I was using it wrong so I contacted them for my explicit directions. Instead of the recommended twice a day application, I apply 3 times a day and have been noticing results. I was concerned that it would irritate me skin; no allergic reactions but it seems to bleed over so about half an inch outside the tattoo, the skin has really lightened up. I can handle that if my tattoo continues to fade. Even if it doesn’t disappear completely (and I don’t think it will) I’m pleased that it has faded so much and I can easily cover it with tattoo cover-up when I need to.

16. dan.parker Says:
    September 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 am

    Has anyone visited the Skin Health Association? They claim they are an independent, tattoo removal cream organization and they rate all the fade-away creams on the market. It looks like a set-up by TAT-Med, the same cream that was ranked #1 on the website! I’d never heard of them before and after looking at their ingredients I know why: plankton, seaweed, algae extract, distilled water? Sounds like bull$#it to me. Definitely would not buy from those guys. Here’s a link to their hype website and ingredients.

17. deadhead69 Says:
    September 29th, 2009 at 7:43 am

    Thanks for pointing that website out to us Dan. I checked it out also and it does look pretty fake! Would be skeptical of those self-promoting website. I ordered the 2 month supply of Tat B Gone after a friend of mine had good results using it. His tat really faded out and is barely visible now. Will let ya’ll know how it goes!

18. Michael Says:
    October 9th, 2009 at 11:46 am

    Wrecking Balm didn’t work for me. Just a lot of money and false hopes. Might try another fading cream out, laser cost too much.

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Section: Tattoo Removal