There's More To Getting A Vegan Tattoo Than Just Vegan Ink

Most people feel all they got to do to get a vegan tattoo is to ensure the tattoo ink is vegan. But there's more to it than what meets the eye. Mumbai-based George D'souza who just opened India's first 100% vegan tattoo studio speaks to VeganFirst and takes us on a step-by-step tour on how to get a 100% vegan tattoo.

"There are a lot of myths around getting a vegan tattoo. Most people think that to get a vegan tattoo, all they need to ensure is that the ink used is vegan. But other items used while inking tattoos have to be free of animal-derived ingredients as well," he informs.

Razor Blades

The first step involves use of razor blades to remove hair on the area of skin where you want to get a tattoo. George informs that most razors aren't vegan. "Most razor blades have a monster strip which contains gelatin that's derived from animals".

Tracing Sheet

The second step is use of stencil used to design the tattoo design. "In the second step of stenciling, the tracing sheet that is used generally has lanolin that is an animal-derived product made from animals' hooves," informs the Mumbai-based tattoo artist. Talk your artist and check for the same.

Petroleum Jelly

It's no industry secret that the petroleum jelly used for lubrication to get a tattoo inked contains animal-derived products. Throwing light on the same, George says, "For decades now, the tattoo industry has been using vaseline for lubrication purposes. Vaseline is made up of animal-derived beeswax from bees and gelatin."

Ink

No surprises here. There are plenty of inks available in the market, many of which contain animal-derived ingredients like bone char, glycerine and gelatin. Bone char is added to inks to increase pigments. That said, tattoo inks devoid of animal-derived ingredients are flooding the market and very accessible in India.


Vegan inks on display in George's vegan tattoo studio

After Care Lotion

Most often, vaseline or petroleum-based lubricating products containing beeswax are used as after care lotion for the skin. So speak to your artiste and ensure the lotion to be used is free of animal deviates and not tested on animals.

Check with your tattoo artist if he/she uses  certified, vegan products. If they don't, look at the ingredients and check if any of them are derived from animals. And if you plan to get a tattoo, make sure you bookmark this article so that you're armed with the know-how for getting a 100% vegan tattoo! Or just head over to George's vegan Ahimsa Tattoo Studio in Powai, Mumbai where even the furniture used is vegan!

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