Now, makers of a new tattoo ink are offering an escape from regrettable body art. Freedom-2 ink, to be available next year, promises easier and cheaper erasure than inks used in conventional tattoos.
Developed by a team that includes scientists and doctors from Harvard and Duke universities, the new ink is delivered by needle the same way as conventional tattoo inks. The difference is that Freedom-2 ink can be removed in a single laser treatment that costs about $1,000, compared with $5,000 to $10,000 for the current laser process, according to news reports and the Freedom-2 LLC website www.freedom2ink.com. Connecticut tattoo artists, however, say they're leery of the new product. Stretch, the manager at Visual Expressions in East Hartford, said his shop uses inks that have been proven safe and durable.
"I don't have any intentions of purchasing anything like that," Stretch, who declined to give his full name, said of the new product. "It's a very closed industry, and we are generally pretty stubborn when it comes to trying new things."
He and other tattoo artists who were interviewed said their first worry was safety. Some inks have been proven harmful. The artists' second concern was durability and brightness of the colors.
"Is someone going to spend $500 for a tattoo, and it's going to last only three years?" asked Keith Marchand, owner of Acute Body Arts in the Quinebaug section of Thompson. "I sure as hell wouldn't."
But the makers of F-2 say their ink is safer than conventional inks and as permanent as the wearer wishes. The ink uses biocompatible compounds approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in orthopedics, plastic surgery and orthodenture, said a statement on the company's website.
Although testing continues, "We have every confidence that the colors will be as bright and last as long or longer than current inks used," company CEO Martin Schmieg said Friday.
Estimates about how many Americans are tattooed range from 15 percent to 24 percent of the population, but there's no doubt that tattoos have become more popular in the past several years. Freedom- 2 ink will serve a significant number of people who want a tattoo but also want the option of removing it without going through six to 12 laser treatments, Schmieg said.
The new inks are to be available in the second quarter of 2007. Schmieg said the company is targeting tattoo shops in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. Asked if tattoo artists have been resistant, Schmieg said no, not really, and that the new ink can only bring body artists more business.
Still, Paul Jenner, a tattoo artist at the Beauty Mark in Waterbury, said the new ink sounds like it's out of sync with traditional tattooing -- even a bit chicken-hearted.
"Knowing they have a way out, it kind of loses the whole point of getting a tattoo," Jenner said.
