That’s right, all tattoos can use a follow-up. This is for many reasons. The first, is that when an artist lets a tattoo heal, they can back into the art and deepen contrast, they can add detail, and can re-saturate color. This practice will bring you a more refined tattoo. Another thing to take into consideration is that as humans, there are so many factors that affect our tattoos. Some of these are your aftercare process, how well you follow instructions, or something as simple as sun exposure in your day-to-day. And of course, time is a major factor. Once you have the tattoo your body is working to rid itself of the foreign objects that are the ink particle. Your body is constantly taking tiny parts of the ink and filtering it through your liver. You may absolutely love your tattoo, but your body will still work to rid yourself of it. This can be seen in older tattoos where the lines flare or begin to fuzz, or even start to blend and blur into themselves. This is all-natural and expected.
Take a look at the image below. This is a tattoo done by Leah Pinkerton. The first image is the tattoo pre-follow-up, and the 2nd image is the completed tattoo after the follow-up. The differences are quite subtle, but the final piece is breathtaking.
