#tattooinksafety

Part of Save My Ink’s mission is to educate tattoo artists and enthusiasts and ensure a safe, creative, and collaborative tattoo industry. On “Tattoo Tip Tuesday” we will feature advice from experts on a range of issues and topics in the industry.

As soon as we got a call from John Montgomery, we knew we had to feature his expertise on picking safe and clean ink for our first segment of “Tattoo Tip Tuesday.” As a certified pigment expert, Montgomery is hoping to provide other artists with a proper “ink education.” 

As pigment expert, tattoo ink company owner, and industry veteran John Montgomery said about car painting protection: “If you were to paint a car, you can’t just pick up a spray can and go for it.” 

It seems like a simple concept: automobile colors and pigments should not be in tattoo ink. According to Montgomery, the European Union (EU) is currently the only place they test tattoo ink. Recent tests out of the EU found a number of tattoo ink brands were using colors from automobile paint and were not including those ingredients on labels (Montgomery's company was one of the only ones to not be recalled). Unfortunately, the ink production industry is highly competitive, and false labeling runs rampant. Even when trying to educate his social network followers on ink recalls, Montgomery received two cease and desists. 

Montgomery, 20 year industry veteran, owner of The Grand Tattoo Lodge, and 2013 Tattooer of the Year, founded Alla Prima Ink in the 2008 to carry out the mission of producing exceptional tattoo colors of the safest and cleanest quality. Unfortunately, Montgomery said a majority of artists still do not know when they are using unsafe ink on clients. He explained the common reasons artists use improper ink. For the most part, it is not out of laziness and apathy. It is mainly because of misinformation and lack of knowledge. 

Montgomery spoke extensively about “labeling lies” in the industry. Because  they have not received a proper ink safety education, many artists do not know how to tell when an ink label contains lies. Montgomery told us that two of the top mistruths on ink labels revolve around “organic pigment” and “alcohol and water.” Basically, artists must be wary of taking an ink label at face value.

So how does an artist know if an ink label contains blatant lies? Montgomery suggests artists do a “smell test” before using ink on clients. The ink also should not resemble “house paint,” “car paint,” and should not dry up quickly. For instance, if an artist drops a bit of ink on a piece of glass and it dries up within half an hour, the ink is definitely unsafe to use on customers. 

What about the customers? How can they know if their artists are practicing proper ink safety? 

Unfortunately, clients’ ability to personally check their artists’ ink is “iffy.” Obviously, asking an artist “are you using safe ink?” will result in a quick answer of “of course!”. Most artists are not trying to lie to customers; they truly believe they are using proper ink. Montgomery believes the best bet for customers is an eventual solution on ink regulation.

Montgomery stated that while they have the best interest of customers in mind, the people outside of the industry conducting the research are looking to over-regulate the ink business. As Montgomery said, people will always find a way to tattoo, so there needs to exist a healthy discussion between the government and the industry.

“You can’t make it that it’s so expensive, so hard to do, so stringent. There needs to be a cooperation between the government and the industry,” Montgomery said.

ALLA PRIMA INK: http://shop.allaprimaink.com

THE GRAND TATTOO LODGE: https://www.facebook.com/thegrandtattoolodge

*A full feature on Montgomery will appear on our official website when launched*