Hi, new to this forum but not to tattoos. However, it was only recentley that the thought crossed my mind. Is tattoo ink suitable for vegetarians or vegans? The question may be a little late for me as I have has 2 new tattoos in the last 3 years ( and several older ones)
I know that several amongst us are veggie/vegan, but what about the ink?
Purplestar
Hi Purplestar
Many ink manufacturers do not directly declare what is in their contents – but many are made from the following;
Metal oxides
Clay extracts
Monoarylide and Diarylide (synthetic pigments)
Also some compunds found in plastics.
Check out this link shows what can be used in the dyes but I have no idea if this stuff is tested on animals or not.
http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa121602a.htm
Take Care
Matthew
Hi
Yes vegan(ic) belief can include anything that is derived from animals directly or indirectly.
I went away to do some more research, and even phoned a manufacturer and asked them.
It seems that the pigments used are not based on animal products directly. Some of the older inks (60’s) may have used an extracted product containing fish guts.
It seems the majority of newer inks are based on synthetics used in plastics and inert material extracts (clay etc).
The difficulty is that unlike most products they do not have to declare the contents or the manufacturing process – I only got that far because I said i was writing a book on tattooing and even then they will not let me quote them directly.
If I dig up anymore I will let you know but I am sure it is safe for vegetarians and most moderate vegans at least.
Take care
Matthew
thanks for your response once again Matthew on both counts.
Yes Turbosatan, Vegans beliefs do go that far, a lot futher the the ‘vegetarians’ that each fish (or kittens).
Only today, I had somecheck my clothes in detail, he was convinced he would find me wearing leather in some form or another. And no I wasn’t. No leather for me, which is a shame because I used to love wearing it.
Purplestar
appreciate you goin through all that trouble to find about the ink. thanks. i’m not vegan myself, i’d be vegetarian, just as a point of interest, people who eat fish and call themseleves vegetarians are actually piscitarians. but it doesn’t matter much coz it’s everyone’s own choice what they wanna eat. even if it’s the brains of the living. 😛
yes that is correct StuperMario, the piscitarians know who they are, it is the fish eating veggies that cofuse the issue and wouldn’t understand the term ‘piscitarian’ if slapped them in the face likea wet fish.:)
Anyway I’m off to have a toaseted tofu and advocado sandwich on brown bread now.
Purplestar
p.s
I was in a Dublin airport about 10 years ago, still a veggie, just before I went vegan, I said to the girl behind the sandwich counter, “I’m a vegetarian, what have you got that I can eat” she offered me a bacon sandwich?! ( she wasn’t a Irish by the way)
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