Vegan Archives - Things&Ink

September 27, 2023October 8, 2023

What are vegan tattoos? Everything you need to know

Vegan tattoos? Yep it’s a thing. No idea where to start? Then our ultimate guide to vegan ink is for you. Given that both tattooing and veganism represent lifestyle commitments, it was just a matter of time before these two communities came together.

So, what are vegan tattoos? Vegan tattoos are essentially tattoos crafted using eco-conscious materials and methods, notably vegan ink. In contrast to conventional tattoo ink, vegan tattoo ink is entirely devoid of any animal-derived ingredients. In contrast, traditional tattoo ink is made using components extracted from animal fat, bones, or crushed beetles.

Okay, let’s dive in, here’s EYNTK about vegan tattoo ink…

Okay, so what exactly is vegan ink?

Vegan ink does not contain any ingredients derived from animals. Vegan inks use vegetable-based glycerin, witch hazel or ethanol and carbon or logwood to achieve a bold black colour. When it comes to coloured inks, what sets them apart is the liquid that companies use to mix with the powdered pigments. Vegan ink is sourced from plants or vegetables, making it a more environmentally friendly choice.

So what is traditional tattoo ink made of?

Traditional tattoo inks usually consist of tiny solid pigment particles, molecular dyes, and binders all mixed together in water. However, that’s not all. As confirmed by PETA, traditional tattoo ink includes glycerin, shellac, gelatin or bone char. These are all ingredients derived from either animal fat, animal bones, or ground-up beetles. Others may contain beeswax, cod liver oil, or lanolin. These ingredients primarily serve the purpose of stabilising the ink and increasing pigmentation.

Is vegan tattoo ink safe?

While lacking scientific evidence, vegan tattoo ink is widely regarded as exceptionally safe on the skin.

Moreover, it’s often believed to have a lower likelihood of triggering allergic responses. People sporting vegan tattoos have reported enhanced colour consistency and greater longevity.

@_emily.fletcher‘s Tattoo by @carly_snow_tattoo

I got this tattoo back in 2021 from Carly Snow, a tattoo artist in Sheffield who used vegan ink. It’s been two years now, and my tattoo hasn’t really changed much quality wise. As you can see, using vegan tattoo ink doesn’t compromise the quality at all; the only distinction is that it’s a more ethical choice. I’m a vegetarian and passionate animal rights advocate, so I always strive to opt for the most ethical options available.

Asking vegan tattoo artists why they use vegan ink

I spoke to Harriet Hope, a vegan tattoo artist based in Brighton, UK, about why she uses vegan ink. She said:

“I choose vegan inks because there is no reason not to. Many of the popular brand inks such as Solid or Eternal are vegan, so it’s just as easy to choose vegan quality ink than anything else.

Why wouldn’t you want to limit suffering to animals when there is no loss of quality or convenience choosing vegan ink brands?”

Another vegan tattoo artist based in Hamburg kept it short and sweet with:

“I use vegan ink as I’m vegan and I don’t use animal products anyways.”

Simple and to the point, love it.

Jimmy Galan, a Brighton based vegan tattoo artist also commented on his decision to use vegan ink:

“Well since I’m vegan myself I believe that animals are in this world with us and not for us.

The notion of exploiting them just because we can doesn’t sit well with me and doesn’t align with my morals.

When I went vegan 10 years ago I had to obviously bring my morals to my job as I thought it would be hypocritical otherwise.

Today the majority of mainstream ink brands label their products as vegan. So these inks aren’t something that you’ll only get from a vegan tattoo artist, as most people use the same ink without even knowing that they’re vegan.

So vegan ink is “traditional ink” in many cases. People were using inks free from animal products before the term ‘vegab’ came along.

Some brands still use animal products such as bone char, glycerine from animal fat, gelatine from hooves , insect parts and others but as the world progresses these brands that choose to not move with the times get left behind.

But it goes further than ink. When a tattoo artist says ‘vegan tattoos’ it means (or should mean) that all their supplies are free from animal products and cruelty free (not tested on animals) This goes for cleaning solutions, tattoo ointments, stencil papers, stencil applicators, skin preparation solutions, surface flooring and all cleaning products in general.”

Do vegan tattoos cost more?

No, vegan tattoos generally don’t come with a higher price tag. But, it really depends on the tattoo artist. Tattoo costs vary from one artist to another. Some base their charges on the time spent, some on the placement of the tattoo, and others may charge extra for their experience level. It’s subjective.

While a few artists might charge a bit extra for using vegan ink, usually, there are other factors that take priority when determining the final price.

Do vegan tattoos fade faster?

No, vegan tattoos do not fade faster. The longevity of tattoo ink isn’t affected by it being vegan or not. What truly counts for fading is the quality of the ingredients used and how you care for your tattoo afterwards.

Are vegan tattoos the future?

With the surge in veganism’s popularity and a growing shift towards progressive and eco-conscious values, the tattoo industry has undergone a transformation. Today, many tattoo studios and artists are embracing vegan-friendly practices and products that are both cruelty-free and environmentally friendly. As a result, the use of vegan ink is becoming increasingly mainstream within the tattooing community.

Vegan tattoo aftercare

If you’re all about that vegan life, that’ll include tattoo aftercare too. Make sure to keep an eye out for these ingredients when you’re on the hunt for vegan tattoo aftercare products.

Aloe butter
Calendula
Coconut oil
Lavender
Vitamin E
Peppermint
Rosemary oil extract
Shea butter
Sunflower, grapeseed and rice bran oils
Various essential oils and natural fragrances.

Vegan tattoo aftercare skips harsh chemicals and synthetic ingredients, sparing your skin from irritation. Instead, it uses natural ingredients to soothe and speed up healing, reducing scabbing too.

How to find a vegan tattoo artist

To find a vegan tattoo artist, you can easily search for ‘vegan tattoo artist‘ on Instagram. Instagram is great for tattoo artists because it lets them showcase their work visually. If you can’t find a specific artist, searching for ‘vegan tattoo studio’ can introduce you to multiple vegan tattoo artists.

Usually, these artists or studios will mention their use of vegan ink in their social media bios. If not, you can send them a quick direct message (DM) to ask if they use vegan ink or have a vegan ink option available. It’s a simple way to make sure you’re getting a tattoo that aligns with your values.

Vegan tattoo ink brands

Are you a tattoo artist looking to switch to vegan ink? Check out these 5 brands that provide high-quality ethical tattoo ink.

Final thoughts

Opting for a vegan tattoo is no different from getting one with conventional ink. If you’re interested in getting a vegan tattoo, explore the mentioned artists or search for one near you. If you can’t find a vegan tattoo artist nearby, keep an eye out for upcoming tattoo conventions where you’ll likely find talented vegan artists!

About the author – Emily Fletcher

“In 2022, I received my BA (Hons) in English Literature. Currently, I work as an SEO Executive at a digital marketing agency in Sheffield, while also freelance writing in my spare time. I have always loved writing, and I thoroughly enjoy delving into people’s opinions, dissecting the significance behind topics, and discussing unconventional subjects. I find great fulfilment in challenging people’s thoughts. My aim is for readers to gain fresh insights and learn something new from my writings.

On my 18th birthday, my parents gave me money for my first tattoo. My dad sat with me for the whole three hours with a Lucozade orange on hand. Since my first tattoo, I haven’t stopped, nor intend to just yet. To me, tattoos are like a permanent piecing of clothing. How you express yourself in your dress sense, I express myself through my tattoos. They make me feel confident and happy when I look in the mirror. I love finding new artists, new styles, though I stick to American Traditional, I love treating my body like a personal diary. My favourite tattoo is my first arm piece done by Sheffield based tattoo artist Earl Reyn, a red dragon as seen below. Though I get a lot of compliments on my tattoos wherever I go, this one in particular strikes people’s attention.”

January 13, 2020

Plant-based living with Bettina

We absolutely adore Bettina Campolucci Bordi, she’s a plant-based/free-from chef who has a wonderful collection of tattoos. We sat down to have a chat with her about her fave meals, post-tattoo treats and the therapeutic buzz of the tattoo needle…

Bettina, we adore your Insta feed (check it out @bettinas_kitchen). It provides us with such gorgeous food inspo… What made you fall in love with food and decide to follow it as a career? Food has always been a lifelong passion of mine since I was little. Luckily, I stumbled across hosting retreats and found a way to make my dream of cooking as a career a reality. Everything kinda fell into place and the rest is history. I am very lucky that my passion is my actual job!

We love the little peeks of tattoos in your photos, can you tell us about the designs you have on your body? I have my butterflies that were done by an artist in Malaga – my “believe” was done in Barcelona for my 27th birthday. I have a big arm tattoo by an amazing Icelandic artist based in Barcelona called Jonpall, and my latest big piece of the Goddess Kali on my left hand-side shoulder is by a Balinese artist! I also have some more smaller hidden ones…

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Are there any that have special significance? Any food related? All of them have significance and were done during transitional periods of my life. Rather than food related, I would say that they are life related

How do you find the tattoo process? I find it therapeutic and almost like going into a zone. I think anyone who gets them can relate. Some of my tattoos took me years to decide and design, and you get into a special head zone, when it comes to having them finally done. The design process, finding the artist, connecting with your piece and then the execution or the creation process is magical. I feel like I go into a trance during, then when it’s done you kind of come out of it. Once the piece is done I go through a bit of honeymoon period with my piece until it becomes part of you and your journey.

Do you have any special meals you eat before? I wish I could say yes but I tend to eat less. Lots of water, no alcohol and good sleep beforehand.

Or any that aid in the recovery/healing process? I love little chocolate treats! There are plenty of recipe ideas in my book [Happy Food], great to batch make before and pull out of the freezer when treats are needed!

What’s your favourite meal? Why? A curry, there is something extremely comforting about a curry. It’s like a warm hug.

What have you got planned for the new year? I am in Costa Rica right now, and will be in Bali soon. I am contemplating getting another tattoo but I am not sure yet! And The 7 Day Vegan Challenge [published by Hardie Grant], my second book, is out now! Exciting.

Bettina’s book is out now

February 15, 2019February 17, 2019

Alice Nicholls: An79 Tattoo Balm

Alice Nicholls is a tattoo artist, permanent cosmetic specialist and creator of An79, a vegan friendly tattoo aftercare balm. Specially formulated to complement her work and cosmetic artistry, An79 balm has highly moisturising properties to keep new tattoos hydrated and protected. Resulting in a fully healed tattoo and the added bonus of super soft skin. The cruelty free and homemade balm consists of all natural ingredients, and it features a relaxing mild lavender scent and is gentle on sensitive skin.

Our editor, Rosie tried some on her latest handpoked cat tattoo created by artist Lydia Amor, this is what she had to say:

I loved how easily I could apply the balm to my skin, it seemed to melt into my hands. It soaked in really quickly and wasn’t at all sticky to touch. I couldn’t really smell the lavender which was a shame, but I’ll be using An79 again to heal some of my newer tattoos for sure.

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Rosie’s leaping cat freshly done at Black Market Tattoo, Leicester

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Rosie’s tattoo with balm added

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Rosie’s happy little healed kitty

You can buy your own pot of An79 balm here. Let us know what you think!

February 9, 2019February 10, 2019

Plastic in the Tattoo Industry: Time to Kill the Waste

Everywhere we look there is plastic and it’s starting to become a big problem. Plastic waste is the environmental crisis of the 21^st Century and it threatens to choke our seas and decimate aquatic ecosystems. Writer and tattoo enthusiast Matt Haddon-Reichardt met up with vegan tattooist Ashley Thomas to find out if anything can be done by the tattoo industry to cut the waste…

“I would say that my shop, Echelon Tattoo probably generates 1300 bags of trash every year, and fills six sharps containers. Since we are an all disposable shop, the sharps container contains probably 80-90 percent plastic (cartridges, disposable tubes and needles, razors), and our trash bags are probably about 40 percent (gloves, rinse cups, ink caps, blue medical bib backing, equipment barriers, and the trash bag itself). That’s a lot of plastic but most of the waste I would say is a serious mountain of paper towels and gloves.” Ashley explains as we sip black coffee.

Ashley owns Echelon Tattoo in Midvale, Utah, and is a passionate vegan, environmentalist and artist. She has been tattooing for 13 years and is acutely aware of the plastic waste problem. I ask her how plastic heavy tattooing actually is.

“Ink caps, razors, cartridges, gloves, rinse cups, equipment barriers and medical bibs are all items that either contain or are composed of plastic in varying quantities. The good news is that industry manufacturers are starting to consider this and coming up with new products to address the growing concern over plastic. Black Claw now produces disposable tubes made from cork, and Rose City Supply was offering biodegradable equipment barriers. I think you’re going to see more artists and shops look for these products too as awareness increases. In terms of metal tubes, I think there’s still a fair amount of waste; there’s still the matter of the autoclave bags that need to be used daily, and the water and electricity to run each load in the autoclave and the plastic container for the distilled water used in the autoclave. I think whether or not to use cartridges or plastic tubes vs. metal tubes will always come down to personal preference of the artist.”

We can all make a difference to the plastic problem and Ashley is doing her upmost to eliminate plastic from her tattooing:

“I am always looking for ways to reduce waste and be more environmentally friendly at work, just as I am at home and in all aspects of my life. It can be really tricky in tattooing; so many plastic items keep both us and our clients safe. I don’t know of a current alternative for gloves, but I am looking to try out biodegradable trash bags. I was using the biodegradable equipment barriers from RCS, but I believe they’re discontinued as I haven’t found another supplier that carries them.”
One problem with tattooing is that contaminated waste must be disposed of safely. Ashley appreciates that it’s not just a matter of eliminating plastics but how we process then when they are thrown away. “Waste disposal in general is woefully inadequate when it comes to factoring in environmental impact. I think it would require working with environmental and health officials to come up with the greenest possible solution to this problem. I’m certain that manufacturing and using biodegradable options whenever possible would be helpful.”

Many artists are now going vegan when it comes to tattooing. Ashley feels vegan tattooing is the future when it comes to managing waste products including plastics.

“I believe using a vegan option is generally always a good thing. Animal agriculture, and therefore animal products and by-products, consume larger resources to produce than their plant-based counterparts, so production waste is typically less. In terms of plastic that’s obviously not a win for the environment, that’s why we need more plant-based, biodegradable solutions.”

One big waste product from tattooing is the cling film used to cover fresh tattoos. I ask Ashley if there are any alternatives.

“I believe a barrier is absolutely necessary to keep the customer, the artist, and everyone else in the shop safe from cross-contamination until the customer leaves the premises. I think, again, that we really need to work with the industries that manufacture the products we use to come up with biodegradable alternatives – biodegradable barrier films, tapes, razors, ink caps, etc, would all be a huge win for us and for the environment.”

Words: Mathew Haddon-Reichardt
Image: Ashley Thomas

July 2, 2018

Careers: Tattooed Social Media Representative

25-year-old Mikaela is a Social Media Representative at LUSH in London. We caught up with her to chat work, her tattoo collection and being vegan…

How long have you been working for Lush? How did you get your current role? I’ve been working at Lush for about three years now. I started on the shop floor at the flagship Oxford Street store, then joined the in store events and branding team. I’ve always wanted to bring my love of photography into my everyday job, so jumped at the chance at joining the social media team. I’m now a social media rep, and support events and branding when needed!

What do you love about your job? I love working for a company that’s so accepting of everyone, and encourages individuality. It’s a company that cares about their products, what goes into them, where ingredients are sourced and of course is fighting animal testing which is incredibly important to me. Lush also creates and supports a number of campaigns each year and isn’t afraid to use its voice as a popular brand to make people think, and I think that’s great. It’s also quite a tongue-in-cheek company at times so there’s always an element of fun involved.

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What sorts of stuff do you do? What projects do you get involved with? On a day-to-day basis at Lush, I do a lot of community management on the store’s social media pages, shoot photo and video content etc. Outside of work I try to do as much photography as I can, the majority of which is portrait work and it’s something I’d eventually love to be able to do full time.

I’ve also been vegan for two years now, so that’s a big part of my life. I’ve been trying to get fitter and healthier so spend a lot of time at the gym with my badass female, tattooed, vegan trainer @princessoftheunicorns!

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Can you tell us about your tattoos? Do you have any future plans? I’ve been getting tattooed since I was 19, my first one was a tiny heart on my wrist. I then ventured into getting bigger and more colourful pieces. My first ones being by Gemma, Amy Savage and Adam Ruff. They’re mostly quite traditional, lots of hearts and a few lady heads! I also have portraits of my dogs on my calves and two Fall Out Boy inspired tattoos. I also have a dotwork Maltese Cross on my ankle that I got in Malta, which is quite sentimental.

I think my favourite is still the first colour tattoo I got by Gemma, it’s a locket with my mum’s initials either side that I later had a key added to underneath. I have so many ideas for tattoos that I still want to get. I want to finish my sleeve and get my knees tattooed next, but I definitely know why I’m maybe putting that off a little bit!

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Can you show them off at work? How would you describe your fashion style? Not having to cover up my tattoos at work is another thing that I love about working at Lush. Everyone is encouraged to express their individuality and tattoos are no exception. I’m around so many tattooed people at work that I sometimes forget that they can still be a problem at other workplaces. Everyone loves seeing each other’s work as well and discovering new styles and artists as a result!

I don’t really follow any kind of fashion in particular, I mostly wear black, occasionally dipping into a little Bettie Page 50s feel when I have time to put the effort in – but mostly keep it a little bit dressed down “goth” I guess.

What kind of reception do your tattoos get? Most of the time I get a really positive reaction, people love how colourful they are and finding out why I got certain pieces. I do get the occasional negative comment or dirty look but I’m pretty used to it now, and nothing will ever make me feel bad about them when I know how happy they make me!

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Has being vegan influence your tattoos or job? Does it influence the company you work for? I would probably say that I became vegan as a result of working at Lush. I’d always had a bit of a guilty conscience when I used to eat meat but once I started working at Lush with lots of vegans, I learned so much more about the meat and dairy industries that I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

In terms of tattoos it means that I have to think about whether tattoo ink being used is vegan and aftercare, which hasn’t been too difficult so far. I don’t have any vegan-related tattoos yet, but I’m sure I will end up getting one eventually. I’ll definitely be getting more animal tattoos!