“I turn down a lot of business, because I can’t do the coverup a client is asking for with the work they already have,” said Albert Smart, a long-time tattoo artist at Stained in Pain in Chicago, IL. “Tatt2Away® is a great opportunity to stop turning away clients and give them a second option. They can get rid of all or part of the bad tattoo and then cover it up!”
Smart, and business partner Keri-Ann Wenckowski, have enabled Stained in Pain to become one of the limited number of Tatt2Away Centers designated for Chicago. Wenckowski will be the primary Tatt2Away technician, with Smart continuing to tattoo and functioning as back-up. They’d been looking for a way to add tattoo removal to the shop. “We did quite a bit of research, but the product sells itself, because it’s unique and it’s vegan,” said Wenckowski. “I like how Tatt2Away utilizes the natural healing processes of the body with the skin bridges to reduce the risk of scarring, and it just seems more thought out and thorough than some of the other options out there.”
They’d begun with investigating adding laser, but as Wenckowski noted, “It’s not always guaranteed. It’s expensive for the client. It damages the skin. It doesn’t remove colors all the time. There were a lot of downfalls to that.” Neither Wenckowski nor Smart has been lasered, but as an artist, Smart has sometimes sent clients to a shop that does laser and has a doctor on staff. “But many of them would rather work with me to tweak the design to beat around getting laser,” he said. “I’ve watched the process being done, and it turned me off. There’s a little bit of a stench. The whole process is really kind of nasty.”
Stained in Pain is one of the larger shops in Chicago, with twelve artists and a substantial number of positive reviews. Not only do regular clients continue to return, but the shop brings in new ones every week. “Tatt2Away will bring us in a whole new group of clients in all sorts of ranges, because in Chicago there are a lot of people with regrettable gang tattoos,” said Smart. “This opens doors for them as well.”
He said the artists are also excited about offering Tatt2Away, because not only will it benefit their clients, but also their art. “There isn’t one artist at the shop that isn’t excited about this coming, which is awesome,” said Smart. “Everyone is on board and really excited so that makes me even more excited.”
Preliminary conversations with clients have resulted in a number of them eagerly anticipating the non-laser option. Said Smart, “I have some that want a few things removed, and I have a bunch that want to fix a tattoo from the past.” He said every time they come in they show him the tattoo yet again, and ask him if he’s figured out a coverup for it yet. “Now that we’re going to be doing Tatt2Away those clients are really excited.”
And then there are those who aren’t regular clients, and who wander into the shop hoping for coverup magic. Said Smart, “We send lots of tattoos out the door. A lot of tattoos can’t be covered successfully, because they’re huge or stupid art. So this is great. Now we’ll be able to help those people, too.”