I struggled with the title for this post because I want it to be capturing but I am hoping "vegan tattoos" alone will have the effect it does when I speak to people about mine which is normally loads of questions about how can all tattoos not be vegan... 

Before getting my first tattoo a few months ago I was aware that not all tattoos were vegan and this is a partial reason as to why it took me so long to get one in the first place. I made sure all my beauty and household products we're cruelty free before I actually even went vegan and it was then I discovered that just going into a tattoo parlor isn't going to get you a cruelty free tattoo let alone a vegan one.

Although I knew I had to find a vegan tattooist for me I didn't actually realise the extent of how much cruelty is involved with a lot tattoos until I done some research recently and I want to share what I have found out in the hope that even if two people read this and reconsider who they use for tattoos is a win for me. 

Lets start easy with before the ink has even touched you, the cleaning products used by the tattoo artist are unlikely to be cruelty free and in some cases not even vegan, still before the tattoo itself lanolin which is a waxy oily substance found on woolly animals like sheep is also found in stencil paper.

The ink is the worst part, most inks have gelatine, shellac and bone char in them, black ink I've read is sometimes made with burnt animal bones....

And once the tattoo is done it's likely the aftercare has been tested on animals or has an animal by-products in like bees wax, cod liver oil or again lanolin.

There are probably a lot more things to add to this but this is the basis of what I read online from numerous different sources so next time you are thinking of getting a tattoo consider tracking down a local vegan tattooist, I'm in Bristol, UK and I use the lovely Kat Winifred - www.katwinifred.com.

I'll post about my tattoos I have (so far) and what they're all about soon.