Tattoo artists are at odds with the color ban

Created: 01/24/2022, 10:05 am

By: Tobias Gehre

Tattoo artist Manfred Schwitzke gives one of his customers a new piece of body jewelry.

The man from Fürstenfeldbruck cannot really understand that he is no longer allowed to use the colors he has been using for many years.

© Weber

In recent years, colors have become increasingly popular in tattooing.

An EU regulation now bans many of them because of their ingredients.

This is a major setback for the owners of tattoo studios in the district.

Fürstenfeldbruck - Tattoos have long since arrived in the middle of society.

Once only seafarers or gang members adorned themselves with art on their skin, today millions of people in Germany swear by tattoos.

There are also many tattoo parlors in the district.

After the corona-related restrictions, they now have to cope with the next setback.

The reason is the adjustment of the EU chemicals regulation REACH.

Accordingly, tattoo colors with certain preservatives or binding agents have been banned since this year.

They could trigger allergic reactions, so the reasoning.

First wait

For tattoo artist Tim Straub from Germering, the ban has already caused a drop in sales in advance.

Many who wanted to get a colored tattoo would have waited until then.

Other customers whose colored skin artwork has already been started would now have to live with a half-finished tattoo.

Tim Straub disposed of the bottles with the tattoo colors – around 50 in total.

At a price of around 15 euros each, 700 euros come together.

After the losses due to the corona lockdown, this is another setback.

As soon as there are new, approved colors, Straub wants to test them.

"Either on fake skin or on myself," says the tattoo artist.

murder panic

For Manfred Schwitzke from Fürstenfeldbruck, colored tattoos make up around 30 percent of his work.

The news of the color ban triggered a "mortal panic" among fans of color tattoos.

That's why Schwitzke, who gave himself the stage name Merlin, finished all colored skin pictures before the ban.

Then he too threw away his remaining colors.

The 58-year-old also wants to switch to new, permitted colors.

But they are very difficult to get.

Schwitzke hopes to receive some soon.

The Fürstenfeldbruck native thinks very little of the ban.

"The previous colors had been in use for decades," he says.

There weren't any problems.

Schwitzke speaks of bureaucracy madness.

Like his Germeringer colleague, he is also struggling with the combination of the color ban and corona losses.

Schwitzke puts the latter at around 40 percent.

"And now a stick is thrown between your legs again."