See how 9 ink colours perform across all 6 Fitzpatrick skin types. Visibility scores, fade rates, and artist notes — so you choose the right palette for your client's skin.
"I've watched artists book consultations without ever discussing whether their design will actually read on a client's skin. White ink on a Type V looks invisible after two months. Orange on olive skin turns muddy within a year. These aren't opinions — they're physics. Melanin absorbs specific wavelengths, and you can't fight that with more passes or a heavier hand. This tool exists because that conversation should happen before the stencil goes on, not after."
Founder & Piercing Expert
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</iframe>The Fitzpatrick scale classifies skin into six types based on melanin content and UV response, originally developed for dermatological risk assessment. For tattooing, it is the most clinically relevant predictor of how pigment will appear both immediately post-healing and over time. On Type I–II (very fair) skin, almost all ink colours deliver strong visible contrast because there is minimal background melanin to compete with the pigment. On Type IV–VI (olive to deep brown or black) skin, warm-spectrum pigments — red, orange, yellow — are absorbed or neutralised by the skin's own chromophores, often resulting in muted, orange-shifted, or near-invisible outcomes. Cool, high-contrast pigments (black, dark navy, deep forest green) retain the best longevity across all skin types.
White tattoo ink performs well only on Type I–II skin, and even there, it has limited longevity: most white ink fades to a silvery or translucent highlight within 2–5 years. On Type III–IV skin, white heals with very little visible contrast and becomes nearly indistinguishable from untouched skin after full healing. On Type V–VI skin, white ink is essentially ineffective — it heals undetectable on most clients. The physics explanation is simple: white titanium dioxide pigment reflects all wavelengths of visible light, but it cannot overpower the dominant chromophore in deeply pigmented skin. Artists who promise "high-contrast white ink" on darker skin tones are not being clinically honest with their clients.
Carbon-based black ink is the most durable pigment available and retains its integrity across all six Fitzpatrick skin types, though on Type VI skin, the result reads as a textural and sheen variation rather than a colour contrast. Dark navy and dark cobalt blue are the next most reliable, with both pigment and wavelength physics working in their favour on medium-to-dark skin. Deep forest green performs acceptably on Types I–V. Every other colour family — red, orange, yellow, purple, grey, and white — carries progressively worse longevity across darker skin types. The practical implication for artists: on Types IV–VI, black-based work (blackwork, tribal, geometric) is not a stylistic limitation — it is the technically correct choice for clients who want durable, readable results decades after the procedure.
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