Blacklight or ultraviolet tattoos using blacklight reactive ink show up under black lights. If the palest of these inks are used, these tattoos are barely visible in the light of day.

The inks are available in shades from white to purple, although the colors will not often be as vibrant as regular tattoo ink. You can use blacklight tattoo ink to add a little something extra to a regular tattoo, or you can get a tattoo that is blacklight reactive only. This can be useful if you don't want or can't have (for professional reasons) a tattoo that is very obvious.

There are not yet many tattoo artists who are familiar with using blacklight tattoo ink; you may want to be sure that your artist has had some experience, since the inks are generally thinner and harder to work with than regular tattoo inks.

There is also some debate about the safety of blacklight tattoos. None of them are FDA approved for use as human tattoos (although some have been approved for use in tracking fish and game that are meant for human consumption), they are more prone to infection and many people have difficulty retaining the ink. Please read our other FAQs on "Blacklight Tattoos" for more information.