National Tattoo Removal Day Date in the current year: August 14, 2026

According to various sources, between 14% and 24% of people with tattoos have experienced regret about them, though not all of them have actually had them removed. There are many reasons why people may experience tattoo regret. One of the most common reasons is getting a tattoo too young or impulsively. Poor execution, poor placement, and body changes are also common reasons for tattoo removal.

Some people may need to remove tattoos due to professional or social concerns. Additionally, people and times change, so a tattoo may acquire unwanted associations over time, whether personal (e.g., the name of an ex) or objective (e.g., a phrase or symbol that was once neutral becomes linked to a particular movement, subculture, or controversy).

Tattoo removal has likely existed for as long as tattooing itself. However, for most of its history, it was a crude and painful process that often left scars. Tattooing involves inserting pigment into the dermis, the second layer of skin. Since it was impossible to isolate and remove the ink, tattoo removal essentially involved destroying or removing the inked skin. This could be done by sanding away layers of skin (dermabrasion) or surgically for smaller tattoos.

The advent of laser technology revolutionized tattoo removal. The first laser was built by American engineer and physicist Theodore Maiman in 1960. By the end of the decade, Leon Goldman and other dermatologists had reported on the effects of lasers on tattoos. However, it took another two decades for tattoo removal lasers to become commercially available.

The working principle of a tattoo removal laser is actually very simple. A tattoo consists of thousands of pigment particles suspended in the dermis. These particles are too small to be seen by the naked eye, yet too large to be removed by the skin’s growth and regeneration process. The laser passes through the upper layers of the skin and breaks the particles into smaller pieces, which are then removed by the immune system. Although the process can be painful, it is more effective than earlier alternatives and less likely to cause significant scarring.

National Tattoo Removal Day was founded by Astanza Laser, a manufacturer of laser equipment used for tattoo and permanent makeup removal, hair removal, skin resurfacing, pigmentation treatment, and other aesthetic procedures. Its main goals are to validate the feelings of individuals experiencing tattoo regret, educate the public about laser tattoo removal, and celebrate laser tattoo removal practitioners.

August 14 was chosen as the date because it falls a month after National Tattoo Day on July 17 and six months before Valentine’s Day on February 14. These time gaps are important for people who want to remove tattoos and for tattoo removal practitioners. It takes a minimum of one month for the skin to heal after a tattoo before it can be safely removed by laser; it takes an average of six months to fully remove a basic black ink script tattoo, such as an unwanted name, with four treatment sessions and six weeks between each session.

National Tattoo Removal Day was created primarily to promote tattoo removal services and to provide practitioners and clinic owners with an opportunity to educate the public about laser tattoo removal, attract patients, and connect with the global professional community.