Advances in putting ink into your skin also mean advances in getting it out. The latest: tattoo ink that can be removed with a single laser treatment. Before complaining about the decline of tattoo culture, remember that all inks are technically removable; InfinitInk (freedom2inc.com) can simply be removed more easily, more thoroughly, and with less injury to the skin. It also doesn’t hurt that top scientists from Harvard, Duke, and Brown contributed to the research that led to the development of the ink.

“We are not about temporary tattoos,” stresses Martin Schmieg, president and CEO of Freedom2 Inc. “And we’re not about changing the dynamic of the tattoo market.” In fact, the company’s InfinitInk is finding increasing, if moderate, success with tattooers—even though, as Schmieg laughs, “Without question, every tattoo artist, upon first hearing about us, hates us.”

Schmieg, a self-proclaimed “square businessman,” describes tattoos as “things that come to you from within your soul.” Yet one study showed that about a quarter of people who get tattooed later regret it, which makes the idea of an easy removal that much more appealing.
Freedom2 isn’t stopping with InfinitInk, either. The company also engineered Virgin Ink, a conventional ink that is free of all toxins; Hawk tattoo equipment, which uses click-in and click-out needles; and a new surface cleaner that eliminates the hepatitis virus.
Just don’t doubt the crew’s commitment to real-deal quality control. Schmieg’s been tattooed eight times with different versions of the ink, and Christine Solari, director of development and manufacturing, has also undergone the needle in what she calls their “applications lab.” Ah, job perks.