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View of Tattoo Ink and Skin

You may be wondering, if skin continually renews itself naturally in a cycle, and old skin cells die and shed off and are replaced with new skin cells, why than wouldn’t a tattoo remove naturally through skin cell turn over and shedding?

The answer to why tattoos are so permanent has to do with ink depth, placement, and make up.  The reason tattoos do not shed away altogether from skin with the body’s natural skin cycle process has much to do with the depth of the tattoo ink placement.
 
Human skin has two principal sections: the Epidermis and the Dermis.

The epidermis is the outer, much thinner section of the two and is made up of four or five sub layers.  These sub layers in the epidermis are where the skin cell renewal cycle primarily occurs.

The dermis is the deepest section of the skin, which is made up of two portions: the upper papillary region and the underlying reticular region.  

Tattoos are created with the intention of inserting ink down into the dermis, where skin cells shed at a much slower rate than the epidermis layers closer to the surface thus explaining why tattoos can remain in the skin a lifetime.

Professional tattoos use proper tools and techniques that embed ink pigments deep into the skin.  Professionally tattooed artwork lies between the epidermis and dermis of the skin and is surrounded by the skin’s tough cellular matrix.  This tough cellular matrix is resilient against breakdown, so the tattoo remains in place.

Amateur tattoos on the other hand, do not use the same professional techniques that force ink pigment deep into the skin.  Amateur tattoos tend to fade overtime because ink is not securely embedded between the dermis and epidermis, but rather some ink exists in the epidermis. 

The tattoo ink pigment that doesn’t make it through the epidermis begins to fade as the skin cells go through cellular renewal process, and shed off the surface of the skin.