Hi Jay

The quick answer is no the two will not be exactly the same colour and the newer tattoo may have a slightly different shade of black than the rework.

That said it could be negligible to the naked eye on contrast or it could be slightly noticiable to very noticiable it all depends on the health of your skin and the quality of the ink used.

Because it is black and the way that the human eye handles colour it should be fine. 🙂

I have seen many black on black reworks and once settled many of them were indistinguishable from ‘new’ black ink tatts. These were done by pro’s though.

I have seen ones done by non-pros and the work made the ink look patchy – see below.

The long answer is that on your old tattoo you will be adding fresh pigment over the old pigment which is held in the skin by scar tissue.

As your body is constantly trying to flush the pigment away by breaking down the scar tissue walls over a period of years the ink lightens/fades or can begin to blur.

By adding fresh ink you are creating pockets of new scar tissue above the old that should normally mask the one below as long as;

1. The colour is darker than the orig ink used (black on black is normally fine)

2. The entire area is covered with fresh pigment. If it is not done entirely you may have patches of old ink showing through and it becomes very noticiable.

If you don’t get a pro to do it a newbie my struggle to get the ink to take over old scar tissue (your old tattoo) this can lead to ink flushes and blow outs.

Take care
Matthew