According a very unsatisfied Wreckingbalm customer who purchased a 2 month supply of the product and found the battery powered exfoliation tool to rough on her skin when combined with the crushed walnut shell cream grit that you use with the sander, if you want a refund you are out of luck. The Wreckingbalm customer service agent told her there are no refunds given unless your original purchase is a six month supply.

That means you have to spend $400.00 up front to qualify for a refund if you change your mind. That’s a pretty big gamble, especially in this economic climate.

Also their website  says “Guarantee does not cover retail orders”. If that is their policy where do you buy the stuff at wholesale? Sounds like they left themselves a large loop hole to jump through when customers want refunds.

As with any purchase, especially a tattoo removal cream based product, know what you are getting into before you purchase the product.

I bring that up because it seems there are to many people out there who want to get rid of a tattoo which is  a permanent  deposit in the skin that was never meant to be removed, but for some reason they think that by applying a soothing cream that creates no discomfort what so ever it will remove their tattoo as they continue their daily lives without a care in the world. WRONG!!!

Anyone who believes the hype of a tattoo removal cream is the same person who believes those emails telling them a long lost Uncle in Nigeria or London has died and left them $5,000,000.00. All they have to do is send $1000.00 to Sir John Doe,  trustee of your late Uncle’s estate for probate fees and the money will be wired to your bank account within the week. Of course you never get the money…YOU HAVE BEEN HAD!!

In case you don’t know what the average tattoo removal cream consists of let me explain. First of all read the ingredient list and look up what those words mean. Many are for the purpose of fading skin pigment, not tattoo pigment. Skin pigment is in the top layer of skin, tattoo pigment is in the second layer of skin. As the skin pigment above the tattoo begins to fade you are temporarily tricked into thinking it’s the tattoo that is fading. Soon, hopefully, you realize your skin is fading but your tattoo has remained unchanged. The unfortunate part of this exercise is that you have spent a few hundred dollars before you realize this gimmick used by the tattoo removal cream companies.

Now that you realize the product does not work you can ask for  a refund, but guess what?…You’re out of luck because most, meaning 90% of these companies do not offer refunds. One offers to send more worthless product if you ask for it within the allotted  amount of time, but no money. Another and somewhat more reputable tattoo cream removal company may return some money, but the wait is long and they make it a huge hassle. You see, they know the cream by itself does nothing so in their initial shipment to you they include a miniature battery operated sander. It’s the sander that actually does the work by removing layers of skin over a very long period of time. That is the only reason you may see some fading, but by that time you have spent nearly $1000.00 with them – they win, you lose.

Don’t be gullible.

Removing a tattoo is hard work that requires effort on your part and, unfortunately,  some discomfort.

The amount of discomfort depends on which of the effective methods you use.

Heat Generated by a Laser can Reach 900 Degrees in the Skin

The invention of the laser can be dated back to 1958 when two Bell Laboratory researchers, Arthur L. Schawlaw and Charles H. Townes published the scientific paper, Infrared and Optical Lasers. The term Laser is an acronym which stands for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.

Theodore Maiman is credited with creating the first working laser in 1960, but had no idea what to do with it. Working against better funded competitors at Bell Labs, RCA Labs, IBM and others  Maiman managed to create a beam of pulsed ruby colored light that could burn a hole in the wall of his laboratory. Despite his belief that it might have applications in medicine, industry, defense, and space communications, he later told the New York Times this new technology was a “solution seeking a problem”.

Fast forward 20 years to when laser was being studied as a way to aid in the removal of tattoos. After much research, by the late 1980’s tattoo removal began gaining in popularity when the “pulsed” lasers made it more plausible to perform medical procedures using lasers. By the early 90’s the Q-switched lasers made laser tattoo removal much more plausible.

Today laser tattoo removal is the most prominent and painful of the current tattoo removal methods, with IPL being the most expensive form of tattoo removal method as of this writing. Each tattoo color requires a specific wavelength of laser light. When the laser beam strikes and breaks apart the small particle of tattoo pigment it can generate temperatures in the surrounding tissue of up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. As you can see by the picture below laser generated heat can create severe blistering.

Blister Caused by Laser Tattoo Removal

To reduce the chance of blistering be sure the clinic of your choice has, and properly maintains, the specific laser required for the colors in your tattoo. Red, orange, pink and lighter colors require a 532nm wavelength laser.  Yellow, green, turquoise, teal and light blues require a 755nm laser wavelength. The 1064 wavelength is for black, blue, brown and darker colors. Some custom colors may require extra treatments from a variety of lasers which means more treatments and greater cost.

Always check with your laser operator about special provisions required for custom colors that don’t specifically meet the requirements of the laser wavelengths mentioned above. When shopping around for a laser removal clinic in your area do not hesitate to ask questions. A little knowledge when asking questions up front can save hundreds of dollars on wasted treatments. Also do not be afraid to ask about whether they back up their work with a guarantee. You may be able to get in writing a maximum price to finish the job no matter how many return visits it may take.