Dense black tattoo removal with Enlighten

Hi everyone, my name is Colleen and I live in the US - I’ve been reading so many helpful reviews and decided to share my journey in case it might help someone else out there. I know it’s certainly helped me to know I’m not alone. So here’s my story so far. After losing 2 very close family members within 6 months of each other, my husband and I decided we wanted to get tattoos in memory of our loved ones. My first tattoo was a butterfly on my inner ankle, and I absolutely loved it, still do. A few months later , on Nov 24th 2018 I got my second tattoo (spent quite some time thinking about the design but had a lot of difficulty deciding where to place it) - ended up deciding to place it on my Right upper/inner forearm which I realize in hindsight was not a good decision for me. As soon as I removed the bandage the next day, I was kind of in shock. At first I thought it was just because it was new, but the more I looked at it, the more it freaked me out. It was WAY bigger than anything I ever wanted , and I realized I hated the placement and size of the hawks. I didn’t sleep for several days, afraid to admit to myself and especially anyone else that I didn’t like this tattoo that was supposed to be so meaningful and special. I did talk to my husband (so far he’s the only one who knows I’m starting removal), and I’ve decided to start with removing the big hawk closest to my elbow because I hate it the most. My husband encouraged me to give it some more time before I decide to remove anything else, so I don’t make another hasty decision I might regret. He thinks with the top hawk gone, I may like the tattoo more. I’m not sure about that, but I want to keep an open mind. I’ve decided that if by my 1 year anniversary of getting the tattoo that I really can’t live with it, I will remove the remainder of the hawks (or possibly the whole thing ), but I do like the infinity symbol - just don’t like the placement of any of it. What I would give to go back in time and change all of this. But here I am and can only look forward from here. All of you wonderful people on here have given me a lot of hope and courage. I’m scared to death of how long this will take and the possibility it may not even work. But I’m going to try to stay positive and hopeful! Please comment if you have any words of wisdom or if you need anyone to talk to - we’re all in this thing together!
Peace and love to you all

This is a picture of my tattoo immediately after it was done on November 24th, 2018. Much bigger than I wanted on my tiny pale forearm. The infinity symbol and feather came out ok, but I know now in hindsight that I gave the artist too much free reign with the hawks and they are way too big and I feel like they just don’t mesh well with the design. And if I’m being honest with myself, I hate having a tattoo on my forearm. Really sucks to realize that after the fact and i think I’ve kind of been in denial because I don’t want to admit I screwed up. So I’m being conservative to start with my removal, as I’m terrified it won’t be successful and that I could actually make my tattoo looks worse. I have had 2 Enlighten treatments first one January 14th 2019 and 2nd on April 8th, just treating the hawk farthest from the design in the upper right corner as I dislike that one the most . I will be planning to post pictures of how it looks after treatment . Honestly not a lot of difference unless you look close up, but there is definitely something happening so I’m trying to stay positive. Remains to be seen if I will remove the remaining hawks or try to “get used” to the rest of the design if at all possible. Remembering this is just superficial ink and it does not define who I am. I know there are many others struggling out there. You’re not alone! Keep plugging away and try to remember to focus on the positives in your life!

Here are a couple pictures 2 weeks after my 2nd Enlighten session which was on April 8th. So far I have only started treating one of the birds, the one farthest from the infinity symbol design. It’s tough to see any change in these pictures , but I can definitely see the edges and the wings tips breaking up. The dense black though doesn’t want to budge! I guess I shouldn’t expect it to yet. My next treatment is 13 weeks from the last, in July. Hoping this thing will continue to fade although I’ve accepted that the bird is still going to be dark as ever through the summer. Definitely getting nervous for the warmer weather - but I’ve found some cute 3/4 length sleeve flowy tops to wear to help cover it up. I’ll also be playing around with makeup to try to cover parts of this tattoo, I’ll share my results (or lack thereof lol) with you all once I do. Does anyone have any tips for covering your tattoos with makeup or any other clever ways to coverup ink in the warmer weather ? Would love to hear any advice anyone might have.