There are about 10 different products on the market that are casually referred to as tattoo removal creams. Sometimes the manufacturers distinguish themselves by referring to their creams as lotions, gels, or the whole package as a kind of tattoo removal kit, but what it comes down to is that they’re all about the same and they’re all a cream you apply to the skin to fade the tattoo beneath it.
The exception is the ingredients in Tattoo Off, which is made of TCA cream, a popular chemical for removing tattoos up to the 1970′s and early 1980′s. Then it was quickly replaced by a more modern technique that we call laser removal. TCA carried with it the potential for scaring and damaging the skin, but it did work fairly well in removing a tattoo from the skin, if you wanted to take those risks. Laser treatments hurt quite a bit and cost considerably more than TCA, but the risk of scars is basically gone, and it works better than TCA ever did at reliably removing tattoo ink.
But what about these over the counter products sold as a tattoo removal cream? Do they work as well as TCA or as well as laser tattoo? They certainly aren’t as reliable as laser treatments, and they won’t hurt or scar you like TCA, but they probably are less reliable than TCA. In a scale of what works best, starting with the least and then going towards the better techniques, you’d probably put them in a line with tattoo removal creams first, then TCA, and then laser treatments. But for someone insistent on trying out the cheap tattoo removcal methods first, a good suggestion would be to start with either Tat B Gone or Wrecking Balm and see if it works for your tattoos.