Show Notes
Billy walks through the three pricing options Studio Kiku offers, a single session, a package of three at 20 percent off, and a complete removal price, then applies them to roughly a dozen real tattoos. Examples range from a small wrist triangle at 150 per session to a full head of blown out scalp micropigmentation at 800 per session, with session counts and complete removal totals for each. Along the way he explains why saturation, age of the tattoo, colour and skin type change both the price and the timeline.
Topics Covered
The three ways a tattoo gets priced
Every piece is quoted as a single session, a package of three with a 20 percent discount, or a flat complete removal price. For deep, saturated work that needs 10 to 12 sessions, the complete option is usually the better value.
Real numbers on real tattoos
Billy prices a wrist triangle at 150 a session, script on the arm at 200, a faded shoulder dolphin at 125, a neck cross at 350 and a large tribal piece at 500, with complete removal figures such as 975, 1,625, 2,275, 2,925 and 3,250. Seeing the pricing attached to actual sizes and saturations makes the range far easier to understand.
Why saturation and age change the number
An older, softer dolphin may clear in six to nine sessions, while fresh, densely packed pigment can need 10 to 12. The body has already started breaking down older work, so it responds faster than something applied recently.
Colour work and the limits of removal
A multicoloured fish on the arm was quoted at 450 a session, but pink, light green and baby blue tones almost certainly contain white pigment. Complete clearing is unlikely there, so the realistic goal was fading enough for a cover up.
Treating red on Fitzpatrick 4 skin
On a new, saturated chest piece, Billy runs 1064 for most of the plan and saves a light 532 pass for the very end. Treating red too aggressively on Asian skin invites hyperpigmentation, so the red is chipped away slowly alongside the black.
Removing a full head of blown out SMP
A full head is 800 per session, 1,920 for three, and 5,200 for complete removal, which is close to what the original procedure costs. This client had about six sessions of SMP removal before a fresh application went over top, and some pigment simply stops moving at a certain point.
Spacing sessions for better results
Early sessions are spaced a minimum of 8 weeks apart, then Billy recommends three to four months or longer toward the end. Waiting gives the body time to clear pigment particles without adding trauma to the skin.
Full Transcript
How much does tattoo removal cost? We get that question more than any other question. People want to know the price of tattoo removal. And it's super daunting because when you think about, you know, you have this regret on your body, you're looking to remove it.
You don't want to spend a ton of money, but you also don't want to cheap out and end up getting burned or getting scarred or just getting a bad result in one way or the other. The way that we do it here at Studio Kiku is very simple. We usually give three options. We give a single session price.
We give a price for a package of three which includes a discount of 20%. And then if you want to do the complete removal if your tattoo qualifies for the complete removal, then we take the single session price and we multiply it times 6.5 and that is your complete removal price. So today, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through about 10 or maybe 15 tattoos and we're going to look at the tattoo. We're going to look at the size and I'm going to tell you how much it cost for a single session, for a package of three, and then for the complete removal.
All right, so we have a triangle on the wrist. This tattoo would cost 150 for a single session. For a package of three, we would charge 360. And for the complete removal package, we would charge $975.
So, this tattoo is super deep and saturated. It's going to take a ton of sessions to get this thing out. I would say at least 10 to 12 sessions. So, in this case, I think the complete removal would be the best option.
Love is love. This script on the arm is also pretty deep. We would charge 200 per session for this. 480 for a package of three and 1,300 for the complete removal.
Same as the triangle before. It's very deep and saturated and it's going to take a ton of sessions to get this out. Anywhere between 10 to 12 sessions spaced out a minimum of 2 months apart towards the beginning and then at the end we would probably space it 3 to 4 months minimum. Okay, here's a kanji tattoo on the wrist.
It's very saturated and deep. Same situation here. It's going to take anywhere between 10 to 12 sessions to get it out completely and safely. That's going to cost 250 a session.
If we do a package of three with the 20% discount, we'll charge 600. And if you do the complete removal, it would be 1625. Dolphin on the shoulder. This one looks a little bit older and a little less saturated.
Um, we would charge 125 per session for this one, 300 for a package of three and 815 for the complete removal. This one's going to take a little bit less to get out. I would say somewhere between, I don't know, 6 to 9 sessions just because it looks a little bit older and it's already starting to fade a little bit. Okay, here we have some script on the color bone.
This one would cost 300 for a single session. It would cost $720 for a package of three and it would cost $1,950 for the complete removal package. This tattoo is super deep and saturated. You can see the scar tissue.
It appears to be raised. Um, this is going to take anywhere between 10 to 12 sessions, probably more towards 12 sessions to get it out completely. So, in this case, the complete removal would be the best option if you're looking to remove it completely. Okay, here we have a cross on the neck.
We would charge 350 per session. A package of three would be 840 and the complete removal would be 2275. This is also a very deep and saturated tattoo, although we can see it's starting to fade a little bit already. In this case, if you're looking to get rid of it completely, once again, the complete removal package would be the best bet.
Okay, here we have a fish, which is multicolored fish on the arm. This one is a very saturated and complex tattoo to remove. Um, price-wise, this would be $450 a session. For a package of three, we would charge $1080.
And for complete removal, it would be $2,925. This tattoo is going to take a ton of sessions. And to be honest, it's probably not going to be possible to remove it completely. The reason why is because there are some colors in there that definitely contain white.
That pink, that light green, even that blue is not straight blue. That looks like a baby blue sort of. Um, and because of that, it's going to be hard to get rid of it completely. Um, we can definitely fade it enough for a cover up, and that's what this client wants to do.
So, we have no issues with that. But as far as removing it completely, it's going to be really difficult. We have tribal on the arm. This one would be 500 per session, 1,200 for a package of three and 3250 for the complete removal package.
This one is very saturated and deep, although it is quite old, so the older tattoos do fade a little bit easier than newer tattoos. So, there's that going for it. But if you want it to be gone completely, you'll most likely need anywhere between 9 to 12 sessions for complete removal. Here we have an SMP client.
This client came in with some very deep blown out pigment across the entire head. I mean, it went down into the beard all the way down the back of the neck, the hairline. It's the entire head. So, for a full head of SMP, we charge $800.
For a package of three, it's $1,920. And for complete removal, it's $5,200. When we say complete removal, we mean until your body has completely finished fading this tattoo. So, it's either until the tattoo is completely gone or until we've reached a point where your body can't get it out anymore.
And in some situations with SMP, that is the case where the pigment just won't move anymore. And with this client, what we ended up doing was we did, I think, six sessions or so and then we just covered it up with a new SMP. And um you could, if you look closely, you would be able to see some of that pigment peeking through a little bit, but it looks much much better than it did when he first came in. So, a super saturated SMP will cost about the same amount as it does to get the procedure done.
On average, SMP costs anywhere between $4 to $6,000 to get it done. And it cost about the same amount to completely remove it if it's blown out and saturated like this case here. Here we have a little blob of what used to be a kanji, a Chinese character or Japanese character on the back. It's super deep and blown out.
The cost for this for a single session would be 150. For a package of three, it would be 360. And for complete removal, it would be 975. This tattoo would take anywhere between 9 to 12 sessions to completely remove.
We would recommend spacing it out a minimum of 2 months apart to start. And then after 3 or four sessions, we would recommend waiting more time in between sessions to allow your body to pick up those pigment particles. So, we would say anywhere between 3 to 4 months in between sessions towards the end. Okay, here we have a chest tattoo and it's a new tattoo.
It's super saturated and it's deep in some spots. We would charge 500 per session for this tattoo, 1,200 for a package of three, and the complete removal would be 3,250. This tattoo is very new, and it's very saturated. The body hasn't started really breaking it down yet.
So, in order to get this tattoo removed completely, we're going to have to go gently, and it's going to take some time. The client is a Fitzpatrick 4. So that's Asian skin. So because of that, we have to be very careful with the red pigment and we don't want to overtreat it with the 532 wavelength.
What we do in this case is we'll treat with 1064 for the majority of the sessions until the very very end when that red is broken down by the 1064 quite a bit. That's when we'll gently treat with the 532. But we are not in a rush to get rid of this red right away because that black is going to take a really long time to fade. So what we do is we chip away at the red and the black with the 1064 and then towards the very end.
That's when we'll hit the red with the 532 lightly. And what we're trying to do is avoid any type of damage to the skin. And in most cases with Asian skin, what happens is when you treat red too aggressively, you will see hyperpigmentation and that's not what we're looking for here. So, uh, this is although it looks like a pretty simple tattoo, it's a little bit complex and we need to treat it with care.
Okay, last but not least, the upper back eye tattoo. Now, this one would cost $450 per session. we would charge $1,080 for a package of three and for complete removal it would be $2925. Now this tattoo like the other ones you've seen would take anywhere between 9 to 12 sessions to completely remove.
There are some lighter spots that will fade pretty quickly, but these deep dark lines that you see are going to take quite a bit of time. So, same thing. We'd recommend spacing a minimum of two months apart in the beginning and then towards the middle and end, we'd recommend waiting longer. Anywhere between 3 to 4 months towards the middle of this and then towards the end, maybe even a little bit longer.
You definitely benefit quite a bit when you take your time in between sessions. So, we do recommend that, especially if you're doing complete removal, waiting in between sessions is a great way to allow your body to break it down without causing trauma to the skin. I hope going through all of these tattoos gives you somewhat of an idea of how we price tattoos and what tattoo removal will cost. So, if you have any questions or if you found this helpful, please drop a comment in the comment section.
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