When Josh Sakhai first went off to college at New York University, he was tempted to get a tattoo as an act of rebellion against rules his parents had set for him growing up. But a fear of needles, fear of commitment (to eternal ink), and some off-putting experiences with not-so-welcoming tattoo artists made Sakhai delay getting his first tattoo.
While in college, Sakhai met future cofounders, Vandan Shah and Brennal Pierre. They asked him one question that would soon change the future of tattooing: “Why are tattoos permanent?” Over the next six years, the trio (and later CEO Jeffrey Liu, who was brought onto the team in 2020) thoroughly researched the answer to that question and created a brand-new alternative with the opening of Ephemeral, a tattoo studio in Brooklyn, specializing in tattoos that disappear after about 9 to 15 months.
The Ephemeral team does not want you to confuse them with “temporary tattoos,” however. “Our ink is real tattoo ink that’s applied by real tattoo artists,” Sakhai says. “It works just like any other tattoo ink, so artists will use their actual machine and equipment.” Instead, Sakhai and the rest of the crew refer to Ephemeral’s tattoos as “made-to-fade.”
Ephemeral’s revolutionary ink took more than six years and 50 formulations to create. Shah and Pierre tapped their Ph.D.s in chemical engineering for the lengthy development process. The exact ingredients are top secret, but Sakhai reveals the black ink is composed of “medical-grade bioabsorbable and biocompatible polymers ” with “high-quality pigments.” Over time, the ink breaks down and the particles become small enough to be eliminated by the body, leaving your skin tattooless once again.
According to experts Allure spoke to, this shop is doing something that’s pretty much unheard of. Roy Geronemus, a New York City-based dermatologist and the director of Laser & Skin Surgery of New York says that some of the closest technology to the ink he has seen is henna, which typically fades after one to two weeks like other temporary tattoos, as well as the ink used in microblading, which typically lasts for a year. He hasn’t encountered Ephemeral’s semipermanent ink, though.