“When did normal people fall so in love with Tattoos” “Would-be prime ministers' wives have them” “Lawyers and Doctors”. These were questions asked in a recent BBC website article.

Today many stars along with over 500,000 others with tattoos have used Tattoo Aftercare® as their skin care application following tattooing.

Shirley Jaffrey (43) mother of three discovered a gap in the market seven years ago after a visit to a tattoo studio where it was recommended that she use Prep H (a haemorrhoid cream) to heal her skin following a Tattoo.

Surprised at being told what she thought was a harsh inappropriate treatment she went home and hand blended a natural recipe to use. Her tattoo healed within 4 days, less than half the “normal” healing time, and she didn’t have any scabbing or itching associated with healing following tattooing.

Intrigued by the choice of recommended aftercare for a practise that was happening daily all over the U.K. some research was done and she discovered that there was no product being made in the UK that was especially for the skin following tattooing.

Shirley was a nurse with 13 years experience and a practising aroma therapist, so using her extensive knowledge in health care and natural essential oils and emollients she created her own product recipe Tattoo Aftercare®

Shirley was not working, her youngest child was a year old, her daughters were 11 and 13 and husband James was unemployed due to ill health. They had no spare money and were living on social security benefits, yet she saw the gap in the market and had a vision of seeing her product in tattoo studios around the world.

With a borrowed £400, a home PC, a lot of determination and hard work she and her husband James set up their company. They tested the blend on willing testers and began putting samples out to tattoo studios in the UK. From that they got their first two customers. They worked from home for the first two years hand blending hundreds and hundreds of jars of aftercare every day.

Two years later they moved into premises but were still hand blending using a small stainless steel pot and kettle for pouring. Finally after hand blending over 70,000 jars they were able to have the product made at a manufacturer in Laurencekirk, Scotland, where it is still made today.

They moved home from Balmedie in Scotland to Chester, England in 2003 so they could visit more customers and attend more tattoo conventions to raise awareness about her product.

Now seven years on they supply tattoo studios all over the UK and Europe, and use distributors selling into Canada, Sweden, Czech Rep, and Indonesia and are in the process of securing a deal with a number of American distributors.

Their website www.tattooaftercare.co.uk will process an order from any country in three clicks and they can deliver that order within 2-6 days. An order for Austin, Texas left the UK on the Monday and arrived at it’s destination on the Tuesday.

Tattoo Aftercare® contains only 100% natural ingredients. It is a cruelty free, paraben preservative free, chemical free product that is approved under The Humane Cosmetic Standard (An accolade large well known companies struggle to achieve).

Shirley’s unique blend of herbs, botanic and unrefined oils has revolutionised how the skin is cared for within the tattoo industry and the body art community at large around the world.

Ten years ago 1 in 10,000 women had a tattoo in the U.K. now it is 1 in every 50. All tattoos need an aftercare.

The growing amount of celebrities that have tattoos has increased social awareness and love them or hate them tattoos have settled into a U.K. lifestyle choice.

Shirley and James started their business with a borrowed £400, a pot and kettle, loads of hard work and determination and are now being recognised in the U.S. and other overseas countries in a growing industry as the Aftercare coming from Great Britain.

To date there is still no other products available for the skin following tattooing in the UK or overseas from any of the major cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies. Quite a mystery considering this is a billion pound industry.