Ink and needle lot numbers on the tattoo waiver: how your shop records them, which rules ask, and what Wavrr's ink passport is

This morning my phone answered a search about tattoo waiver apps with a paragraph about a competitor's "ink passport", the batch numbers and ink colors it keeps beside the waiver. I make the other product, so here is what waivers.tattoo records, where it ends up, which rules ask for it, and what the other products do, each one linked to its own page so you can read it yourself.

Why a lot number on the record matters

When the FDA recalls a tattoo ink, it names the lot. Its alert of May 7, 2025 lists "Sacred Tattoo Ink, Raven Black; CI# 77266; Lot#: RB0624; Best Before: June 28 2027". A recall is a lot and a date, not a brand. The FDA's tattoo safety page tells a client with a reaction to come back to the artist: "Ask for the brand, color, and any lot or batch number of the ink or diluent to help determine the source of the problem and how to treat it." You can only answer that if you wrote it down against that client.

The clearest US case of what it costs not to is the 2012 outbreak traced to a contaminated ink, written up in the New England Journal of Medicine by CDC, FDA and New York health department authors: "The artist did not maintain detailed records that included the type of ink that was used with each patron." The FDA's 2024 guidance on tattoo inks counts the recalls: "Between 2003 and 2024, firms conducted 18 voluntary recalls of tattoo inks that were contaminated with a variety of microorganisms." Needles get recalled too. In 2014 a maker recalled its inks and its pre-made needles by lot, with the needles' expiration dates printed in the notice.

An ink maker says it plainer than I can. Intenze's guide to batch numbers, August 2026: "Before the machine ever comes on, I write down four things. The date. Who is in the chair. The inks I am using, by name. And the batch number printed on each bottle."

How it works on waivers.tattoo

Your client signs on their phone at the counter, before the pack is opened. Only the artist can read the lot number, and only afterwards. So the lot numbers go on after the work, on the shop's own record, and nothing the client signed is changed.

The box. Every waiver in your dashboard has a box called Supplies used. A row is 4 things: what it was (Needle, Tube, Cartridge, Ink or Other), the lot number, the expiration date off the pack, and a brand or size. The lot number and the expiration date are required on every row, because a row with one of the two does not answer the question an inspector asks. The brand is optional. Up to 20 rows on one waiver. Who added each row, and when, is stamped from their sign-in, never typed.

Two ways in. Your artists add rows from the dashboard, on the waivers that carry their name. Where your shop has the artist sign the record, the artist also gets an email with a link that opens that one waiver, works for 30 days and needs no login, with the same 4 boxes above the signature pad. Rows typed there save with the signature in one press.

The expiration date, as the pack prints it. 06/2027, 6/27, JUN 2027, EXP 06/2027, and 062027 off a numeric keypad all read as June 2027, and the box says "Reads as June 2027." under your thumb before you press Add. A pack that prints a day keeps the day. Something that is not a date, like a lot number typed into the date box, is refused with the row named. And a date that has already passed is said so, right there, so an old pack's date never goes onto a record unnoticed.

Your supplies list. Settings has Your supplies list: what is in your drawer, so a lot number is a pick and not a retype. Each item remembers the last lot number and expiration date you used, and anything an artist types onto a record joins the list by itself. Paste your supplier's list or upload a CSV and it reads the columns in any order. 2 spellings of one ink get the same name and they merge into one.

Require them. Under the switch, tick what every record needs: the needle on every tattoo and every piercing, the tube on every tattoo, the ink on every tattoo. A record without them is marked Lot numbers needed on your Waivers list, and your artist is told to add the needle and tube lot numbers and expiration dates first, before they can sign the record. Artists on cartridges add the cartridge's lot number and expiration date, and it counts for the needle and the tube. Requiring them never stops a client from signing your waiver form, and records signed before you turned it on are left as they are.

Where it ends up. Open a signed waiver and the lots print on one page joined after the signed pages, headed "Added by the shop after signing", with the artist's signature first and then one line per row, the kind, the lot number, the expiration date and the brand, and under it who added it and when. The signed pages themselves are never altered. The lots ride your waivers export as a column, and the search box on your Waivers list reads lot numbers and brands as well as names, so a recall notice is one search instead of a spreadsheet.

Not the same as the photos. Your waiver form has an older, separate option that asks the client for a photo of the needle pack and the ink as they sign. That puts a picture in front of the client. This one is yours, typed afterwards, with the actual numbers, and it is the one a lot number question gets answered from.

What it costs. Nothing extra. It is in the one plan, $50 a year for the whole shop with unlimited waivers and unlimited artists, and it is on the free waivers you start with.

Where to turn it on. Settings, then Waiver form, then After the work: Lot numbers and expiration dates. In Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas and Virginia a tattoo shop finds it already on, because the state's rule puts the inks on each client's record. There a new ink row also asks for the maker and color, which those rules name.

Which rules ask for it

7 states' rules put the inks used on each tattoo's record. Read them carefully, because they do not all say the same thing.

4 say "lot number". Louisiana: "the color, manufacturer and lot number of each pigment used for each tattoo or permanent cosmetic procedure performed", in La. Admin. Code tit. 51, § XXVIII-107. Missouri: "Licensed tattooists shall retain records of the dyes used in their tattoos, including the lot number of each pigment used for each patron.", in 20 CSR 2267-5.010. New Jersey: "Record the pigments used for each procedure, including the lot number of each pigment, in the client record of the procedure", in N.J.A.C. 8:27-4.9. Ohio: "maintain written records that include the color, manufacturer, and lot number of each pigment used for each tattoo performed", in Ohio Rev. Code § 3730.09.

3 ask for the colors and, when the maker prints one, a catalogue or identification number, and never say "lot". New Mexico wants "specific ink color(s) applied, and, when available, the manufacturer, catalogue identification number or supplier invoice of each color used", in 16.36.5.11 NMAC. Texas wants "the specific color or colors of the tattoo or type of jewelry used for the piercing and, when available, the manufacturer's catalogue or identification number of each color or type of jewelry used", in 25 TAC § 229.406. Virginia wants "The specific colors of the tattoo or permanent cosmetic tattoo and, when available, the manufacturer's catalogue or identification number of each color used", in 18VAC41-50-410. A lot number answers all three, and the box in those states asks your artist for the maker and color too.

The counties go further than the states. Denver's body art rules put on the client's consent form the "Sterilization date or package/lot number used during the procedure" and the "Source/manufacturer and lot number of ink, pigment or dyes if any are used in procedure". The Southern Nevada Health District, which is Las Vegas, is the one rule I found that asks for exactly what our row holds: the "Expiration date and batch and/or lot number of all sterilized equipment used" and the "Expiration date, brand, color, batch and/or lot number of all inks, dyes, and pigments used in the body art procedure", with the artist's signature under it. Mahoning County, Ohio: "The operator shall record in each client file the lot number(s) for all needles and instruments used on that client." Jefferson, Fremont, Boulder and Pueblo counties in Colorado, Hamilton County in Ohio, Allegany County in Maryland and Natrona County in Wyoming have lines of their own, and Alameda County in California keeps an inventory of inks and sharps with their lot numbers at the shop. A county rule does not switch the box on by itself. A shop under one turns it on in Settings and ticks what to require.

The expiration date has rules of its own. Oregon's OAR 331-915-0065: "Use of expired ink, dyes or pigments is prohibited." Michigan's body art facility rules: "Expired needles must not be used for procedures." Nevada's NAC 444.00863 wants pre-sterilized needles in a sealed package that "includes an expiration date", and Florida's 64E-28.007 wants single-use items "labeled with the expiration date by the manufacturer." That is why the date is required on every row here and not an afterthought.

This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Your local health department has the final word. Ask them, and bring your records.

What the other products record

I am not the only one who built this, and the Google paragraph I read this morning was not wrong about Wavrr. Here is each product in its own words, with the page linked.

Wavrr. Its docs say it well: "An ink passport records what actually went into the skin: brand, colours, supplier and batch number, per session, attached to the client and the appointment." and "It sits alongside the consent form. The waiver records what the client agreed to; the ink passport records what you used." It is a separate document, made after the session. Its own page says "Ink passports are separate from waivers. A session can have a waiver with no ink passport", so it cannot be required of an artist. The fields are brand, colors, supplier, batch number, notes, the appointment date and the price. There is no expiration date field and no lot field for a needle, a tube or a cartridge; on those three pages the word "expiration" does not appear. The passport is emailed to the client and the artist, which ours is not, and it is on every plan, the free one included, as ours is. The name is older than the product: in the Netherlands the ink registration on the signed consent form was called "het inktpaspoort" and the regulator now calls it "inktregistratie"; EU law since 2022 makes the bottle carry a batch number and the tattooist pass the label's information to the client.

Tattoo Studio Pro is the closest to what we built. Its Supply Log, from September 2026: "The lot numbers fill themselves in, print on the consent form, and stay on the client's record." It can be required, "Staff must log at least one supply before a form can be finalized.", and per category, "This is per category on purpose." Its items are Ink, Needle or Other and belong to the artist unless the shop marks them its own. It keeps no expiration date; it flags a lot that was set more than three months ago instead.

REV23 keeps bottles rather than rows. My Ink: "My Ink tracks your bottles: lot and batch numbers, printed expiration dates, when you opened them, and the manufacturer". On its supplies page: "Pick one and REV23 brings back the most recently recorded lot and expiration details for it." The supplies print on the release form when that switch is on, and the same docs say REV23 does not detect recalls.

Tattoo Release Forms has pigment, needle and disposables editors on the iPad. Its artist pane: "Tap fields to enter lot and sterilization codes.", and the camera reads printed lot codes and expiration dates. Porter's waivers page lists "Collect ink lot numbers, expiration dates, and artist signatures", as free-text fields in the artist's section. WaiverMaster has a needle lot and expiration field, Waiverly tracks pigment expiration dates, and Ink Alert is an ink inventory with recall alerts rather than a waiver. In Europe, where the batch number on the bottle is the law, Tattoogenda says its passport "includes details like the brand, supplier, ink name, batch number, lot number, expiration date, and the artist's signature." and emails it to the client with the signed form.

Products I checked on 2026-10-19 with no lot or batch feature on their pages: Smartwaiver, WaiverForever, eWaiverPro, WaiverSign, WaiverFile, Waiver Electronic, StabPad, DaySmart Body Art, Booksy, Vagaro, Fresha and Venue Ink. Several of those have free-text fields you could put a lot number in; none has a lot number, an expiration date and a requirement built in.

What we do not do yet

We do not email the client their inks. The record is the shop's, and a client who asks gets the signed copy with the page from you, in a minute, from your dashboard. The maker and the color share one box, except in the 7 states whose rules name them, where an ink row asks for both. Jewelry has no lot field. If your county asks for something the box does not carry, tell me what the inspector wants and I'll build it, the way the cartridge row and the supplies list got built from shops asking.