Can Drawing on Yourself with a Sharpie Hurt You?

A lot of people, especially students, enjoy drawing on themselves with Sharpies. This is because Sharpies are fun to hold, come in many different colors and stand out on your skin. However, it’s essential to ask: can drawing on yourself with a Sharpie hurt you?

The answer is no. You’re very unlikely to get ink poisoning from a Sharpie even if you use it on your skin. However, as with everything, some specifics must be kept in mind. You can’t use all Sharpies to draw on your skin. We will address this concern further below.

What can you use to Draw on Yourself?

There are many safe materials you can use to doodle on yourself without worrying about getting ink poisoning.

These are some of those materials:

Wax pencils come branded with the Sharpie logo. Essentially, these pencils have wax tips and can be found everywhere, at art and stationery supply stores. They make great drawing pencils, especially for skin, because you can remove your doodles with just a little bit of soap and water. You get a lot of color with just the pencils, so they’re an excellent option for things like temporary tattoos!
Liquid eyeliners – if you’re looking to draw something like a temporary tattoo, you could always use liquid eyeliner. You won’t have much choice in terms of color, but you will get great results with just blacks and browns, too. Liquid eyeliners are great in that they come in the waterproof variety and are already deemed safe for skin use. You have complete control since they have sharp nibs and can make accurate strokes.
The Skin Companion – these are pens that you can use to make temporary tattoos, and they come in a lot of different colors. They are entirely safe to use on your skin and can be taken off with regular soap or dishwashing liquid as well. If you don’t want to remove them, they stay on for about two days and then fade. They are guaranteed never to irritate your skin.
The BIC BodyMark markers – these markers come from one of the biggest names in pens and stationery, so you know you’ll be safe. You can get a whole pack with lots of different colors, and they’re also easy on your pocket. They’re easy to remove as well, so you won’t have to worry about staining!

Hobby Versus Skill

As with everything creative, you might be wondering whether drawing on yourself is a hobby or a skill.

It’s both.

You’ll need to consider what you use it for.

For example, if you enjoy doodling, you could make masterpieces on your skin and then copy them on paper. That’s both a hobby and a skill. On the other hand, if you’re in a profession that requires you to draw on the skin, then that’s a skill.

Tattoo artists are prime examples of professionals who use drawing on the skin as a skill set.

They take the time to create intricate and bold images on their client’s skin and then go over them with their tattoo guns.

You need a lot of drawing skills to be able to bring someone’s ideal tattoo to life.

In comparison, if you enjoy drawing temporary tattoos on yourself, that’s indicative of a hobby.

You might love making statements with these drawings, and that’s great.

If it’s something that you do purely for fun, it’s a hobby rather than a skill.

Another example of where drawing on the skin would be a skill instead of a hobby is medical professionals digging deeper into this.

Plastic surgeons, for example, need to draw on the skin to get a clear idea of where to cut and slice.

They need to be very skilled at this since they change someone’s face or other parts of their anatomy.

It’s not considered a hobby for those folks!

Should you Draw on Yourself with a Sharpie?

If you’re a doodler, you might reach out for a Sharpie to draw on your skin simply because it’s the only option on hand at the time.

As a general rule, drawing on yourself with a Sharpie shouldn’t hurt you, as they are non-toxic.

You’re not likely to get ink poisoning this way.

However, make sure never to ingest Sharpie ink in any other form.

While they are branded as non-toxic, they contain many chemical components that might not be kind to your system if you swallow some ink.

That being said, various Sharpies are considered safe to use on skin.

One of them is the Sharpie Color Burst Permanent Ultra Fine Point markers.

These come in a multi-color pack, and there are lots of options to choose from.

You get very thin points which allow you to create precise drawings on your skin.

They are not designed to be used explicitly on the skin, but it’s fine if you do use them.

These Sharpies are AP certified and won’t damage your skin in the least.

What’s more, you can easily remove them with soap and water or let them fade over time.

Either way, they’re a safe and excellent choice to use.