I'm pretty sure the Keith Richards thing has to do with blood alcohol content People that do a lot of drinking don't take ink as well as they should. For the drunks they are typically low on potassium so the best advice for frequent drinkers is a lot of jello, bananas or potato chips, to boost their vitamin K.

I one the other hand rarely ever drink any more, but my skin is like this and it took awhile to figure out what worked to keep it in all the way to completely healed. Every tattoo I have solid fields in has been redone at least 3 times that is; until I finally found the magic bullet combination over a decade ago.

Lining on me is fine no matter the setup; although a fast and punchy machine is best. Solid fields are another story. On my skin it requires slowing down hand speed not the voltage, an angle of about 30-35 degrees instead of 45ish, and short taper is an absolute must; anything else and my skin is going to laugh at you. A drop or two of distilled in really thick pigments is also a good idea only if my skin is taking a particular color a little too slowly.

Be extra careful when you run into my skin type because if you don't use what I described above you are either going to have ink falling out when it heals or chew it up trying to get it in there. Although, a short taper and good pigment is the most important remedy.