Tattoo Care
This article is broken down in to two main sections. The first section focuses on tattoo care for the period immediately after being inked. The second section provides advice about properly caring for tattoos in the long-term.
Short Term Tattoo Care
A new tattoo should take between two and three weeks to properly heal. During this period the skin around the tattoo will be quite sore, feeling a bit like a bad sunburn. During the healing process it is incredibly important to properly care for a new tattoo in order to avoid infection. In addition to the risk of infection, not properly caring for a new tattoo can also have negative impacts on the design itself.
If you have followed our advice on selecting a tattoo artist and tattoo shop in the Getting A Tattoo and Tattoo Safety articles, your artist will have cleaned your tattoo throughout the inking process, and applied a temporary bandage when finished. Your artist should also have provided you with detailed aftercare instructions. Aftercare does vary from artist to artist, but generally follows the following guidelines:
Avoid submerging a new tattoo in water for extended periods. This can cause ink to wash out of the skin. For this reason it is imperative not to take baths or go swimming for a few weeks after getting inked (showers are ok providing the tattoo is patted dry afterwards). New tattoos should also be kept out of direct sunlight until they have fully healed. Please also remember to wash your hands with a mild antibacterial soap before touching your tattoo during the healing process.
After leaving the tattoo shop with a new tattoo, the temporary bandage that the artist applied should be left on for between 2 and 12 hours to stop airborne bacteria from entering the wound (unless they have placed saran wrap/cling film over the top, which should be removed straight away). If the bandage sticks to the tattoo as you remove it, wet the bandage with a little warm water and peel it away gently.
For the duration of the healing process it is important to keep the tattoo clean. For the first 24 hours or so use only an unfragranced mild antibacterial soap, and cool water to wash your tattoo. Remember to wash your hands before using your fingers to wash your tattoo. Avoid using anything abrasive to clean your tattoo. After washing, the tattoo should be patted dry with a clean towel. Using any other products for the first 24 hours or so is not recommended.
Between days 2 and 7 many people like to apply ointments to their tattoos. These ointments often contain healing agents and stop the skin from drying out too much. It is important not to overuse these products as the pores of the skin can get clogged, leading to infection. For this reason it is important to only apply a little ointment when the skin becomes very dry (usually a few times per day). A few ointments are commonly used, each with their own pros and cons which you should consider carefully before deciding to use them:
- Neosporin – an antibiotic ointment that aids healing and fights infection. While many people use this successfully, some tattoo enthusiasts have reported allergic reactions to Neosporin. These reactions tend to take the form of small lumps on the skin. When these lumps disappear they take the colour with them, causing spotty tattoos.
- Bacitracin – Allergic reactions to Bacitracin are far less common than is the case with Neosporin, although some people have reported that using Bacitracin caused their wounds to weep.
- A&D – As A&D contains no antibiotic healing agents, allergic reactions to this ointment are pretty much unheard of. That said, they don’t contain healing agents so using this product wont aid the healing process. This is not an issue for the vast majority of people whose immune systems are more than capable of healing a tattoo without any problems, providing the tattoo is kept clean.
- Specialist aftercare products – There are many dedicated tattoo aftercare ointments available. These have been specially formulated to aid the healing of tattoos and to fight infection. They do tend to be more expensive than the products listed above and many people claim that they are unnecessary, but other tattoo enthusiasts swear by them. Ask your tattoo artist or tattoo shop if they stock any of these dedicated products, and which ones they recommend. A popular brand of dedicated tattoo aftercare products is Tattoo Goo.
- Never use petroleum jelly as an ointment.
After 4 days to 1 week of using an ointment, as the tattoo begins to scab, many people stop using ointments and instead use unscented body lotion. Make sure that any scabs that form are left alone, even if they are really itchy. This is your skin healing, and tampering with scabs can have an adverse affect on your tattoo image.
Long Term Tattoo Care
Tattoos will inevitably change over time as they age, however there are a few things that you can do to keep them looking at their best. The sun is the main enemy of vibrant, colourful tattoos. Direct exposure to the sun will cause colours to fade, especially whites, yellows, and oranges. The best defence against this is to simply cover your tattoo while out in the sun. This is less than ideal however, as many people love to show off their tattoos during the summer. If you really want to unveil your tattoo to the world then you should at least apply a high factor sunscreen.
