Aftercare

You sat still, practiced your relaxation breathing, and surrendered to the process of getting tattooed. Now it’s time to let it heal. We verbally went over it, but we all forget. That’s what this page is for. If all you need are the Bullet Points, they’re HERE.

You’re bandage is acting like an artificial scab, and just like a scab it’s protecting the tattoo. That means all you have to do is leave it alone. Keep the showers cool (to mitigate the bandage wanting to peel off on it’s own), that’s all you have to do.

After 2-3 days (longer tends to be better) you want to peel off the bandage (in the direction the hair grows if you can) and hop in the hottest shower you can stand. Rinse the tattoo off. Don’t wash it yet, just rinse it with warm/hot water. After all your normal shower business rewash your hands, get them nice and soapy and wash your tattoo. As for the soap I prefer a pure castille soap like Doc Bronner’s. What ever you choose the less ingredients the better, I’ve found Dove and Ivory to work well. Don’t be shy, you won’t wash it off. Just don’t use a loofy, washcloth, or anything other than a soapy hand! What you are doing is getting the heat and steam to flush out all the pores and get all the dead cells out. Then you are washing it well to ensure that it’s nice and clean.

Pat it dry with a clean towel and let it get air for 30-60 minutes. You’re just letting it breath, so you can wear loose clothing, or go bare. Just nothing tight or restrictive. After 30-60 minutes you can apply a small amount of white unscented moisturizer, or my favorite Hustle Butter. Just as with the soap, the fewer ingredients the better. Stay away from healing formulas, dry skin formulas etc. General rule of thumb is an original formula of a quality lotion should work. Absolutely no aloe while the tattoo heals.

After the initial washing you only need to wash the tattoo when you wash yourself. If the tattoo is feeling dry and/or itchy you can apply a small amount of moisturizer multiple times throughout the day, as long as it’s a small amount. All the moisturizer is doing is helping to moisturize your skin, making it more comfortable during the healing process. You, your body will heal the tattoo. So drink water, eat some veggies, and get some restful sleep. All good habits to have with or without new tattoos.

While the tattoo is healing avoid the sun, tanning beds, soaking in bathtubs or hot-tubs. Do not put any sunscreen, dyes, body paints, markers, etc on your tattoo while it is healing. You know the tattoo is healed once you can run your hand over the skin and it feels like normal skin. After that point feel free to use sunscreen to protect your tattoo.

The worst thing for a tattoo is sunburn, your new tattoo is like a we baby that needs a bit of extra attention in it’s infancy. Keep from getting sunburned, again a generally good health policy, at your tattoo should last a life time.

Happy collecting!

AfterCare:

While the bandage is on COOL showers.
Bandage stays on 24-72hrs. The closer to 72 the better (even if you go over a few hours).
The best time to remove the bandage is right before getting into a hot shower.
Remove bandage, rinse in shower. Go about normal shower business allowing the heat & steam to open up and flush out your pores.
At end of shower wash the tattoo with clean soapy hands. NO wash cloth, loofah, etc. Use something like a Dr Bronner’s pure castille soap
Pat dry and allow to air dry for 30-60minutes.
Apply small amount of white unscented moisturizer, my favorite is Hustle Butter and I’ve had more than a few clients swear by Mad Rabbit.
For the next 5-10 days wash the tattoo whenever you wash yourself and apply moisturizer when ever it feels dry or itchy.
NO soaking in water while it is healing.
It’s done healing once you can run your hand over it and it feels like normal skin.

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