How to Care For Your New Tattoo!
Your new tattoo should take between 7 and 14 days to heal fully. For the first few days it will be tender to the touch. By the third or fourth day, a slight scab will have formed and begin to flake off. These flakes will be the color of your tattoo, which means there’s a bit of tattoo pigment in them, and so long as you don’t pick or abrade your tattoo when it is healing, your tattoo should heal perfectly within two weeks. If you follow these instructions any scabbing will be minimal, healing time will be shorter, and your new tattoo will have less chance of needing any touch up work.
- LEAVE THE BANDAGE ON FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS! The tattoo is a would and the body will secrete clear fluid normally for a few hours after the tattoo process. When the fluid dries, it’s called “crust” and this this is what becomes large ugly scabs. If you leave the bandage on until this process is finished (3-4 hours), there will be no crust on the healing tattoo and any scabbing will be minimal. Your new tattoo is bandaged. Please leave that bandage on for a minimum of 4 hours, but overnight is perfectly OK.
- WHEN THE BANDAGE COMES OFF, wash your tattoo in hot soapy water, using mild hand soap or antibacterial hand soap. It is important that it be washed when the bandage comes off, not some period of time after. Mop the tattoo dry, let it air dry for a few minutes, and then apply a thin film of an aftercare product like Aquaphor or fragrance-free hand lotion. Aquaphor is available in the lotion section of most pharmacies and supermarkets. Vitamin E oil is also acceptable, but keep applications thin. The idea is to moisturize the tattoo the way you would chapped lips or dry hands. Don’t over apply.
- WHILE YOUR TATTOO IS HEALING, avoid exposure to the sun. The tattoo is a fresh wound and while a healed tattoo is going to be just like other skin, a healing tattoo can be sunburned in as little as 10 minutes of exposure to bright sun or even overcast. It will become inflamed and bright red and give off heat and develop a grey scale over it. This can take as much as two full months to heal after a sunburn. DO NOT leave your fresh tattoo uncovered if you’re outdoors or driving in a car with the sun coming in the windows.
- DO NOT EXPOSE YOUR HEALING TATTOO to swimming pool or hot tub chemicals as they can and will bleach the pigment from the unhealed tattoo. You can bathe normally, but don’t soak your tattoo in the tub as any scab formed will become saturated and have to reform.
- DO NOT SCRATCH OR PICK AT YOUR HEALING TATTOO. Any damage done by picking or scratching will have to be repaired at your expense.
In a nutshell, keep your tattoo clean, moisturized and out of the sun and pool until it is healed. If you have any questions while your tattoo is healing PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US. The internet is not an expert … but we are!
