Forum

I think "less is more" when it comes down to tattoo aftercare. I have been getting a lot of tattoos recently and with many years of getting tattoos and healing them on my body and using a lot of different methods from each artist. I have come to the conclusion that you just want to keep it clean and let it do its thing.

The more shit you put on it the worse its gonna be. I don't use or recommend any type of aftercare ointments. Keep it clean by washing it several times a day especially the first three days, and let it dry out, if it wants to do anything funky or have a build up or anything of that nature,just wash it again.

Starting on the third day when it wants to peel or seems really dry then start using fragrance free lotion on it a couple times a day.Thats pretty much it.

I think if a tattoo is done correctly, then it should heal correctly,If a tattoo is tattooed incorrect it will have a rough heal no matter what you do with the aftercare, I really think using ointment makes things worse and causes even more build up, and possible scabs, rashes,skin irritations,etc.

Sometimes when I get tattooed "I get it and forget it" and I am amazed at the healing results and it all started when a friend of mine was getting tattooed by me and I saw some good healing results and I asked him what he did, he said " I didn't do anything" and it healed up great. I think he washed it once and that was it.

Some artists like the "keep it wrapped" method for three or so days,take it off every few hours and clean it, let it dry and rewrap, I have seen on many occasions that this method causes heat rashes that can actually do permanent skin damage,if its done right this method is okay but i still like the first method I mentioned. I got a heat rash from it one time when I used this wrap method on myself. This method I would only say is good, when you get your foot tattooed so if you do need to through on shoes, then its wrapped throw on a sock and shoe and go about you day. Just gotta clean and rewrap it at least 4 times a day.

Back to the way I like to do it. After Im done tattooing I wrap the tattoo with seran wrap and tell them to leave it on for an hour or two and then take it off, jump in the shower and clean it with soap and water. If its in the late evening i will tell them sometimes to leave on the wrap the first night but only the first night, wake up,jump in the shower and clean it, pat it dry and go about your day.

If anyone is having bad healing results with there tattoos they are doing, try the method where you don't really do anything during the healing other than wash it gently, there is no magic potion out there. If your still not getting good healing results you should try and change the way you tattoo. That would help more than trying to find a magic solution to the healing of a tattoo.

Thats my opinion anyways!

I agree, when I use any cain of oinment or cream on the first days, I see bad results, but healing a tattoo in my leg I just use water and little bet of soap 2 or 3 times a day and heal perfect, after I put some cream and actually is the best healing I get, never before when I was using all this oinments and diferent methods

great post, excellent answer mike. I give a similar after care, the only difference is I recomend the h2oceans during the peeling stage to keep the skin moisturized, however on some ocassion ive noticed some small cracks in areas like the pit of the elbow and the crease in the pit of the chest and arm during the healing process, I thought it was the way the person sleeps, like having their arm under the pillow all night and drying out only to crack when they straighten out their arm, kinda like chapped lips i guess. any ideas to help these areas during healing, so far ive been recomending they use a little ozonol for these areas. any experience with this product?

thanks,

Stephen Stacey