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Taking Care of your New Art

AfterCare Tips
(or how to take care of your tattoo!!)

** Tattoos heal best when they're put into healthy skin, on a body whose immune system is fully functioning. Alcohol and other drugs impair the immune system, making it harder for the tattoo to heal. Bottom line: It's best to get tattooed when you haven't had any alcohol or drugs in your system for 3 days, and when you don't plan to put alcohol or drugs in your system for 3 days after you have the tattoo. Now wipe that frown off your face: You only have to abstain for 6 days out of your life -- that's not a long time!

Alcohol thins your blood, as do aspirin and blood-thinning medications used to treat hypertension. The tattoo artist will be poking a bunch of tiny holes in you, and if your blood is thinned, you'll be bleeding a LOT more than someone whose blood isn't thinned. And that blood will be pushing out the ink that you paid the artist to put in. So do yourself, and your tattoo, a big favor and stay away from alcohol and aspirin a few days before and after getting tattooed.

**Keep the dressing on the tattoo overnight, if possible. Don't be showing it off by opening the bandage and then reattaching it -- you're just capturing germs in there, and they love having a warm, moist place to create an infection in your new tattoo. So, no peeking until the morning.

**Sleeping with the bandage:

-- Depending on where the tattoo is, wear a tight shirt, Spandex shorts or socks to help hold the bandage in place while you sleep.

 

**Cleaning the tattoo:

-- Get in the shower with the bandage on.
 

-- Don't let the stream of water hit directly on the tattoo.
 

-- Wash and rinse all the rest of your body first, so the dirt and oils from your body don't get into the fresh tattoo.
 

-- Then remove the bandage (there may be some traces of color on the bandage - this is normal).
 

-- Lather up your hand only (no washcloths) and gently wash the tattoo.
 

-- Rinse by splashing water onto your tattoo. Don't let the stream of water hit directly on the tattoo - it irritates the skin and heats it up, bringing the blood to the surface, where it can go out the holes and take ink with it.
 

-- If you need to lather up a second time, no problem. Just be gentle
 

-- Now get out of the shower and dry off all the rest of your body with   your regular towel. But pat the tattoo dry with a clean paper towel, a tissue or even toilet paper.
 

-- Apply a thin, glistening smear of Bacitracin to the tattoo. DO NOT USE NEOSPORIN!! Some people get an almost-microscopic rash with Neosporin, and when the rash is gone, so is the color. They end up with a polka-dotted tattoo.

 

-- You don't need a bandage unless you're putting on nice clothes, or your tattoo is going to be exposed to dirt during your work or play.

 

**Taking care of the tattoo during the day:

-- Take the Bacitracin with you. Every few hours, apply another thin, glistening smear to the tattoo. Don't let the tattoo dry out or scab over. If it does, it will take almost twice as long to heal, and scabs suck the color out of tattoos. (Note: Scabbing and peeling are NOT the same thing. You don't want scabbing, ever. A tattoo will peel naturally, like a sunburned nose, after about 3 - 5 days.)
 

-- In the evening, wash off all the accumulated smears from the day, pat the tattoo dry with a clean paper towel and smear it again
 

-- You'll follow this routine for 3 - 5 days, until the new skin pushes off the perforated skin and makes it peel away. Whatever you do, don't use the Bacitracin for more than 5 days.
 

-- Once the tattoo peels, or Day 6 arrives (whichever comes first), apply baby oil or a lotion that contains no lanolin. Do this for a week.

 

General Tips:

-- Don't go swimming, hot-tubbing or tanning for 2 weeks
 

-- After 2 weeks, use sunblock #45 or #50 whenever you're out in the sun or in a tanning bed. This is a lifetime requirement if you want to keep your tattoo looking as good as new.
 

-- Treat your tattoo like a wound for the first 5 days, and like a newborn baby for the next 10 days. You wouldn't slide a new baby into third base, expose it to hours of sunlight or throw it into a pool or lake, now would you??!!!
 

-- When the tattoo peels and itches like the dickens, don't pick at it or scratch it. Leave the peeling skin alone, and pat, slap or gently rub the itchy skin. Put on some more lotion!

 

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