TATTOO AFTERCARE

Healing Aftercare

Immediately after you are going to want to purchase Dial Antibacterial Soap, Aquaphor, and a NON-Fragrance lotion.
Tattoos typically heal in 2 weeks. But remember everyone heals differently so it could be less or more.

  • Wash your tattoo twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening with Dial Anti-Bacterial soap to keep it clean and from build up of blood or plasma drying on your tattoo while healing. You will do this for the first 4-5 days until the tattoo starts to dry out.
  • For the first 3-4 days you will apply a very thin layer of Aquaphor Ointment to your tattoo twice a day each time after washing your tattoo. Be sure to NOT over apply ointment! Remember the skin does still need to breathe in order to heal and you do not want to suffocate your pores.
  • After the 3-4 days of using Aquaphor Ointment you will start to peel/flake. This peeling/flaking will resemble how sunburns peel. Be sure not to pick at or pull any of the flaking and let it fall off on its own. Once the tattoo is at this stage you can stop using Aquaphor and switch to a NON-fragrance lotion. You can apply lotion whenever the tattoo feels dry until the tattoo is healed.

Long-Term Aftercare

Long-term after care is just as important as short term aftercare. The better you care for your skin the longer your tattoo will look its best!

  • Whenever you plan to be in the sun be sure to apply sunscreen for long term sun exposure. This will help prevent the sun from fading color.
  • Always keep your tattoos moisturized! Especially in areas such as the hands, feet, elbows, and knees. These areas dry out easy and regenerate skin the fastest.

What not to do

In order to heal tattoos properly be sure NOT to:

  • Swim in pools, lakes, rivers, hot tubs etc. while healing. 2 weeks is the healing time for tattoos.
    You do not know what is in those bodies of water and it can cause your tattoo to get infected and or loss of ink.
  • Do NOT use neosporin on your tattoo. Just because the consistency looks the same does not mean it is the same. Neosporin is meant to remove bacteria and heal scars. The neosporin will treat the tattoo as bacteria/like a scar and try to heal it cause loss of ink.
  • Do NOT take baths! Yes you can still shower, you just don't want to sit submerged in water for long periods of time.
  • Do NOT pick or pull off the peeling/flakes while the tattoo is healing. If you pull a piece before it is actually ready to come off this can also result in loss of ink.