Healed and looked after
Aftercare
How to look after a new tattoo, day by day. General guidance; your artist's own instructions always govern.
Text us your ideaEscríbenos tu ideaGeneral guidance. Your artist's instructions govern.
First few hours
Leave the covering on as long as your artist said. Some wraps stay on for a couple of hours, and the adhesive kind can stay on for days, so go by what you were told rather than by what the internet says.
When it comes off, wash your hands first. Then wash the tattoo gently with unscented soap and warm water, using clean fingers rather than a cloth, and pat it dry with a clean paper towel.
Days 1 to 3
Wash it twice a day, morning and night, the same gentle way. A little clear or slightly bloody weeping in the first day is normal.
After each wash, apply a thin layer of unscented moisturizer. Thin means you can still see the tattoo clearly through it; a thick layer traps moisture and does more harm than good. Sleep on clean sheets, and keep pets off the fresh work.
The peeling week
Somewhere around day four it starts to flake, and it will itch. This is the part everyone worries about, and it is the tattoo healing normally.
Do not scratch it and do not pick the flakes, even the ones hanging on. Pulling them early is the most common way people take ink out of their own tattoo. Keep washing and moisturizing lightly, and if the itch is bad, a clean hand pressed flat on the area beats scratching.
Two to three weeks
No pools, hot tubs, ocean, or long soaking baths. Showers are fine. Submerging a healing tattoo is how infections start.
Keep it out of direct sun, and skip the gym session that grinds the area against equipment or soaks it in sweat. Loose clean clothing over the area, and if the spot rubs against a waistband or a strap, plan around that for a couple of weeks.
After it heals
Sunscreen is the whole game. Sun is what fades black into grey and turns bright color dull, and thirty seconds of it before a beach day buys you decades of a tattoo that still reads the way it was drawn.
Healed skin can look slightly shiny or matte compared to the skin around it for a month or two, which settles. If a small spot healed light or patchy, that is common and usually a quick fix; text the shop and ask what they want to do about it.
When to get help
Spreading redness, heat, swelling that gets worse after day three, fever, or streaking: that's a doctor, today. Questions about how it's healing: text the shop, they'd rather hear from you.
Take it with you
The same guidance as a plain text file for your phone: download the guide (also en español). This page also prints clean.
Healed and happy?
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