This page contains a lot of information. You may choose to read it all, but I suggest looking at the contents and scrolling to the information that you require. If this is your first tattoo I suggest reading "General Advice" and then whichever healing method is relevant to you. Advice may vary between artists: this is what I have found works best.
Contents:
- General healing advice
- Healing with clingfilm
- Healing with second skin
- Healing with tattoo armour pads
- Troubleshooting
General Healing Advice
The first few hours:
Congratulations you’ve just got a new tattoo! Your new tattoo will be sore, red and actively weeping. Looking after your tattoo in this stage is critical as this is when infections are most likely to occur. You must keep your tattoo covered at a minimum until you get home. If you have kids and pets keep them away from the open tattoo. You may find it helpful to keep the tattoo covered until bed or over night. How long you keep the tattoo covered depends on personal circumstances and which healing method is being used.
Washing the tattoo:
When you uncover your tattoo I recommend giving it a rinse with lukewarm water to remove any excess plasma. You may also use a mild unscented soap at this time. I prefer my clients to use a Dove Beauty bar as I find it gently dries out the tattoo and thus speeds up healing time. However any other mild unscented soap such as baby soap, and sanex are good choices too. Once washed, let the tattoo air dry. Do not use a towel as there may be hidden germs in the fibres. Some artists suggest patting dry with tissue, this is fine, but be careful not to let the tissue disintegrate into your tattoo.
Moisturising:
After a few days your tattoo will have formed a dry membrane and possibly some light scabbing. At this time you may moisturise your tattoo. Do not moisturise an open tattoo! I recommend cocoa butter, Aveeno or any mild unscented moisturiser that you already know works well for your skin. Please DO NOT USE Bepanthem, sudocreme, E45 or Vaseline. These creams are too heavy and will block air to your healing tattoo. Some of these products also contain ingredients that have been known to "bleach" tattoo ink and fade your tattoo as it heals. With your preferred moisturiser take a small amount and with clean hands gently rub it over the tattoo. You do not want a thick layer of moisturiser, just enough to add a light sheen on the skin. You only need to moisturise when the tattoo feels dry or itchy. There is no set schedule for moisturising, this will depend on your skin type. But the general rule is a small amount of moisturiser as and when you feel it’s necessary. Be careful not to over moisturise as this can prolong healing.
Other considerations:
While your tattoo is healing you may have a shower. Try your best to keep the tattoo out of a direct stream of water and avoid very hot water. Please DO NOT submerge the tattoo in water. No bathing or swimming or washing up (for hand and wrist tattoos) for at least 4 weeks or until the dry membrane has healed and your tattoo feels like skin.
You may find that your tattoo becomes itchy and peels or flakes. This is normal. Please do not itch or peel your tattoo. This can pull the ink back out of your skin and leave you with a patchy tattoo.
Delay going to the gym or exercising until the tattoo is no longer open, at a minimum! The longer you can wait the better, excessive sweating will create a moist environment for your tattoo and may prolong healing.
Keep the tattoo out of the sun while it’s healing - keep it covered if outside in strong sunlight. Do not use sun cream on a healing tattoo! However once the tattoo has fully healed factor 50 is always recommended to keep your tattoo looking nice!
Depending on how "heavy" the tattoo is, your healing time and pain/swelling will vary. For small fineline tattoos I’d expect minimal pain and swelling over the first week of healing. For colour, black work or large tattoos, you may feel pain for a week or so. You may experience swelling and bruising also. This is normal. You may take paracetamol to help with any pain and swelling. Please do not take ibuprofen or aspirin as these thin the blood and may prolong healing.
For "heavy" tattoos on the lower legs, I recommend staying off your feet and keeping your leg elevated for the first 24 hours after getting the tattoo. This will help with any pain and swelling, and therefore encourage the healing process.
Healing with clingfilm:
At the end of your appointment I will cover your tattoo in clingfilm. Please keep this on at least until you get home. If you have small kids and pets I suggest keeping it on around them for that first evening. Once you remove the clingfilm wash the tattoo with lukewarm water. Please see the "washing the tattoo" section in general advice for more information on how to do this and which products I recommend.
Sometimes it may be necessary to cover your tattoo for sleeping. I recommend doing this if your tattoo is still weeping, bleeding or leaking fluid. This will protect your open tattoo from bed fluff and germs, and also protect your bed sheets from tattoo ink. Tattoo ink will stain your bed sheets! It’s always a good idea to put on fresh bed sheets for the first night you are healing a tattoo to make sure your tattoo is in the most hygienic environment possible. I personally have designated tattoo healing bed sheets, that I don’t mind getting stained if some ink does leak.
You may choose to keep the clingfilm I wrapped you with on over night, or you may choose to remove it, wash your tattoo and then once dry, re-wrap your tattoo with your own clingfilm before bed.
The following day unwrap your tattoo and give it a wash. From this point on you can keep your tattoo unwrapped, unless you are working in an unsanitary environment the day following your tattoo. Such work environments include, building sites, hospitals, work with small children or animals. If this is the case, it may be advisable to re-wrap your tattoo in clingfilm or put some second skin on the tattoo to keep it covered and to keep contaminants out of a fresh tattoo.
A few days following your appointment and once your tattoo has been unwrapped for at least 24-48 hours, your tattoo should stop weeping and begin to form a dry membrane or light scabbing over the tattoo. Only once this has formed should you then begin moisturising. Please see the "moisturising" section in general advice for more info on what to do and which products I do and don’t recommend. From this point onwards keep moisturising lightly as and when you deem is necessary. Remember to keep your tattoo out of the sun, not to submerge a healing tattoo in water and not to scratch or pick a healing tattoo.
Second Skin:
Second skin in a porous adhesive membrane that is sometimes applied to heal tattoos. It may also be referred to by brand names such as Saniderm, Dermalize or Derm Shield. It’s very easy to heal a tattoo with second skin. Usually I will be the one to apply second skin in your tattoo, but sometimes you may need to apply it to yourself.
To apply second skin, first cut the dressing to the correct size, I find it’s best to cut it a bit bigger than the tattoo so you have a border of a few centimetres of dressing around the tattoo. I also like to round off any corners to prevent the dressing from peeling up. For larger tattoos it may also be easier to apply the dressing in 2 or 3 smaller sections rather than one big section. Then with clean, dry hands peel off the backing layer and apply the adhesive size to your skin. Try to smooth it out as you go avoiding air bubbles if possible. But if you do have air bubbles don’t worry too much. Once applied, carefully remove the top patterned layer of the dressing. That’s it! All done!
Once second skin has been applied, you can leave it on for up to 5 days. You don’t need to do anything during this time. You may shower as normal. The dressing is water proof, but I still would not recommend swimming or bathing, just in case it does peel up. You may notice a build up of excess blood, ink and plasma under the dressing. This is normal. If any fluid leaks out of the dressing, take the dressing off. If fluid can get out, the germs can get in and get trapped underneath. The dressing may also peel up around the edges, this is normal too. If it’s annoying you may trim the flappy bits with scissors. If the dressing peels up to such an extent that the tattoo is exposed, please remove the dressing entirely.
To remove second skin, hop in the shower and run a stream of lukewarm water over the area. With the water running, find and edge of the dressing and slowly peel it off by pulling up and away from yourself. Take your time. You do not want to rip it off fast like a wax strip because you may end up hurting yourself and damaging the tattoo by pulling ink out of the skin. Once removed, give the tattoo a rinse in lukewarm water you may use mild soap at this time. Please see the "washing your tattoo" section in general advice for more information and recommended products.
Let the tattoo air-dry. If you’ve had the second skin on for a few days, the tattoo may have dried out and formed a dry membrane. If this is the case you may begin to moisturise the tattoo. If the tattoo is still open and weeping fluid then leave it another 24-48 hours to dry out before moisturising. Please see the section "moisturising" in general advice for more information and products I do and don’t recommend for healing your tattoo.
From this point onwards keep moisturising lightly as and when you deem it necessary. Remember to keep your tattoo out of the sun, not to submerge a healing tattoo in water and not to scratch or pick a healing tattoo.
Tattoo Armour:
Tattoo Armour is a type of absorbent pad (somewhat reminiscent of puppy pee pads) that I like to use when healing heavier work with lots of colour or black-work. Unlike second skin or clingfilm, Tattoo Armour will absorb any excess fluid that may leak from a tattoo.
I will apply Tattoo Armour securing it with tape to keep in in place. Keep this on over night for the first night healing a tattoo. You may find it necessary to add more tape or wrap clingfilm on top of the dressing to help secure it in place while sleeping.
The following morning remove the dressing. You may find that the image of your tattoo has imprinted on the underside of the dressing! Once removed rinse your tattoo with lukewarm water and soap. Please see the section "washing the tattoo" for more information and details of which products I recommend. Then let the tattoo air-dry.
At this point I may have given you some second skin to apply. Please now go to the "healing second skin" section and follow the instructions there. If I haven’t given you any second skin you can now leave your tattoo uncovered. Unless, you are working in an unsanitary environment the day following your tattoo. Such work environments include, building sites, hospitals, work with small children or animals. If this is the case, it may be advisable to re-wrap your tattoo in clingfilm or put some second skin on the tattoo to keep it covered and to keep contaminants out of a fresh tattoo.
A few days following your appointment and once your tattoo has been unwrapped for at least 24-48 hours, your tattoo should stop weeping and begin to form a dry membrane or light scabbing over the tattoo. Only once this has formed should you then begin moisturising. Please see the "moisturising" section in general advice for more info on what to do and which products I do and don’t recommend. From this point onwards keep moisturising lightly as and when you deem is necessary. Remember to keep your tattoo out of the sun, not to submerge a healing tattoo in water and not to scratch or pick a healing tattoo.
Troubleshooting:
If you have any issues or questions during your healing process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me for help. If you have any adverse reactions to any of the products used or suggested, stop use and seek advice from a medical professional. If you think your tattoo is infected seek advice from a medical professional.
Common problems:
- My tattoo isn't healing: Tattoo healing time may vary depending on how "heavy" the work is. Small fineline tattoos heal more quickly than a large colour tattoo. However I’d expect most tattoos to have stopped weeping after 3-4 days. If it hasn’t, first check that you aren’t taking any medication or have any medical condition that may prolong healing time. This could be diabetes or blood thinners for example.
If prolonged healing still can’t be explained then you may be over moisturising your tattoo or may have moisturised too early. You should never moisturise an open tattoo! Tattoos need air to heal, if you have over moisturised then you are preventing air from getting the the tattoo site and may in effect be water-logging your tattoo. Stop moisturising for at least 24 hours and wait to see if the condition improves.
- I think my tattoo is infected: I’ve never had a client who’s tattoo has become infected (touch wood). Tell tail signs for an infected tattoo are persistent redness around the tattoo, swelling that isn’t improving, pain that seems to be getting worse rather than better as the tattoo heals, radiating heat and leaking puss.
The early stages of tattoo healing may also exhibit these symptoms or similar symptoms. During early healing your tattoo will be red, hot, painful and swollen. It will also leak plasma and ink. But all of these symptoms should improve and then subside within a week. If these symptoms persist or get worse, it may be time to consult a medical professional.
- My tattoo has really thick scabs: Thick scabbing isn’t ideal, and may occur for a number of reasons. Tattoos on the lower legs are more prone to scabbing, tattoos healing in hot or humid weather are more prone to scabbing, sometimes some people will form scabs no matter what - it’s just how their body heals things. Thick scabbing isn’t dangerous but it can cause its own problems. If the scab is really thick, it may start to crack, as it cracks it may pull ink out of the skin along these cracks and cause patchiness. Thick scabs are also easier to catch on clothing etc and if pulled off, may pull ink out and cause patchiness. If you do have really thick scabs, take a hot steamy shower. Let the tattoo steam in this environment until the scabs soften. Do not pick the scab. Do not run hot water over your tattoo! Once soft let the tattoo air-dry. You should find that your scabbing has reduced and flattened out a bit. You may need to repeat this a few times over the next few days.
- There are spots next to my tattoo: acne like spots can form next to a healing tattoo for a few reasons. The most likely one is that the hair that was shaved off to do your tattoo is growing back and you are getting some ingrown hairs. There’s not much to be done about this. You may also get spots if you are having a reaction to a moisturiser or second skin. These products may be blocking your pours. If so cease use of these products. If you get spots in your tattoo, or if you are getting a rash rather than spots, seek advice from a medical professional.
- My tattoo is itchy: Itchiness is a normal part of tattoo healing. Please do not scratch a healing tattoo. You may pull ink of the tattoo and cause patchiness. Try lightly patting the tattoo instead. If you have on second skin and you find that the edge of the dressing is becoming red and itchy you may be having a reaction to the dressing. This is a common reaction. Please remove the dressing.
- My tattoo really hurts: This is common with heavier tattoos and tattoos particularly on the lower legs. If your tattoo is on the lower legs, try to stay off your feet and keep your legs raised for the next 24 hours if possible. If you are really struggling with the pain, you may take paracetamol to help. Please do not take ibuprofen or aspirin and these thin the blood and prolong healing.
- My tattoo has healed and it’s patchy or faded in some areas: No worries! This can happen sometimes and it’s why I offer free touch-ups within a year if getting your tattoo. Pop me a message and we can get you booked in for a touch-up.
For anything else, please feel free to reach out on my instagram, Facebook or by email. You can find all my details on the contact page.