Taking Care of Your Tattoos

Taking Care of Your Tattoos

Your new tattoo is a work of art and you want to take good care of it. It is also an open wound. Just like any good work of art, there are certain steps that you should be taking to keep it looking and feeling good.You want to make sure that it doesn’t turn into a festering, open wound. Keep the bandage on for at least twelve hours, and when you take it off, be gentle. If it won’t come off on first try, use warm water to help it off. Let it dry for about an hour, and then wash it with a gentle soap. Next, apply a thin coat of Polysporin or another antibiotic cream. For the next four or five days you’ll want to wash it gently and reapply the cream twice per day. Do this while in the shower, not the bath, as the new tattoo should not be submerged in water for any great length of time. Do not go swimming, no hot tubs, no baths and no sex in the shower for about two weeks after you get tattooed.

After four or five days you should switch to a water-based cream such as Moisturel until your tattoo is completely healed.

Remember that your tattoo is an open wound so you must not allow it to get dirty and you should keep your dirty hands off it. No picking, scratching, or other dorking around until it’s properly healed. It will scab over a bit while it’s healing, but that’s natural and you should not feel compelled to try to remove the scab.

For those of you who are too hardcore to worry about your health, this is not just about health. You can think of it as primarily about making sure your tattoo looks its best, because if you mess with it while it’s healing, the colors can run together, it can fade and if it gets infected the resulting wound could cause enough scar tissue to mar your work of art seriously.

If you do damage your tattoo, call your tattoo artist and ask them what their policy is for touch ups. Many studios will offer you a free touch up if you come back in within one year and with your original receipt.

If you do get a touch up, be sure to take proper care of it this time. Go through all of the same steps as written earlier on in this article.