Tattoo aftercare

Swifty55 said:
Vaseline does the trick...
Click to expand...

Vaseline's awful on tattoos, doesn't let them breathe at all. Don't use it.

I've only ever covered mine in cling film til I'm home, personally. The film does little good imo except for the bleeding weeping gooey first couple of hours, stops the tattoo from breathing, makes you sweat, and is a huge pain in the arse.

Keep it clean, use bepanthen or similar, don't swim, bathe, or do lots of exercise that will rub and irritate it.
 
Last edited:
Shicky said:
Bit of an after question also, mac1st3 u mentioned avoid exercise? Im injured so cant hit the gym anyway but u reckon its grand to play footy? Its not really in a spot that will be a problem but definitely dont want to mess my first tat up
Click to expand...

as stated, avoid sweating if you can as that'll push some ink out, and running around having clothes rubbing on it won't help much either, but the main point was if you'e going to the gym to work out/build muscle etc, be prepared for sme distortion, you can get it touched up to fill in any gaps or try to correct it, but just try not to bulk up too fast, I've seen some pretty horrible results from that sort ofthing

But yea, skip footie and any strenuous exercise for a while, till the majority of the scab's come off, then it'll be all gravy, and again, when showering, don't scrub it and avoid getting it wet at all really

I've used bepanthen, probably a littletoo much, bu other's have said it's too oily, whereas friends of mine use cocoa butter which it apparently very good for it
 
ste2005 said:
Some tattoo shops around leeds used to recommend pile cream a few years ago, as it reduces the swelling around the tattoo.
Click to expand...

Same principle as Bepanthen, it's really similar stuff. Soothes it to stop you wanting to scratch it, calms the swelling, and has disinfectant properties.

Nappy rash, piles, fresh tattoos, they're pretty similar :D
 
My tattooist said get bepanthen and apply 3 times a day. Any nappy rash cream will do. Wilkinson's sell it.

Don't do anything that would put stress on the skin. So football's out of the question as someone asked earlier.
 
KNiVES said:
My tattooist said get bepanthen and apply 3 times a day. Any nappy rash cream will do. Wilkinson's sell it.

Don't do anything that would put stress on the skin. So football's out of the question as someone asked earlier.
Click to expand...
I'll add keep it out of the sun to that as well.
 
I used tattoo goo as was suggested by the artist. I asked about wrapping it in cling film as I'd read about it and his reaction was "what you've got is just like a graze, would you wrap a grazed knee in cling film?"

I thought that was a good point and just applied a thin coat of tattoo goo three times a day, it's not cheap for a small tin but you use so little that it goes a long way, I know I didn't even use half the smallest tin available and I didn't even get any scabbing.
 
^TANK^ said:
Well my tattoos are neither faded and neither did I have the "pulls the ink outta ya tattoo" issue! They healed up nicely.
Click to expand...

I found Savlon fine, but Bepanthen better. I didn't lose any colour from Savlon on the whole, but I lost a few more 'chunks' from scabs falling off. Bepanthen kept it more supple for longer.

All you're really trying to do is keep the scabs attached to you for longer, when it comes down to it. I've found Bepanthen best. Savlon's fine, but Bepanthen is better. You need to reapply it less often, that's the main thing. Keep it moist, keep the scabs on.

When it all comes down to it, if you lose the odd chunk you can just get it touched up, but the less touchups required the better, and the general condition of the tattoo is important. Look around you when the sun's out, you'll see a lot of tattoos with great chunks missing out of them and awful patchy blacks. As long as you do something to look after it while it's healing, you'll see less of it, and in my experience (partly my own and partly handed down from my favoured tattooist and my other tattooed friends/acquaintances), Bepanthen is best :)
 
PardonTheWait said:
I found Savlon fine, but Bepanthen better. I didn't lose any colour from Savlon on the whole, but I lost a few more 'chunks' from scabs falling off. Bepanthen kept it more supple for longer.

All you're really trying to do is keep the scabs attached to you for longer, when it comes down to it. I've found Bepanthen best. Savlon's fine, but Bepanthen is better. You need to reapply it less often, that's the main thing. Keep it moist, keep the scabs on.

When it all comes down to it, if you lose the odd chunk you can just get it touched up, but the less touchups required the better, and the general condition of the tattoo is important. Look around you when the sun's out, you'll see a lot of tattoos with great chunks missing out of them and awful patchy blacks. As long as you do something to look after it while it's healing, you'll see less of it, and in my experience (partly my own and partly handed down from my favoured tattooist and my other tattooed friends/acquaintances), Bepanthen is best :)
Click to expand...

Well I have tried vasaline in the past as well as savlon so I'll try Bepanthen next as you lot have mentioned it on more than one occasion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom