Tessa’s Aftercare Thoughts
Hi pals!
Amidst the wildness that is planet Earth in 2023, I wanted to share my observations, thoughts, and recommendations on tattoo aftercare.
Aftercare can majorly impact how a tattoo heals and settles ~ it’s not all the tattooer’s application! An expertly applied tattoo can fall out or fade quickly aftercare is bigtime lacking for the tattooed individual’s particular body. Yooooikes!
Rather than unquestioningly following a recommended routine, I think it’s important for clients to understand why tattooers make the recommendations that they do for aftercare! Understanding why will help you make informed (and maybe even more helpful) choices in your own tattoo aftercare process. So, here we go!
The three major things to understand when it comes to tattoo aftercare are as follows:
Tattoo aftercare is not one-size-fits-all.
Aftercare is about keeping the tattoo clean and irritation-free.
Aftercare is about a balance of dryness to moisture.
Buckle up! I’m gonna go into each of these points in more depth below.
1. Aftercare routines are NOT one-size-fits-all!
This is such an important thing to know! I see viral Tiktoks going around where folks are sharing “the best'' aftercare routine. Here’s the dealio: Everyone’s skin is different. Not only will my skin need different aftercare to heal well than your skin will need, but various areas of my skin will need different aftercare, too! For instance, when I’m healing a tattoo on my lower leg, I use a different aftercare regimen than when I’m healing a tattoo on my upper inner arm.
In essence: every person and body location will likely require different kinds of aftercare.
“Boo! Too complicated!” cried the people from the mountaintops. “We want one answer! One routine!”
“TOO BAD,” responded the Aftercare Gods, “BODIES ARE COMPLEX, AND SO IS TATTOO HEALING!”
To make it even more nuanced, different weather, climates, and seasons will impact your tattoo’s healing.
Now that you know more about how everyone is different, let’s take a look at WTF the aftercare process is all about.
2. Keep it clean!
Of course! We wanna get rid of any bacteria that could infect the tattoo. I always recommend a morning wash upon waking and an evening wash before bed using clean hands, warm water, and liquid antibacterial soap (unscented Dial is my favorite, though I have many clients whose skin is not irritated by Dial Gold).
If you keep in mind that you are washing to remove bacteria, then it’ll be easier to follow standard handwashing protocol on your tattoo:
Gently cover the area with warm water
Gently lather the area with liquid soap (applied into your hand and then onto the tattoo). Very gently lather for 20-30 seconds, ensuring that all areas with open skin have been washed.
Rinse with warm water.
Let fully air-dry before applying your moisturizer (we will get to that soon!).
Cleanliness from microbes AND visible specimens is imperative! No infection zone! Clean time in hygiene city! If you get any schmutz on your tattoo, give it another wash at any point during the day.
Fun Nuance #42: Too much washing can dry out your tattoo. If you’re not digging in dirt every day, see what happens if you only wash once per day ~ the healing process might be easier for you!
2.5 Keep it irritation-free!
UV Exposure (SUNLIGHT!)
OK, so it’s a huge understatement to call UV an irritant, because here’s the deal: Sunlight fades tattoos. In fact, I learned in Hannah Wolf’s “The Science of Tattooing” that laser tattoo removal shoots concentrated UV at tattoos! Literally, sun-rays are used to remove tattoos! !!! !!! HELLO?!? Anyways, within the first 2 weeks of healing, sunlight fades tattoos at a much more rapid rate than it does on healed tattoos. 🌞
Generally, in the first two weeks of healing, we lose about 30% of the deposited ink (thanks, Hannah Wolf and gang)! During the beginning of healing, your body’s immune system is working extra hard to heal the open wound on your skin and remove the foreign particles (AKA ink, baby!). Your body works regular-hard to remove the ink particles the rest of the time.
Yes, you heard that right - your body is ALWAYS trying to remove the ink from your skin - even when your tattoo is 30 years old. Lil warrior cells come at the ink and break it apart into smaller pieces by eating them up (nom nom nom). This is why tattoos spread and fade! Your immune system’s lil cells are always working hard to get the ink out of your body. <3
The moral of the story is THIS: UV Exposure speeds up the natural process of ink being digested and removed. For the first two weeks of healing, don’t bring your tattoo into sunlight. After those first two weeks, cover it in clothes or sunscreen to make your tattoo last longer.
Or let it fade real good and get a sick blastover in 10 years. Bruuuuhh.
Fabric
STORY TIME! I was once was healing a tattoo that was overworked, so it had the thickest, gnarliest scab. (FYI, it only was overworked because I used numbing cream - and that’s a topic for another blog post - AND because I flew on an airplane the day after getting it - more on this in a bit). ANYWAYS, I was cleaning it daily, and moisturizing it often with thicker-than-usual moisturizers (I don’t recommend this unless it has a thick scab. This is because, if the scab cracks, the ink usually falls out! So keep your scabs moiiiist). However, I made a mistake and I wore fuzzy leggings for two days. Why is this a mistake, you ask?
Well, the next part of this tale is really grody gnar gnar: I spent an hour using tweezers to pull fuzzy fibers out of the scab. My tattoo had gotten itchier and more painful because it was working harder to heal itself AROUND the fibers, while protecting my body from the lil bacteria on the fibers. Can u say YUCK?!
But this isn’t just limited to scabby healing tats: fibers can irritate regularly healing tattoos, as well, and they can transmit bacteria into the open wound (gasp). Some fabrics have allergens in them, or are made of animal products (such as wool) that can be very irritating for open wounds. 😐
Also, make sure your clothes are clean! Fabrics that are covered with animal dander or fur can easily irritate the healing wound.
Activities
After a tattoo, most people ask me “how long until I can work out?” I generally recommend 2 days so the skin has a bit of a chance to grow back and protecc you, and then washing the tattoo directly after working out so that the sweat doesn’t irritate or bring bacteria into the tattoo.
BUT, nobody asks me, “how long until I can travel by plane?” And LET ME TELL YOU, I think that many people (especially folks with sensitive bodies that respond to environmental stimuli) should wait at least 4 days! This next part is anecdotal, based on my own observations of other people’s tattoo healing processes, as well as my own.
When I get on a long plane ride, I get very dry and bloated. I need to drink a ton of water, put on lots of chapstick, and apply lotion. My skin literally expands. I know this is a common experience for many people who fly ~ but think about how this could impact a fresh tattoo...
The skin dries out and swells at an unnatural rate, stretching the tattooed skin! The immune system is going to be ALARMED and work double-time to get some new skin cells over the expanding wound. And all of this in a very dry environment (thanks, PLANES). When your body has to work quickly to pump out layers of skin as fast as it can over extra damaged skin cells, this leads to… (Drumrollz) …a scab!
And a quick reminder - why are scabs no bueno? If the scab dries up, cracks, is pulled off, or falls off, ink will usually come out with it! A little empty patch on ur fresh new tattoo! OH NOES. When ink comes out, this is called ink fall-out.
If your tattoo scabs, don’t panic - just moisturize. Speaking of moisturizing…
3. Dryness to moisture? What the EFF, Tess?
I wrote this section out like 5 times, and I’m just gonna say it real simple: if your tattoo is too moist or too dry, there’s a very good chance that it will heal shitty. Your immune system will work harder to heal the tattoo and eat up the pigment molecules if it’s either too moist or too dry. That’s why the dryness to moisture balance can literally impact how lines heal.
Here’s the catch: everybody’s body will require different products and routines to reach the ideal dry-to-moist-ratio (or no products or routines, haha).
And that’s the whole reason why I am super over “Never use Aquaphor” or “Only use Hustle Butter” all-or-nothing statements. The reason why I personally recommend a light, unscented, non-oily lotion (like Lubriderm, Cetaphil, or unscented Aveeno) is because it’s difficult to overdo moisture with these lotions, and you can simply apply them more often if you require more moisture.
“TESSAAAAA, WHAT ABOUT AQUAPHOR?!” Well, you can’t “edit—> undo” with too much Aquaphor. For most people, too much Aquaphor is likely to “suffocate” your tattoo with moisture. But, if folks are applying an appropriate amount, it is just the “right” amount of moisture for them. However, the same amount might be too much for other people! ~*~ The NUANCE! ~*~
This is also one of the reasons I’m not a huge fan of Second Skin or Saniderm ~ unless you change your Saniderm out whenever its full of plasma, blood, and ink, you lose your ability to be in control of the moisture-to-dryness ratio. Plus, I worry that too many people remove it incorrectly and create their own ink fall-out.
Closing thoughts
AND ANOTHER THING: your tattoo healing is not isolated from the rest of your body. Your healing will change based on SO many things: the vitamins you’re taking, if you’re sick, if you’re on an acne medication, if you are on a boat at sea, if you take a plane ride, etc. Your immune system is throughout your entire body - not just in the tattoo area. And our bodies change often, especially when we do new or different things to it!
“OkAY TESSA I GET IT, EVERYBODY’S BODY IS DIFFERENT. SO WHAT? WHAT DO I DO? YOU’VE BROKEN ME DOWN, I NEED A SOLUTION”. Okay, jeez, calm down. The moral of the story is to ~pay attention to and listen to your body~
If your tattoo looks or feels dry, moisturize it, even if it’s more than the amount of times recommended to you. If you notice that a certain lotion is leaving an oily residue that your skin doesn’t really absorb, don’t use it and try to find a lighter brand! If a certain soap makes your tattoo feel a stinging sensation even after you’ve washed it off, don’t use that soap, even if its unscented Dial, like I recommended! Try a diluted Dr. Bronner’s unscented baby soap.
Pay attention to how your tattoos heal and keep a record in your notes app of the aftercare methods that you try. Maybe you tried Aquaphor on one forearm tattoo, and you used Cetaphil on your other forearm tattoo. Keep notes on if anything was irritating it or if anything notable happened that could have impacted the healing (were you sick? Did you run into the corner of a table?) Take pictures after two weeks to see how they healed.
I promise that if you do this, you will find a general aftercare routine that will work well for your body and your immune system, and you’ll feel more comfortable making adjustments for tattoos done on different parts of your body.
You know your body best. I don’t get to see the healing tattoo every day and make recommendations to you - but you do! If you have any questions, reach out to your artist or an artist you trust. If you are concerned about infection, reach out to a medical professional.
I hope that reading this blog has helped you understand more about the healing process, and why artists recommend what they do. More importantly, I hope you feel more empowered to pay attention to your body and listen to what its telling you!
