How toheal it
Most healing problems are not infections. They are picked scabs, over-applied lotion, swimming pools and twisted jewellery. Get these few things right and the rest takes care of itself.
Six things, in order
Leave the covering alone
If we wrapped you in an adhesive film, leave it on as long as we told you — usually two to five days. If it is a traditional wrap, take it off after a few hours. Do not put a fresh wrap back on.
Wash it, gently
Clean hands, lukewarm water, plain fragrance-free soap. Fingertips only, no cloths, no scrubbing. Twice a day, and pat it dry with kitchen paper rather than a towel.
Moisturise thinly
A very thin layer of unscented lotion, two or three times a day. Thin is the operative word — a thick layer suffocates it and slows healing. If it looks shiny, you have used too much.
Let it peel
Around day four it will flake like sunburn and it will itch. Do not pick it, do not scratch it, do not help it along. Pulling a flake early pulls ink out with it and that is where patchy healing comes from.
Stay out of water
No baths, pools, hot tubs, lakes or ocean for two to three weeks. Showers are fine. Submerging a healing tattoo is the most common cause of a preventable infection.
Stay out of the sun
No direct sun while healing. After it is healed, sunscreen on it every time it is exposed — UV is the single biggest cause of a tattoo ageing badly, and it matters most on fine line and grey work.
Worth a phone call
We are tattooers, not doctors. We can tell you whether something looks normal for the stage it is at — and when it does not, we will tell you to see a doctor rather than guess.
Spreading redness, heat and swelling after day three
Normal healing settles down. Getting worse rather than better is worth a call.
Yellow or green discharge, or a bad smell
Clear or straw-coloured fluid is normal. Coloured, thick or foul-smelling is not.
A fever, or red streaking away from the site
See a doctor the same day. Not us — a doctor.
Keeping it looking right in twenty years
Healing takes weeks. Keeping a tattoo sharp takes decades, and almost all of it comes down to one thing: sun. UV breaks pigment down and softens edges, and it does the most damage to exactly the work that can least afford it — fine lines, delicate grey washes and the open highlights that make a portrait read.
Sunscreen on any healed tattoo that is going to be exposed. Keep your skin in reasonable condition; hydrated skin holds ink better than dry skin. And know that some settling is normal — every tattoo softens slightly in the first year as it beds in.
Touch-ups on our work are handled within the touch-up window. Bring it in, we will look at it, and if it needs attention we will sort it.
Something not healing right?
Call the studio. We would much rather look at it than have you guessing at midnight.