I was at a local Walgreens about thirty minutes ago to pick out a lotion for my new tattoo. I was looking at the ingredients of many different types of lotions recommended on these forums and elsewhere, including Aveeno, Lubriderm, Curel, and Aquaphor. I noticed that they all had an ingredient called “Petrolate,” and I thought that that sounded pretty close to Petroleum, which as we all know should never go on a tattoo due to its tendency to fade ink. So I looked at a jar of Vaseline, which is Petroleum Jelly, and it said on the back that its only ingredient is Petrolate. So I bought a lotion that didn’t have Petrolate in it and left the store. When I got home I looked in Wikipedia under Petroleum Jelly, sure enough it said that the stuff is made of Petrolatums. When I Googled Petrolatums I found that they are often used in lotions and are indeed derived from Petroleum. In fact, the famous Aquaphor is 41% Petrolate. The bottom line is that my theory is this: Petrolate is Petroleum, and many people out there are using it and fading their tattoos without even realizing it. I really hope that I’m wrong about this, so I welcome any comments anybody has. Thank you for your time.
Hi Nadaud
Yes it is made from petroleum but petrolate is much weaker in intensity it is used to bind the other ingredients and so that it can create a barrier on the skin that allows absorbtion. This is the distilled version.
I have always said that with any lotion is should be used sparingly as just about everything that is not organic can fade a tattoo as it wears away the skin cells.
This includes anything with alcohol, lanolin, petroleum, and even high concentrates of zinc or vit e.
The key thing is that the skin is very tough and as long as you are not slathering aquaphor on by the bucket load during healing it should not damage the tattoo.
The main thing is to keep any petrolate version as low as possible and has to be below 50%-55% for a low risk. Anything higher and can clog pores, lift ink etc.
Of course everybody’s skin reacts differently.
Most standard alcohol and fragrance free moisturisers are fine once the pigment is locked (healed) in the skin.
Tattoo Goo and Hemp sticks are both organic but they do not work for everybody.
There is simply no one product that suits all 🙁
Well spotted though.
Take Care
Matthew
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