The recommendation against a&d is a good one. Since it causes a reaction with a small percentage of people.

You really don’t NEED any special kind of soap or lotion. As long as you don’t use a scrub or put vaseline on your tattoo, you should be fine with whatever unscented/no alcohol gentle soap you’ve got, and some moisturizer that works well on your skin and doesn’t fuck it up.
A&D worked wonderful for me(except that its illegal here and I can’t get anymore until I travel to the states again…), but a lot of people have a reaction! Some choose to stay away from anything that has petroleum in it, and that’s kind of a good idea.

Arni’s correct.

A & D went out with nickel beer and horse shit in the garage. (A & D has Cod liver oil that some people are really allergic to)

There is many different healing methods, magics and potions. Guess what your tattoo will heal just fine if you were to do nothing at all.
As with any wound it is important to keep it clean and only put moisturizer on it after it starts peeling if you need relief from the dryness. Think about it would you put lotion on any other open weeping wound?
for me I will stick with dry wrap.
As for antibacterial soap we as a society use and take way to many antibacterial products.

I read and understood what you said. Your problem is that you didn’t understand what I said.

Your version of what is the ‘correct’ way to heal a tattoo is considered, by many people, absolutely wrong. Not using any cream makes perfect sense to many, even if it doesn’t make sense to you.
Your way is not better.
Your way is not more correct.
Your assumption that you singlehandedly saved this poor bastard from making the mistake of his life by following his tattooists instructions to the letter, are therefore erroneous at best and perhaps even detrimental to his healing process or even his health.

You didn’t ‘help’. You gave him your version of the truth.

@Darwin’s Theory 130458 wrote:

like i just said arni on the paper he showed me it said not to use any cream such as aquaphor just to only buy unscented lotion. that makes no fucking sense so i guess when people get tattoos they should jump right to putting on the lotion yeah his artist makes perfect sense. the guy would have went home and used whatever type of soap its a wound you have to put the right stuff on it first. anyways next time you comment ARNI read and understand what i said stay classy 😡

I have several tattoos that healed up beautifully using only unscented soap and unscented lotion.

Each artist has given me different healing instructions, and since each knows THEIR own work and what to expect, they are the best person to advise me on how it should be cared for. If I was planning to use a different method than they advised I would discuss it with them. Not with some random person who thinks that they know best, because they only know what works best for them which may be different than the best for my skin/tattoo. I have used methods ranging from “no lotion of any kind until it starts to peel” to “keep it wrapped for the next 5 days” to “here is a box containing the 3 products I want you to use and instructions for each”.

I know that you tried to help, but next time offer your advice and suggest they run it past their artist to check for any concerns that the artist might have.

No petroleum based products are used by my artist anymore. He used to use A&D mostly throughout the tattoo process mostly and then would send me home with some for over night. He actually found, from a recommendation from another artist, that cocoa butter works better plus its a organic substance and contains no sort of petroleum at all. In terms of his healing instructions for me he always recommends keeping it wrapped for 2-3 hours and then unwrapping it and cleaning it first with warm water and unscented soap and then rinsing it with the coldest water I can stand so the pores hold on to the ink. He also recommends rewrapping it over night the first night and then its strictly unscented lotion 3-5 times a day from there on out. Never had any problems and I’m usually in the peeling stages within 3-4 days. So obviously everyone’s healing process varies but that is what I deal with mostly when I come in. Good for the OP for helping out the guy in some way at least.