No, an hour or so isn’t going to damage your tattoo at all. If you have your tattoos in the sun unprotected say all summer for a few years, it will fade a LOT.
An hour or even a day won’t hurt it. It’s a problem if this happens all the time – If you’re constantly in the sun without using sunscreen. When I worked in a shop, I once saw this construction worker who worked on a roof for 3 weeks in the sun, had a huge tribal tattoo down his arm, and he had a second degree burn. The tattoo actually bubbled. I’ve had my tattoos out in the sun without sun screen several times, but I can usually tell when I need to do something, because the tattoos start to hurt quite quickly. A sun burnt tattoo is HORRIBLE! :p

But no, you’ll be totally fine. Prolonged isn’t an hour or two.

I was sunbathing last year with factor 50 on and after an hour saw changes in the white on one part of my sleeve which is still visible now. I am assuming its just white that reacts this quick though 🙂

This is the part, you will see the white is a little off colour from the rest.

@AdamNC83 140261 wrote:

I have seen article after article discuss sun exposure and tattoos. All of them are in agreement when they say that too much sun is bad. What they are not in agreement on is how much is too much?

I had an issue arise today where I was out in the sun for close to an hour if not more than without any sunblock or UV resistant clothing. Just short sleeved shirt. I was investigating a car accident and it wasn’t something I could get out of nor was it something I could take my time getting to.

Am I going to lose my fine lines and color in my tattoo now?

Thanks

my input on this topic is that the sun is terrible for humans in general,tattoos or not we all need to protect ourselves from the harmful sun,my wife is a skin cancer survivor,and myself having many tattoos I always use sunblock(daily) and/or long sleeves or sit in shade.that’s it ! plain & simple.
putting on sunblock on my body is pretty much just part of getting ready for my day.

wakeup/shit/shave/shower/sunblock LOL

I buy spray on sunscreen by the carton. My dermatologist says that applying it outside may let the breeze make it distorted. I got a mini paint roller and apply the spray to that, then I roll it on! The same with lotions and moisturizers. (doesn’t waste the spray in the air either)

@NorCalDan 140407 wrote:

ya well,”sunny California” is for real,especially here in northern California(Sacramento),there are maybe 20-30 NOT sunny days a year here,and for probably 8 months out of the year it’s over 80f,and I work outside in my job.I constantly get compliments on my tattoos on how new they look.

I have a job where I work in an office 3:00 PM till 11:00 PM. I get up at 10:00 AM and don’t do much outside through the week. On the week end (Monday & Tuesday for me) I use SPF-50 without fail. I live in Pennsylvania where the fucking weather is always a guess.