Hey guys.
Preferably I try to hit a tanning bench at least twice a month, because the bright light helps a lot with my mental well being. I only have one tattoo and actually haven’t hit the sun much at all since I got it, except for last summer when I was swimming a lot and of course the sun hits the tattoo a lot, but I see my future containing quite a few tattoos so I need to learn how to give my tats the best chance they can get.
From time to time I’ve read (in these forums) people talking about the sun and it’s negative effects on ink. If I’ve understood those discussions correctly, it’s basically the UV that will hurt the tattoo. In connection with these discussions, some specific tattoo protections have been named.
Now, Iceland is tiny (as probably most of you know) and not a really huge market, and I’ve never seen any lubricants or ointments or any stuff specifically designed for tattoos, so I am left with the Pharmacies.
Generally I use a medium (or even weak, if I’m trying to get a bit of color) strength sun lotion (Piz Buin or Nivea or whatever) and then after-sun afterwards, but will a medium strength lotion be sufficient to stop the UV from hurting the tats? If not, should I buy the strongest sun lotion I can find for the tats and just use the milder one on the rest of me? Or will I always need some specially designed tattoo protection sun block?
Also, some ad I read somewhere on a tattoo protection site (Goo or someplace else, I do not remember) stated that they had some materials that actually helped keep the tattoo sharp, and even increased the sharpness. (“..make it look like it’s always new..”) Now, as I understand the whole tattoo concept, I can’t really see how any lotion put on the skin could change the way the ink shines through the layers of skin. Are these things legit, and would you recommend using such magic lotions? If so, how regularly?
I think those two are the only questions I have for now.
Personally, I’m a pale guy now. I used to have a light tan, but since I started getting tattooed, I don’t like to keep my tattoos in the sun, and that’s with heaps of strong sunscreen on. It’s just starting to get to the hot weather where I live, the days will soon be averaging 38 degrees celsius, and i’ll be wearing long sleeve shirts all summer.
I know direct sun without sunscreen wreaks havoc on tattoos, i’ve seen enough little butterflies and such on girls hips that are only a couple of years old and the lines are already fat and the colours faded from sunbaking to prove it.
It’s a personal thing, but i’d prefer to not put them in the sun at all and live with vibrant colourful tatts and albino skin. Luckily with all this Twilight crap around, girls don’t mind a pale fella 😉
If you’re keen on sunbaking and such, i’d suggest a thick coat of strong spf sunscreen on your ink.
As for the tattoo cream, i’ve never heard of it.
Well, I’m a relatively pale guy myself, but the point is that the tanning benches are part of the light therapy to help with SAD (Seasonal Affected Depression) and other such mental disorders. Since sun barely shines here for 6-9 months a year, fake sun is needed and that’s most easily found in a tanning bench.
As for wearing long-sleeves in the sun, I don’t know how you can do it. I’d positively MELT 🙂
Actually, I have a pretty intense laylight lamp above my bed that bombards my eyes for the first 4 hours every day, but the tanning beds offer a much much higher dose which helps a lot. And then there’s the whole Vitamin D thing and the general physical comfort of torching your body and sweating gallons, all of which are a positive thing. The negatives are of course the risk of skin cancer and now also the tattoo erosion.
It’s always a case for the scales, really. On one side you have positive mental and physical health now, and on the other you have a possible physical illness in the future. Which weighs heavier in life?
Well, I don’t really care about the tan, especially since I barely tan at all. I just get gazillions of freckles but that’s about it 🙂
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