Hi, I just got my first tattoo Friday, March 12th. I can provide a picture from a few days after I got it, but nothing newer yet….
This was the best we could get at the time. It continues to curve around my calf a little bit.
In it’s entirety it says: Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
The flowers are baby’s breath. There is a sprig there, near the middle of it, and at the end.
It’s been a few weeks now, and my cousin and aunt- who both have multiple tattoo’s have told me that it should have scabbed, peeled and healed by now.
So far, it has scabbed. Only recently have the scabs been falling off, and when they do they are purely the color of the area it was on. Almost all of the white on the baby’s breath near the front of my calf is gone. One of the scabs there is white and green. The words seem to have very thick scabs.
The sprig at the back of my knee, with the ‘Tell me’ has completely ‘healed’? there are no scabs, but I haven’t given it a complete look to see if I’ve lost any color.
I’ve been using Suave Cocoa Butter with Shea in a thin layer when it dries, as my tattoo artist told me…
…but I’m not certain how much I should believe her.
She didn’t ask me if I wanted any colors, she didn’t have any font booklets or even a sketch to show me before she got to it….it made me very, very nervous. But I trusted her, and I made it through with very, very minimal pain.
Now though, I am worried. Will my tattoo be okay?
Pleasepleaseplease tell me what you think! I’ll try to get a newer picture of it soon.
also- I don’t know if it matters or not- but I have horribly dry skin….every time I talk to my aunt about my tattoo she mentions it….
I am NOT familiar with your aftercare products. But I personally take a long time to heal. I’ve had bigger areas worked on which can make the healing process take longer. Up to 4wks sometimes for me to fully heal. Just be patient with it. Maybe someone will chime in on the products your using if there ok or not.
Hi, it’s difficult to tell from the photo whether you are healing badly or not. What i can tell you is that it is normal for the skin falling away to be the same colour as was applied. Your tattoo should be peeling like a sunburn rather than scabbing heavily like gravel rash. The average time for peeling to begin is 4 to 5 days.
As for the cocoa butter most cocoa butter products of all different brands contain alcohol, petroleum products and dimethicone all of which are not good things to apply to an open wound. In the case of a tattoo petroleum products in particular will cause colour loss.
The immediate thing that springs to mind is ink reaction. If you are having an allergic reaction to the ink it will usually take on a millky appearance and feel hard under your skin even after the scabs have fallen away. Most reactions are not too serious and will simply settle down in time.
Sounds normal to me. Also the picture looks normal too. My tatoo takes 4 weeks I think it was to heal. I take a long time to heal. One person will heal a tatoo in 2 weeks another in 4 or 5. ok 5 is a bit long but if you naturally take a long time to heal other wounds that’s what a tatoo is. They say it takes 2-4 weeks to heal (on the surface that you can see…underneath it takes even longer). It looks like your healing fine you prolly just take a little longer than them to do it.
This was the best we could get at the time. It continues to curve around my calf a little bit.
In it’s entirety it says: Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
The flowers are baby’s breath. There is a sprig there, near the middle of it, and at the end.
It’s been a few weeks now, and my cousin and aunt- who both have multiple tattoo’s have told me that it should have scabbed, peeled and healed by now.
So far, it has scabbed. Only recently have the scabs been falling off, and when they do they are purely the color of the area it was on. Almost all of the white on the baby’s breath near the front of my calf is gone. One of the scabs there is white and green. The words seem to have very thick scabs.
The sprig at the back of my knee, with the ‘Tell me’ has completely ‘healed’? there are no scabs, but I haven’t given it a complete look to see if I’ve lost any color.
I’ve been using Suave Cocoa Butter with Shea in a thin layer when it dries, as my tattoo artist told me…
…but I’m not certain how much I should believe her.
She didn’t ask me if I wanted any colors, she didn’t have any font booklets or even a sketch to show me before she got to it….it made me very, very nervous. But I trusted her, and I made it through with very, very minimal pain.
Now though, I am worried. Will my tattoo be okay?
Pleasepleaseplease tell me what you think! I’ll try to get a newer picture of it soon.
also- I don’t know if it matters or not- but I have horribly dry skin….every time I talk to my aunt about my tattoo she mentions it….
It seems to me that you’re going through the normal healing process.
However, I think that the location of the tattoo might have something to do with it. I have three tattoos on my feet, and they, on average, took about two months to heal completely. The feet, out of all parts of the body, take the longest to heal because they get the least blood flow. Since the legs are obviously connected to the feet, the calves would be the runner up for the least blood flow.
Have you been shaving your leg as the tattoo is healing? If you are, and I know this sucks, you’ve got to stop until it is healed. Shaving makes anyone’s legs dryer! Shaving + dry skin sounds like a bad combination.
I’ve never heard of anyone using cocoa butter to moisturize a tattoo. I would recommend using Aquifor by Eucerin, it can be found in the lotion aisle at CVS or Walgreens. When using it, use a VERY small amount. Aquifor is powerful stuff and I only have to use about half the size of the top of a thumbtack to cover my 6″ tattoo on my foot.
Hope this helps!!
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