Interesting thread this. I’ve been tattooed by 5 different artists, and as Tattooedhunter said they all have their own after care theories. My ex housemate was a very experienced tattooist and I watched him work a lot and found his aftercare seemed to work the best for me. I’ve heard some artists recommend keeping the tattoo covered for a few days!! He reckons, depending on the size of the piece, around 4 hours later take the bandaging off, wipe the “slime” plasma” off very gently. Using normal unfragranced soap…
Then pat dry it, and cover it in a very thin layer of what he calls nipple cream. Basically unfragranced, NON anti bacterial cream. Then about 3-4 times a day reapply the cream.
This has worked really well for me. Talking to subsequent artisits who’ve done work on me, they are happy for me to follow the method I mentioned. One artist told me the reason some prescribe anti bacterial creams and cleaning more often than required is that 90% of people who get tatts tend to neglect them in terms of after care. I guess the idea being rather clean it more than required, than less, with slightly harsher stuff than required…
Anyways my 2cents!
