Initial aftercare for a tattoo, as I remember from when i was a tattooist:
- They'll probably wipe it down with alcohol, then ointment it up with Bacitracin or similar to initiate the healing and keep bacteria out, then they'll bandage it.
- After 2-3 hours, you can take the bandage off
- Blot, don't wipe, the excess crap away with a moist cloth or paper towel
- You can do one more ointment application with bacitracin, triple antibiotic, or Neosporin (which is essentially bacitracin+neomycin, two of the three in triple antibiotic) - but don't rebandage, at least not tightly and NOT with plastic - you may want to put a clean t-shirt sleeve around it or something to stop the plasma from getting all over everything tho.
- from then on out, to clean, try to keep it out of direct shower spray, instead running cool to warm water over and gently blotting dry - and as for lubing it up, don't use Vaseline or Neosporin (after that application above) - they suffocate the skin with no air - instead use an actual moisturizing lotion, such as Lubriderm (get unscented, but it does still sting) that you can "rub in" (gently of course). If you do this often enough, it'll never scab over heavily, it'll just flake off like old chrome, painlessly, until your tat is "finished shedding".
Note: I personally found out with my half-sleeve-in-progress that *I* am hellaciously allergic to A&D - imagine your arm absolutely covered in the most painful pimples ever for a month.
- And of course keep it out of the sun, the ocean, and the pool until it's healed.
=0)
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