Healing it properly

Tattoo aftercare

Fine line work heals fast because there is less trauma to the skin than a bold traditional piece. That is exactly why people get careless with it. The first two weeks decide how crisp your linework looks for the next ten years.

The wrap

We will tell you which wrap you have before you leave, because the two are treated completely differently.

• Cling film or a simple bandage: leave it on for two to four hours, then remove it, wash, and leave the tattoo uncovered.
• Adhesive second skin: leave it on for three to five days. Fluid will pool under it and look alarming. That is plasma and ink, and it is meant to happen. Remove it in a warm shower, peeling slowly in the direction the hair grows.

Washing

• Wash your hands before you touch it. Every time, without exception.
• Use lukewarm water and a fragrance free liquid soap. Nothing exfoliating, nothing with a scrub in it.
• Use your fingertips, not a cloth. Work gently until the surface no longer feels slippery.
• Rinse thoroughly and pat dry with a clean paper towel. Bath towels hold bacteria and catch on flaking skin.
• Let it air dry for ten minutes before you put anything on it.

Moisturising

• A very thin layer of fragrance free lotion, two or three times a day, once the tattoo has stopped weeping.
• Thin is the whole point. If it looks shiny or feels tacky, it is too much, and smothering a tattoo traps bacteria and pulls ink out of the lines.
• Skip petroleum based ointments unless we specifically hand you one.

What to avoid until it is healed

• Soaking of any kind for two to three weeks. No baths, pools, hot tubs, lakes or the ocean. Showers are fine.
• Direct sun. Not a little bit, not for ten minutes. Sun on a healing tattoo fades it permanently.
• Picking, scratching or peeling the flakes. They come away on their own, and pulling one early takes pigment with it.
• Tight clothing, straps and waistbands sitting directly on it.
• The gym for the first few days if the placement will be sweating or rubbing.
• Letting a pet sleep against it.

Piercing aftercare

Piercings heal from the outside in, which is why one can look perfect at eight weeks and still be raw inside the channel. The single most useful rule is to leave it alone.

Twice a day, that is all

• Spray with sterile saline made for wound care, front and back. Nothing else.
• Let it sit for thirty seconds, then dab dry with clean gauze or a paper towel.
• That is the entire routine. Cleaning more often irritates the piercing rather than helping it.

Do not

• Twist, turn or slide the jewelry. That advice is decades out of date and it tears healing tissue.
• Touch it with unwashed hands, or let anyone else touch it.
• Use alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil, antibacterial ointments or coloured antiseptics. All of them damage new tissue.
• Change the jewelry before we say it is ready, however healed it looks.
• Submerge it in pools, hot tubs, lakes or the ocean while it is healing.
• Sleep directly on it. A travel pillow with your ear in the hole works better than anything sold for the purpose.

Everyday things worth knowing

• Shampoo, conditioner and hairspray all irritate a fresh cartilage piercing. Rinse it with clean water at the end of your shower.
• Headphones that press on a healing helix or flat will cause trouble. Switch to earbuds, or the other ear.
• Pulling clothing over your head catches jewelry. Go slowly, or unbutton it.
• Come back for your downsize at six to twelve weeks. A bar left long snags and angles the piercing, and it is the most common reason a good piercing goes wrong.

Healing in Arizona

Most aftercare advice online is written for milder places. A few things work differently here.

Sun

This is the big one. Direct sun on a healing tattoo will fade it permanently, and fine line work has the least ink to spare. Keep it covered with clothing rather than sunscreen while it is healing, since sunscreen should not go on broken skin. Once it is fully healed, SPF 30 or higher, every single time it is going to be out. A fine line tattoo that gets shaded for its first summer will look noticeably better in five years than one that did not.

Dry air

Low humidity dries a healing tattoo out faster than the two or three applications a day most guides suggest. If yours feels tight or looks papery, add another light application rather than a thicker one. For piercings, dryness means more crusting than you might expect. Soften it with saline rather than picking it off.

Pools and monsoon season

Chlorine and standing water are both problems for anything healing. Give it the full two to three weeks for tattoos, and the whole healing period for piercings, which for cartilage is genuinely months rather than weeks. If you get caught in a monsoon storm, rinse the area with clean water when you get home.

When to contact us

Any time. Genuinely. We would far rather answer a message about something that turns out to be nothing than have you wait three weeks with a problem that was easy to fix in week one.

Send a photograph in daylight if you can. There is never a charge for looking at work we did, whether that is a piercing that feels off, a bar that needs downsizing, or a line that has healed lighter than it should.

Call (480) 277-1909, message @aeinkstudios, or email artbyaeinkstudios@gmail.com.

This guide is general aftercare advice, not medical advice. If you think something is infected, or you feel unwell, please see a doctor.