Aftercare

1. 1

   Leave the Second Skin on for 24 hours only, then gently remove it under lukewarm water.

2. 2

   Once it is off, wash your fresh tattoo with clean hands and unscented soap. For the first 3 days I really suggest washing it once in the morning and once before bed or in the shower.

3. 3

   Pat it dry gently with a paper towel rather than your bath towel, which may not be the cleanest.

4. 4

   Everything you use has to be unscented, lotion included. I suggest dry healing until the tattoo starts to crack, then lotion it. Less is more.

1. 1

   Keep the saran wrap on for 1 hour minimum and 4 hours maximum. I really suggest leaving it on for the full time.

2. 2

   Clean your tattoo the same way as with Second Skin, but keep washing until you cannot feel any ointment left on it.

3. 3

   Please do not re-wrap your tattoo.

Healing follows a fairly predictable path. Knowing what’s coming saves a lot of unnecessary panic around day four.

Days 1–3Sore and weeping

Expect redness, some swelling, and a bit of plasma and ink coming through. It will look angrier than you expect. This is the part that worries people most and is almost always the least worrying — it is exactly what fresh work does.

Days 4–7Peeling and itching

The surface starts flaking, like sunburn, and it will itch. Do not pick it and do not scratch it — you will pull ink out with the flake and leave a patch that needs redoing. If it is driving you mad, a little unscented lotion helps more than scratching does.

Weeks 2–3Looks healed, isn't

The surface has closed and it may look dull, cloudy or a bit milky. That is normal and it passes. The skin underneath is still repairing, so keep treating it gently even though it looks fine.

Weeks 4–6Settled

The deeper layers finish and the piece comes back to its proper contrast. This is when I can tell whether anything needs a touch-up — which is free for up to 6 months.

For the first two to three weeks.

• Soaking it — baths, pools, hot tubs, the ocean, lakes. A normal shower is fine.
• Heavy sweating. Give the gym a few days, longer if the piece is somewhere that rubs.
• Picking, scratching or peeling the flakes off. This is the one that actually costs you ink.
• Over-moisturising. A thick layer suffocates it — thin, and only when it feels tight.
• Direct sun. Once it is fully healed, sunscreen on it forever; faded work is nearly always sun damage.
• Tight clothing rubbing over it, and anything with dye that might run.

Infections are rare with clean aftercare, but they are a medical matter rather than a tattooing one. See a doctor or walk-in clinic if you notice any of these — and let me know too, so I can help you sort the piece out afterwards.

• Redness spreading outwards beyond the tattoo
• Swelling or heat that gets worse after day three rather than better
• Thick or foul-smelling discharge
• A fever, or feeling unwell in yourself
• A rash or blistering across the area