Wet Healing a Tattoo
Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon on this one, but my second round of tattooing is healing a million times better than the first. I'm pretty sure this is completely due to a new healing process that I'm trying called Wet Healing.
Let me back track and talk about my first session, I was told to shower the night of the tattoo, then to keep it dry (no water), but moisturize with lotion 3 times daily until the scabs come off. At that point I could wash it, etc. It seemed simple enough, however the dark/heavy shading scabbed horribly. Everything else was fine. I got super thick scabs that cracked and ultimately resulted in me having to have the shading redone. I'm not sure if my skin just got too dry in between lotioning or maybe that we applied too much lotion during each application or what. But it was bad and very uncomfortable.
This session, however, my artist told me to try "wet healing" which requires a little more work, but it has been super, super nice. I couldn't seem to find a lot of information about it online. And since I've had such a good experience with it, I thought I'd share.
Day 1: The day you get your tattoo your artist will probably bandage it up to keep blood, ink, and ooze off of your clothes. Leave this on until just before bedtime. At this point shower and wash the tattoo with a soft, mild antibacterial soap (hand soap is usually good). After you shower, rebandange. And by "rebandage," I mean: apply Bacitracin ointment (or A and D, but bacitracin doesn't smell as bad) to the tattoo and rebandage with new material - Saran Wrap works fine. This helps seal in some of the moisture and also protects your bed from getting nasty. It also might be a good idea to put a piece of paper towel in the saran wrap as well - at least for the first bandage or 2. This will help soak up any blood/ooze. So every time I say rebandage from here on out, it means: ointment, saran wrap, and tape.
Day 2:
-Morning: Wash the tattoo in the shower again with soft soap and then rebandage.
-Midday: Remove the bandage and leave off for 1-2 hours. Your tattoo needs some fresh air. Then rebandage.
-Night: Rebandage again before bed. (this may seem redundant to remove the bandage and put a new one right back on, but you need some fresh ointment)
Day 3: Leave bandage off most of the day
-Morning: Wash the tattoo with soft soap, do not reapply the bandage. Leave the tattoo completely alone! Let it dry out. I started seeing some paper thin scabs at this point. Some of it was already peeling off.
-Night: Rebandage before bed.
Day 4:
-Morning: Wash the tattoo with soft soap, do not reapply the bandage. Leave the tattoo alone.
-Night: Rebandage if you feel it needs some moisture. I rebandaged mine, but it may not be completely necessary. This will be the last night of bandaging.
I am now on Day 5. I washed it normally this morning, and I'm letting it dry out for the day. As far as I know, moisturizer is not necessary from here on out.
So there it is. It's a lot of work - especially if your tattoo is in a place you cannot reach by yourself. But this method of healing has been so much more comfortable than the last. When dry healing the tattoo my skin was so stiff and sore. Wet healing, with ointment and bandaging has been really really nice. I recommend it... but as anyone else will tell you, you should follow the instructions of your tattoo artist. Also, once you've found something that works best for your skin - stick with that. Everyone heals a little differently.
Let me back track and talk about my first session, I was told to shower the night of the tattoo, then to keep it dry (no water), but moisturize with lotion 3 times daily until the scabs come off. At that point I could wash it, etc. It seemed simple enough, however the dark/heavy shading scabbed horribly. Everything else was fine. I got super thick scabs that cracked and ultimately resulted in me having to have the shading redone. I'm not sure if my skin just got too dry in between lotioning or maybe that we applied too much lotion during each application or what. But it was bad and very uncomfortable.
This session, however, my artist told me to try "wet healing" which requires a little more work, but it has been super, super nice. I couldn't seem to find a lot of information about it online. And since I've had such a good experience with it, I thought I'd share.
Day 1: The day you get your tattoo your artist will probably bandage it up to keep blood, ink, and ooze off of your clothes. Leave this on until just before bedtime. At this point shower and wash the tattoo with a soft, mild antibacterial soap (hand soap is usually good). After you shower, rebandange. And by "rebandage," I mean: apply Bacitracin ointment (or A and D, but bacitracin doesn't smell as bad) to the tattoo and rebandage with new material - Saran Wrap works fine. This helps seal in some of the moisture and also protects your bed from getting nasty. It also might be a good idea to put a piece of paper towel in the saran wrap as well - at least for the first bandage or 2. This will help soak up any blood/ooze. So every time I say rebandage from here on out, it means: ointment, saran wrap, and tape.
Day 2:
-Morning: Wash the tattoo in the shower again with soft soap and then rebandage.
-Midday: Remove the bandage and leave off for 1-2 hours. Your tattoo needs some fresh air. Then rebandage.
-Night: Rebandage again before bed. (this may seem redundant to remove the bandage and put a new one right back on, but you need some fresh ointment)
Day 3: Leave bandage off most of the day
-Morning: Wash the tattoo with soft soap, do not reapply the bandage. Leave the tattoo completely alone! Let it dry out. I started seeing some paper thin scabs at this point. Some of it was already peeling off.
-Night: Rebandage before bed.
Day 4:
-Morning: Wash the tattoo with soft soap, do not reapply the bandage. Leave the tattoo alone.
-Night: Rebandage if you feel it needs some moisture. I rebandaged mine, but it may not be completely necessary. This will be the last night of bandaging.
I am now on Day 5. I washed it normally this morning, and I'm letting it dry out for the day. As far as I know, moisturizer is not necessary from here on out.
So there it is. It's a lot of work - especially if your tattoo is in a place you cannot reach by yourself. But this method of healing has been so much more comfortable than the last. When dry healing the tattoo my skin was so stiff and sore. Wet healing, with ointment and bandaging has been really really nice. I recommend it... but as anyone else will tell you, you should follow the instructions of your tattoo artist. Also, once you've found something that works best for your skin - stick with that. Everyone heals a little differently.