Tips for Taking Care of a Colour Tattoo

Your skin needs as long as 45 days to recover from the damage of a colored tattoo, but it heals considerably within approximately one week and appears healed in approximately two weeks.

Once the artist finishes emblazoning your new colored tattoo on your skin, the responsibility falls to you regarding aftercare. Your fresh tattoo will go through a healing stage that requires you to keep it clean and medicated so it won’t become infected.

Remove the bandage covering your colored tattoo within two hours of leaving the tattoo shop. If you leave it any longer, it may stick to your skin.

Wash your hands with soap and water to clean them. Wash the colored tattoo with lukewarm water and mild soap applied to your clean hands. Rinse the tattoo with lukewarm water.

Pat the tattoo gently with a clean soft towel to dry. Spread a thin layer of antibiotic ointment over the colored tattoo. If you apply too much — it looks shiny and greasy — wipe some off with a clean paper towel. Do not re-bandage; the tattoo needs to breathe.

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 for approximately three to five days, two to three times per day. After three to five days, switch from antibiotic ointment to a fragrance-free, color-free moisturizing lotion. Keep cleansing and moisturizing for 10 days to two weeks.

See a health care provider if you experience extreme redness, swelling drainage or pain at the tattoo site.

Even with perfect care, your tattoo will slowly fade and lose ink over time. This is because there is no way to stop the things that happen to your skin as you age. There are, however, ways to slow ink loss.

Ink left on the surface of your skin will transfer to the bandages of a fresh tattoo but will not impact the tattoo’s color. Too much healing ointment, however, will draw some of the ink out of your skin. Antibacterial ointment is an important part of the healing process, but don’t use more than your tattooist instructed you to use.

Scabs pulled prematurely from your tattoo may take some ink with them, so avoid picking at them and let them fall off on their own. Cover the tattoo if need be to prevent clothing or bed sheets from disturbing scabs prematurely.

Although you paid a lot to have it put there, ink is a foreign substance and your body’s natural response is to try and remove it. The pigment breaks down over time and the immune system then carries it away through the lymph nodes.

Your body won’t be able to remove all the ink, but it will get some. The natural process of renewing and sloughing off dead skin cells will also remove some of your ink as you age. The sun’s ultraviolet light speeds this process, so cover your tattoos with SPF 45 or higher sunblock.