Tattoo Aftercare: What You Need To Know

A tattoo is more than simply a piece of art and a way to assert your personal design. At any time you open the skin, you leave yourself vulnerable to scarring and infection. Caring for your tattoo can avoid those problems and guarantee that the tattoo heals properly. Both you and your tattoo artist play equal functions in this procedure. In addition to going to an expert and respectable tattoo artist, you require to take care of your new tattoo in the house. Determining how to take care of your tattoo can be challenging though. Aftercare starts as quickly as your tattoo is done. The artist needs to apply a plaster to cover the location and assist with healing. This covering prevents bacteria from entering into your skin and also safeguards the tattoo from rubbing onto your clothing and getting inflamed.  Keep the dressing on for as long as your tattoo artist recommends as it helps to soak up any fluid or excess ink that leaks from the tattoo.

After enough and advised time (24 hours) has actually passed, you can eliminate the 1st bandage. Wash your hands with water and soap, then gently clean the tattoo with warm water and natural (chemical-free) fragrance-free soap. Pat your skin dry with a paper towel or a clean and soft fabric. Then you ought to use the 2nd dressing on and use it for 4 days. .     While your tattoo heals, you should use sun-protective clothing whenever you go outdoors or try to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Do call your tattoo store if you experience any out-of-the-norm complications or other problems and they can give you advice on what steps to take next. You should prevent scratching or select at your tattoo no matter how bad the urge might be. Prevent wearing tight and limiting clothes over the part of the body that has been tattooed to enable it to breathe and heal faster.

Don’t go swimming or immerse your fresh tattoo in a body of water, specifically jacuzzis (showers are great).

As soon as your tattoo has actually recovered, you move into upkeep mode. Though you don’t have to particularly take care of it after 3 to 4 months, there are things you can do to avoid ink from degrading. Wash your skin daily with gentle and fragrance-free soap, beverage lots of water to keep your skin moisturized, wear sunscreen (that blocks UVA Rays) so the sun won’t fade your tattoo. Another thing is to avoid excess weight gain or loss as that could stretch out or misshape the tattoo. .     After getting a new tattoo, the external layer of skin will usually appear recovered within 2 to 3 weeks. However, the recovery process can take up of 6 months. Aftercare, which includes day-to-day cleaning, lotion, or moisturizer needs to continue for a minimum of that long to minimize the threat of infection or other complications.

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Estimates/Booking

Use the form below to describe your vision for the tattoo, or to request a consultation / booking. If looking for an estimate, please be descriptive and tell us about what you want to have tattooed. For bookings, review our Pricing & Payment page; we start with a free consultation; in order to begin your custom drawing a deposit is required.

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Asia

ABOUT ASIA

Asia, pronounced like Asha rather than like the continent, is the head artist and proud co-Owner of Toronto’s Painted People Tattoos Salon.

Asia has been tattooing for over 15 years. Her rich resume, apart from owning a tattoo studio, includes roles such as painter, volunteer, designer, music dabbler, and more. Finding her calling at the age of 16, she studied tattooing, first independently, and then as an apprentice to a number of celebrated artists before becoming one herself.

Tattooing is a passion for Asia. She loves creating livable, permanent art through that passion. When she’s not creating, Asia enjoys carrying for her pets, spending time with her family, watching movies, playing old video games, sucking at soccer (or football if we’re being all European) and unloading cat sounds with her husband Nick for general amusement of herself and others.

WATERCOLOR TATTOOS

As the name indicates, watercolor tattoos essentially represent using the human canvas and drawing on them with tattoo ink making them look like watercolors.

Watercolor tattoos require the same expertise and initial process that other tattoo techniques require (you may or may not do a stencil and mix shades of color), but where they really separate themselves from other tattoo techniques is the final outcome. A fresh watercolor tattoo can often appear as splashes of watercolor paint on your body.

Created with a lot more gradual coloring (unlike, for example, traditional tattooing where solid colors are merged together), the subtle gradients help create the characteristics and design of a classic watercolor painting. The other differentiating factor is outlining. Watercolor tattoos pride themselves on often not having a solid outline which is then colored in. The free flowing colors are meant to represent a painting – which they most definitely do.

Asia, while doing every style from black and grey, traditional, tribal, realism, neo-traditional, new school, etc, has really specialized in watercolor tattooing recently. Outside of loving the look and feel of them and genuinely enjoying creating unique watercolor designs, she is quickly becoming known Canada wide for her passion of watercolor tattoos.

One of the common misconceptions around watercolor tattoos is that they fade very quickly. Putting it simply, all tattoos fade overtime. In the hands of a professional tattoo artist (such as Asia), watercolor tattoos are safe from fading for years. How many years heavily depends on various factors such as maintenance of the tattoo / skin care along with placement of tattoo as not placing it on an area where there may be constant rubbing will make it last longer. Watercolor tattoos can fade just slightly quicker due to use of lighter colors, so if one of our tattoos does start to fade you can come back after a few years for a quick touch-up to get it looking vibrant again.

For tips on how to maintain your watercolor or any other tattoos, check out our healing instructions page here