Let’s talk about ink for a minute…
Tattoos are expensive and quite permanent. That is unless you want to pay for 5-10 laser tattoo removal sessions at around $150 per session, which many people have come to me to do.
If you want to keep your ink on your skin and have that tattoo smolder for years and years, you want it to heal properly. Unfortunately, what most people (including tattoo artists) don’t know is that the healing process can make or break a tattoo.
This doesn’t mean that a great artist can’t win you over by suggesting old-school aftercare products. Many have done it for decades and continue to do it successfully. It also doesn’t mean that a novice or sketchy artist can give you great aftercare when you overwork your skin, expecting a perfectly healed tattoo.
The big problem with 90% of all tattoos is that there is a phase called “hard healing”. This is where scabs, rashes, pimples, itchy white bumps, or intense flaking occur. Why did this happened? The scabbing could be the result of overworked skin, your immune system not being the best, or a few other reasons.
Most commonly, it is the “healing” aftercare products that are used, which contain lanolin, petroleum, mineral oil, sea salt, food grade coloring, or alcohol, all of which have dangerous and even fatal side effects. None of those ingredients is curative, when it comes to tattoos.
Let me give you the ingredients that can cause the above situations.
-
Lanolin – is derived from sheep’s wool. It is an allergen, contains pesticides, can cause rashes, oozing, or skin infections, and increases sensitivity to the sun. If taken internally, lanolin can cause diarrhea, intestinal problems, and vomiting.
-
Petroleum/Mineral Oil: A known carcinogen, used as a laxative, and a by-product of gasoline. These ingredients draw vitamins from the body and increase the risk of cancers of the scrotum, skin, gastrointestinal, rectal, bladder, and respiratory tract.
-
Food grade colorant: can be pigmented from animal, vegetable, INSECT and synthetic sources used to color products. Some dyes are derived from coal tar and are continually tested on animals for their cancer-causing properties.
-
Alcohol, sea salt: While it is true that it cleanses, it will dry out the tattoos and therefore damage them. These ingredients have the potential to heat up the skin and burn it as well. Have you ever heard the phrase “throw salt on an open wound”?
These are just some of the ingredients used during the typical tattooing process, as well as the healing process.
A tattoo is an open wound and must be treated accordingly.
Would you go to your mechanic to get your tattoo aftercare products? Some of the ingredients listed above are equivalent to pouring motor oil on your tattoo. The bottom line is that if you use inferior products, you will have inferior tattoos!
If a product causes vomiting, diarrhea, or cancer, why would you put it on the largest organ in your body? “Hard healing” can also lead to scarring and cause you to worry unnecessarily about what will remain permanently. Poor healing is a HUGE amount of wasted time for everyone involved.
You spend a lot of time choosing a clean store, a talented artist, and more time having your artists design a permanent piece of art on your body. Why would you drop the ball at the most crucial phase of the healing process when using an aftercare product?
Why would you use a “healing” ointment made with ANY dye (food grade or not), when it is recommended not to use scents or dyes in lotions after the 3rd day?
But, there is good news…
After spending all that time and thought deciding on your tattoo, you can spend LESS time worrying about the healing process. You can take control of a part of the process that has a big effect on how well the ink stays where it needs to stay…on your skin!
Would you trust a tattoo from an artist without tattoos? So you also wouldn’t want an aftercare product made by men in white coats, with no ink or tattoo knowledge, right? Old school “aftercare” products were not designed to heal tattoos. It’s that easy. Those old school products are running your ink and causing the problems listed above.
The solution is simple. When you’re looking for tattoo aftercare and researching the company, look for the following qualities:
-
The owner believes in the art of aftercare and considers what he does AS an art form (you can usually get an idea of this by looking at his website and reading the content). The use of tattoo models instead of actual research and content is an indication that the company cares more about marketing than healing its tattoo.
-
The aftercare is done by someone who knows the actual healing properties of the ingredients IN their product! Why are they using the ingredients they have chosen? Are you able to easily discern what is IN an aftercare product or do you have to search through the entire list of ingredients?
-
A company that cares about YOU and answers your questions about properly curing your ink. Do you have a FAQ page or testimonials?
-
Aftercare created by someone who has a knowledge of human anatomy and biology, especially when it comes to skin healing, skin conditions, and immune issues.
-
Aftercare done by someone trained to remove tattoos. Why would this matter? To properly REMOVE a tattoo, you need to know how it is placed INSIDE the skin.
-
Aftercare made with simple and limited ingredients, so it avoids basic and allergic reactions. Don’t buy products with ingredients you can’t pronounce or ingredients with more than 3 syllables. Ceresin? bisabolol? Microcrystalline wax? Paraffin? Cod liver oil (this ingredient explains why they use “fragrance”)? polymyxin B sulfate? Do you know what these ingredients are or do?
-
Aftercare made with organic ingredients to reduce allergies and promote healing; it should not cause disease in the future.
-
Affordable aftercare that is naturally hypoallergenic.
-
A product that increases the healing time of your work.
-
A product that is useful for all phases of healing and is multi-purpose.
If you demand a product that has the qualities listed above, it will heal absolutely better and faster. Don’t be cheap because the product your artist recommends costs $1-2 more than a cheap alternative at your local drugstore. You get what you pay for… clogged pores are bad for tattoos and will cost you more time and money than you spent on aftercare.
Your tattoo will last you the rest of your life, especially if you take good care of it. You just paid a good deal of money for the permanent ink; there is no need to be stingy with the healing process.
