Proper care of new tattoos is an important part of tattoo care and makes the difference between a great tattoo experience and a horrible one. When adequate care is not taken, there comes the risk of infection and a tattoo that was so beautifully designed and carefully laid out suddenly turns ugly. Tattoo care generally takes many shapes and depends a lot on the instructions from the tattoo artist. They would typically involve protection from the sun and lack of immersion for some days until the tattoo is completely healed.

Keeping the Area Clean

When you get your new tattoo, you usually come from the tattoo parlor with a bandage on the tattoo area. It is important to let the bandage remain in place for a couple of hours in order to reduce the risk of infection. This is because tattoos require the surface of the skin to be broken creating a wound on the skin. That wound needs to heal. The only exception to this is if the tattoo artist made use of a plastic wrap instead of a bandage, in which case, you would need to get rid of the wrap as soon as you can.

Part of keeping the tattoo area clean means that you would need to wash it with a mild antibacterial soap after the bandage is removed. This should be done with lukewarm water and you would need to use your hand to gently rub on the tattoo then pat dry with a clean towel.

Keep Area Moisturized

There are special creams and lotions that are used for new tattoo care; this can be rubbed regularly on the tattoo. You do not necessarily have to use special tattoo lotions as any mild antibacterial lotion would do as well. Try as much as possible not to let the tattoo get dry by keeping it constantly moisturized. However, do not over moisturize. You need to be able to strike a healthy balance so that your new tattoo is neither dry nor greasy.

Protect from the Sun

If you want to enjoy the beauty of your new tattoo for a very long time, you need to make sure you protect it from the sun at all times, even after the tattoo is healed. Make use of sunscreen with a healthy dose of sunblock, where you are not able to completely protect your tattoo from the harmful UV rays of the sun. This will ensure that your tattoo lasts for many years and that its colors do not fade in a hurry.

Do Not Pick at the Scabs

This is very common especially among those who are getting tattoos for the first time. Although not all tattoos experience scabbing, where there is scabbing on new tattoos is should be seen as normal and left alone. They should naturally disappear within a few days. It is very tempting to want to peel and poke at the scabs, but don’t. Just leave them alone.

Taking care of new tattoos just requires a little dedication and attention to detail, after which you would get a really great tattoo that you can enjoy for many years.