Aftercare
We can put a good piece of work on you, but how it looks in ten years is down to the next few weeks. Here is exactly what to do.
Healing a tattoo
Listen to your artist first
You will get advice from family, friends and the internet, and a lot of it will contradict itself. Your artist knows the piece, where it sits and how your skin took it, so their instruction sheet is the one that matters.
The first wash
Take the bandage off at home and wash the tattoo straight away with slightly warm water and a mild, fragrance-free soap for sensitive skin. Take your time and lift off the excess ink and fluid.
Never use a flannel or a sponge. Pat it dry with a paper towel or a clean towel, let it air dry, then apply your aftercare. Skipping that last step is what causes scabbing.
Give it four to six weeks
Most tattoos take four to six weeks to heal fully, and parts of the same piece will heal at different speeds — even on something as small as a wrist. Bring it in and we will tell you when it is done.
Keep it out of the sun
Do not put a new tattoo in direct sunlight, and never while it is covered in healing oil or cream. All oils are phototoxic, meaning they make skin far more sensitive to light and easy to burn. Sun on a healing tattoo will ruin it.
Our aftercare cream and oils
Blended for us by a qualified aromatherapist, for tattoo healing specifically.
The blends are 100% pure and chosen to regenerate and restore skin cells rather than just sit on top of them. Ask for a takeaway aftercare card if your artist has not already given you one.
Contains a possible trace of nut: the oil is blended in a sweet almond base.
Healing a piercing
Leave with your instruction leaflet, and take the spray with you.
Prontolind® spray, £5
After years of trying the alternatives, this is what we recommend and stock. Its ingredients have been used in clinical practice millions of times over, are safe for dermatological use, and show no cytotoxic, inflammatory, irritating or sensitising effects, so it is fine over long periods.
It is a ready-to-use water-based solution that cleans and moistens fresh and problem piercings without pain, and reaches skin, mucous membranes and jewellery you cannot get to by hand. It protects against multi-resistant pathogens including MRSA, and is well tolerated by diabetics and by people with allergies.
How to use it
Apply three to five times a day while the piercing heals. Hold it close and use several puffs so the piercing or dermal anchor is properly wet.
Leave it a minute to work, then lift off any overspray with gauze or a lint-free cotton bud. Leave the jewellery in — the spray will find its way through the hole on its own.
Keep following whatever your piercer told you, and bring any new jewellery in so we can check it before it goes in.
Something not healing right?
Do not wait it out or ask the internet. Ring the studio and come in — it is almost always a quick fix if we see it early.
Call 07925 225122