Aftercare

 
 

1. Remove the bandage/wrapping after 1 to 2 hours. (Ideally you should go straight home after your tattoo). The bandage is just to protect your tattoo for your trip home. 

2. With clean hands, wash your tattoo using a couple squirts of ‘Liquid Gold concentrate’ soap and warm water, after first removing the bandage. Showering is absolutely fine, just use the ‘Liquid Gold’ soap on the tattoo instead of your normal body wash. If it’s a large tattoo we recommend you wash it twice a day, once in the morning and one more time before going to sleep.

3. Pat it dry with a clean towel (preferably a paper towel), and allow it to air dry for 1 to 3 hours. 

4. Apply a thin layer of ‘Revive’ aftercare cream as needed to keep the tattoo moist. Minimum 3 to 4 times a day. Remember, a little goes a long way. Better to put it on more often than to put on a thick layer. The tattoo still needs to breathe. Alternatively, you may use bepanthen for the first 3 days and then switch to ‘Revive’. Bepanthen is just to prevent any infection from happening, it does not have any skin healing and moisturising properties therefore we suggest using ‘Revive’ as that promotes skin healing.

5. After the first few days of washing it twice a day, wash your tattoo daily and continue to apply a thin layer of ‘Revive’ after care cream as needed to keep the tattoo moist. Do this for 2 weeks.

6. While your tattoo is healing, DO NOT pick at it, DO NOT scratch it, DO NOT let anyone else touch it! Avoid direct sunlight, saunas, baths and swimming.  DO NOT soak your tattoo. 

7. Continue moisturising your tattoo after every shower as this will help keep your tattoo looking fresh for longer. We suggest using something organic and natural to feed your skin.

Essentially: KEEP IT CLEAN, KEEP IT CREAMED!
Remember it is an open wound therefore anything it touches needs to be clean. Avoid contact with animals and do not wrap it again. If you are worried about contact with anything then you can cover it with clean loose clothing. 

We recommend ‘Liquid Gold’ soap solution to wash with and ‘Revive’ cream to apply as your aftercare for your new tattoo. They can be purchased in store.

DO NOT share your aftercare cream with anyone and DO NOT use anyone else’s unless it hasn’t been opened. Better safe than sorry. 

If skin comes off while you’re washing it or putting the cream on that’s totally normal, there is no need to worry. If you think it looks dry or feels tight then just apply some more cream.
If it itches, do not scratch it but either apply some cream or slap it.

When it’s healed you can continue to moisturise your tattoo using coconut oil or your preferred moisturiser. The longer you keep your tattoo moisturised the fresher it’ll look for longer.
Any time you go out in the sun (once it’s healed of course) we recommend you protect it with sun screen which has zinc in it as that is the most effective protection against UV rays. We suggest you give it a good month before putting it in the sun. 

In case you think your tattoo may have become infected: 

First thing to do is let us know whats going on. If you need to contact us during our opening ours, you can call or text the shop. If it’s after hours you can either email, send a message on our instagram or Facebook page. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
If it has become infected what you’ll notice is after 2 days your tattoo is still red, is as painful as the day you got it, and is very oozy. In this case wash your tattoo with the Liquid Gold, pat it dry with a freshly cleaned towel, apply a thin layer of Bepanthen antiseptic cream and wrap it with cling wrap. If you are starting this process before bed then once you wake up take the wrap off, clean it, apply another layer of bepanthen and wrap it again. Change it 3 times a day: morning, afternoon and before bed. Repeat this for 2 days. On the 3rd day, depending on how its improved, there shouldn’t be a need to wrap the tattoo anymore, just keep applying the bepanthen antiseptic cream around 4 times a day. wash daily and continue to apply the cream until the tattoo is healed.
If you notice that it’s been fine for a few days and on for example, the 4th day one area has started oozing and become sore, then follow the above steps on the affected area.
For both scenarios, when applying the cream make sure your hands are clean but most importantly once you’ve applied it and notice you need more cream, wash your hands again. Don’t ‘double dip’. You do not want to be spreading bacteria from the tattoo to the opening of the container. Instead you can use a cotton swab or if you have one, a tongue depressor.
Before starting the process however, please contact us to let us know what’s happening in case we advise for a different approach. We may suggest booking in with your GP to get antibiotics depending on what it looks like. If you feel the need to seek medical attention, please do so.

Rashes, pimples and red spots:

If you notice that you have started to get a rash or little red spots have appeared on and around your tattoo usually it can be one of two things; 

  1. You could be allergic to the aftercare cream you are using, or your skin doesn't like it and so you need to switch. Here are some options: If you are using the ‘Revive’ aftercare cream switch to Bepanthen for 1 week, then use coconut oil. If you started out using a different type of after care, switch to either ‘Revive’, dr.pickle, Savlon, or Bepanthen antiseptic. If using one of the last two, use them for the first week, then switch to coconut oil.

  2. They may just be lots of little random ingrown hairs as the area was shaved prior to the tattoo. Do not pick at them, just let your skin do it’s thing as you keep up with the aftercare procedure.

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Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or are worried about anything at all. We do our best to let you know everything there is to know about healing your tattoo so that it looks as fresh as possible for as long as possible.

After 3 weeks we would love it if you could send us a photo of your healed tattoo.
If you feel like it needs a touch up, you can email us with a photo of the area that needs touching up and we will book in for it free of charge if you’ve followed our aftercare instructions. However if you have scratched your tattoo badly, or had picked scabs off, then we may charge you for the touch up.