In this thread, we commiserate about healing our fresh tattoos.

[purplelace]

@xcom are you fucking crazy? :p see I'm vaguely sensible and got my lower right leg complete in 4 sessions (one tattoo was 2 sessions, cause he had to stop, 'cause next apt for him had arrived).

[xcom]

@xcom are you fucking crazy? :p see I'm vaguely sensible and got my lower right leg complete in 4 sessions (one tattoo was 2 sessions, cause he had to stop, 'cause next apt for him had arrived).

@purpleplace, ROFL!!!! HAHAHA. 3 pages back @rufio preatty much implied something similar. I did it because I wanted to be "almost" ready for the Alamo City Convention, And I am looking about another 6 to 8hrs at the convention and we are submitting for different categories... Right now I am about 30Hrs or so on the leg alone. I still have the foot and knee to get blasted.

At any rate, It was a learning experience. I am hoping that by the 12th I am fully healed and ready for the convention.

[purplelace]

@xcom, your body dude! You're the one that has to cope with the aftermath of it :p

[marley mission]

i think 4hours is optimal for a session length - you're at the point where you leave still wanting more - 9 must be brutal - no matter where the placement - i would be tired of being tattooed long before that

my longest was 6 on the ribs no breaks and it pretty much sucked haha

[xcom]

i think 4hours is optimal for a session length - you're at the point where you leave still wanting more - 9 must be brutal - no matter where the placement - i would be tired of being tattooed long before that

my longest was 6 on the ribs no breaks and it pretty much sucked haha

+1 this. 4 to 6 (depends on type of work and placement) it's my max.

[bongsau]

My back is feeling pretty raw oooof. I've used a light hit of A&D 3 times in the last week. Dry heal FTW !

My backpiece is near completion, which is a rewarding feeling as I could use some relief from constantly healing tattoo.

Starting to feel like a reptile !

[MarvelAvengers]

I'm day 3 into my dry heal experiment. I've notice alot less leaking with the dry heal. I will start lotion tonight as it's going to start peeling tonight. I think I'm done using ointment the first few days.

[purplelace]

My tattooed leg hurts like a fucking bastard! Calf def worse than rest of leg for after tattoo pain. Longest session for me to date has been 6hrs.

Aside from a little light (from what can see) yellow coloured bruising, it seems to be on track. Redness and swelling long gone. Bepanthen is my best friend at the moment. Won't start to itch until the second week.

[marley mission]

said it before but i'm saying it again

i'm more and more a less is more type guy

this last session on my back i did aquaphor 1x day for 3 days

then nothing after that and its healing great

seems lowers are def harder to heal than uppers - at least for me

curious about lower arm healing - which is coming up in august...bueller...

[purplelace]

tattoo update, aside from leg still hurting (thank fuck only got 2 calves), can feel scabs starting to form, looks fucking amazing! I am going to sleep on my front/left side. But sometimes wake up on back or on right side and fuck that hurts! No bother getting out of bed and walking straight away. Compared to front of leg/shin which hurt like a fucking bastard. Calf, none of this, though still only glad have only got two! One down, one to go.

[MarvelAvengers]

Day 8.5 and 90 percent peeled. Much less ink loss this time around with the dry heal. My conclusion though is that the reason for so many healing methods is because for the most part they all work and long as you don't do something stupid.

[sighthound]

Just got a mosquito bite right on a solid black area of a peeling, already itchy calf piece :mad:

[ApprenticeLife]

Anyone do the hot pack healing method? My teacher tattooed my leg for 4 hours or so. All foundational shading from foot to mid-thigh. The tattoo itself was honestly one of the easiest I've gone through. I think my teacher wanted to see me squirm, so he asked if he could hot pack my leg. He got some paper towels wet with super hot water. Once it was just barely not hot enough to burn me, he put it on my leg. There obviously weren't enough paper towels to cover the whole tattoo, but the areas that it did get (front of leg/shin area) healed super well. Barely any scabbing or even itching. My knee, thigh, ankle, foot got the light papery, flakiness, but I think the hot pack worked great. Definitely made me jump out of the chair though! It was intense. Haha

[Isotope]

Commiseration:

When the scabs start to fall off if you're a "let your skin do the work" healer. I always panic any time I feel a scab that is mostly off catch on a shirt and get removed by that last little millimeter by which it is hanging on. I should stop worrying about it, because I have yet to lose any color or need a touchup healing this way, but I always can't suppress the "oh crap" feeling...

[xcom]

So I am almost healed on my latest session. I took about three weeks to heal....

I have a few spots that are still peeling and itching a bit...

I have to say that this has been the most intense itching I have had on all my healing's.

I also will need a small spot of retouching... Took a small scab out during one of cleaning session. :/ errrrr

[Synesthesia]

tattoo update, aside from leg still hurting (thank fuck only got 2 calves), can feel scabs starting to form, looks fucking amazing! I am going to sleep on my front/left side. But sometimes wake up on back or on right side and fuck that hurts! No bother getting out of bed and walking straight away. Compared to front of leg/shin which hurt like a fucking bastard. Calf, none of this, though still only glad have only got two! One down, one to go.

I too am thanking fuck I only have two calves, not looking forward to getting the other one done. Nothing can prepare you for that first morning waking up with a calf tattoo. Took me like 10 minutes (and assistance from the boyfriend) to get out of bed the first couple days.

I'm on day 3 with my newest addition, it's between my upper arm tattoo and my elbow, so I expected it to be about the same as my upper arm tattoo (which was super easy). Pain was pretty minimal. Healing has been a whole 'nother story. My arm has been sore every day, swollen like crazy, and I started feeling really fatigued and almost feverish yesterday. Not what I expected at all. On the plus side, things are moving along briskly. This morning I finally was not swollen/sore and was starting to scab, and by this evening I started peeling and flaking.

[sophistre]

The itching may finally be ending. Oh my god, 7 tattoos is too many to heal at once, even if 6 of them are pretty small. x.x

Question though, for anybody who might know: once my tattoo is in the post-flakey 'dry/shiny/healing' phase, can I put coconut oil on it safely..? The lotions I use are not doin' the job, but I don't wanna inadvertently introduce something problematic.

[Synesthesia]

Two days since my last post and about 75% of the scabs/major flakes are gone, just a couple left closer to my elbow. I think I'm going to have a second peel, which is pretty unusual for me. I am ready for this thing to get pretty again!!

[iowagirl]

this last part on my upper back of shoulder was waaaay more itchy than the last work around my arm. Couple times it was the intense "bugs under the skin" like when you have a bad sunburn that is healing. I wore tank tops to work the last couple days of the school year, and the weather was finally nice so we spent most of the days outside-and every slight little breeze would wiggle the skin that peels up so I was constantly whipping my head around thinking a bug had landed on me.

It was more bumpy/scabby this time too, which I thought was strange. Hopefully it'll be ok-I go back again in a couple weeks for more work on it.

[Tornado6]

Question though, for anybody who might know: once my tattoo is in the post-flakey 'dry/shiny/healing' phase, can I put coconut oil on it safely..? The lotions I use are not doin' the job, but I don't wanna inadvertently introduce something problematic.

I've used coconut oil on mine. I figure it has less stuff in it than most of my lotions.

[Nina Worthe]

I've just hit scabby/just before serious peeling on my forearm. Not that there are any serious scabs, just a few really tiny ones in some spots. It's all dull looking now.

It's starting to itch. I'm keeping my hands busy, but I catch myself rubbing against anything with any kind of texture. Slightly starchy bed sheets have never felt this delightful... oh, crap, stop scratching!

Lotion, lotion, lotion. Or is it ointment? Bepanthen.

It's gonna get worse, though, I've been told, before it gets better.

How do you guys avoid sleep scratching?

[xcom]

Day 2 of my foot been blasted and it just hurts.

Using saniderm so I can wear shoes, but it all hurts.

[Greg Greg]

I forgot how shitty leg tattoos heal. It's been three days and it still feels like garbage.

Agreed. Just got my first leg tattoo yesterday right above my right knee. Feels like I got the a bad deadleg or a bunch of shots. The artists insisted on a re-wrap, never healed this way, I have always unwrapped an hour after and left open. So far it feels like a bad bruise not a cut.

[Synesthesia]

It's been 10 days since my newest tattoo and goddamn will it ever finish healing? I have one tiny little scab still holding on for dear life, and I'm still all peel-y looking mostly all over it. There's only a couple tiny spots that are 100% done. This has been way more intense than I thought it would be. At least it was only itchy for like a day, now it's just annoying that it's soooo close to being done but it's been such a drawn out process.

[CABS]

Forgot to get a photo right after the tattoo. But it is definitely in the healing phase. Ran out of Tegaderm too, waahhhhhhhhh. Back to Aquaphor for this one.

Gap filler little demon head (with a badass mullet) by Jason Phillips, FTW Oakland CA. He had two cancellations that day, and I just happened to pop in randomly. Right place right time.