MarvelAvengers

I keep the artist applied saran wrap on for the first 4 hours,then wash & apply new saran wrap & cocoa butter,then wash and one more clean saran wrap to sleep that night,then start with

washing with this soap every 4 hours for the next day in a warm shower scrubbing with the palm of my hand,

after each wash I apply a very light coat of the cocoa butter,

starting the next day, shower normal once a day and keep a very light coat of the cocoa butter on 24/7 for the first 4 or 5 days,

once it starts peeling & itching after the first 4 or 5 days I start using the fragrance free Lubriderm.

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Palmers is good post heal, but I stay away from it for the first week because it has petroleum in it.

Glad I live in Murica, and not in New York :p

This is my first time doing the dry heal. I did a warm shower the next morning with a very light coat of redemption. Patted it dry and didn't put anything on it or even shower until next morning. No oozed at all. Day 3 started the lubriderm once patted almost dry in the morning and before bed. No scabbing or oozing and I am almost completely peeled on day eight. I noticed the more showers in the first 2 days, regardless how quick would create a little seeping afterwards.

Professionally speaking, no. If you are interested in having scar reduction please contact a derm or plastic surgeon about having a fraxel laser (fractional laser) treatment done. Have I seen a Q-Switch Nd:YAG laser reduce raised areas that were scarred during the tattooing process? Yes, but I will always do my best to explain that the scar tissue can also encapsulate tattoo pigment making the laser I use ineffective on tattoo removal in that specific area.

Thank you, as I have a "USMC" tattoo that I feel is not a good candidate for removal for coverup due to the scarring is significant enough that a blind man could read it with his fingers

From someone who does laser, my advice for cover-up tattoos is almost always start with laser. With something as dark, heavy and scarred as that it will show through the new piece. Maybe not at first, but a year or two down the road it will, and the scarring will still be felt to finger tips and also visually seen through the new tattoo.

In my experience, a good number of people who come to with similar scarring see a significant reduction from the laser tattoo removal process, so it's more than likely worth a shot.

The other thing to keep in mind here is that the dermis has only so much room. In addition to the pigment that was put in here, it's competing for space with scar tissue. Adding more pigment could result into a less than favorable final product a few years down the road.

Mike, are you saying that laser removal can reduce scarring?

Get a few laser sessions and lighten it up first, opens up so many more

also at the risk of additional scaring. Neither cover up or removal are without some sacrifice.

For me, the top of the shoulders was the least painful, but also bruised the most.

Did you not look at the drawing or stencil before the tattoo? Placement and size are more the responsibility of the the person getting the tattoo. I'm not saying to to beat anyone up, but if you are planning on getting more tattoos, it is vital that you communicate with your artist.

I feel fortunate that my artist is a bigger comic nerd than myself. Each time, I hadn't found out what tattoo we were going to get until I showed up. I think with any artist that has been in the industry for a bit likes to do thing new and exciting. Playing to their strength and personal preference is typically a win win

I did a write up about my coverup and what I learned during the process.

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-removal-coverup/6413-my-coverup-what-i-learned.html

I went in last night to fill in the last building on spidey, and the small empty gap on top of my shoulder was getting to him so we decided to put Wasp, Antman's wife, in the gap.

Sorry for the redness.

Very cool. That's a new angle to see it all from, and the composition of it all looks pretty sweet. Who's the next hero?

And it would be pretty badass if you do a villain sleeve on the other arm.

Not sure if I want to go villain or new heros on my right side. Thinking groot and rocket would be cool

@MarvelAvengers Man, I love the 'straight outta the comic book look' that has. Nailed that Spidey. The soft background is really killer, too

thanks. I really gotta give tons of credit to my artist, Clint Cummings, as for the most part it has been his vision from the get go. This all started as a cover up and now I can't stop. He's done a nice job tying everything together and part of the excitement is showing up and having no clue what's going to go down. I went in last night to fill in the last building on spidey, and the small empty gap on top of my shoulder was getting to him so we decided to put Wasp, Antman's wife, in the gap.

Sorry for the redness.

Finishing the last part of this

Sarah Miller https://instagram.com/sarahmillertattoo/ out of Pittsburgh

Expect that the cover up will be at least twice the size of the original tattoo, so that the old tattoo can be placed in part of the design of the new tattoo. Putting the clocks adjacent to the old tattoo will help draw attention away from the actual coverup. The Captain America tattoo in my gallery was a coverup.

More work on my Marvel theme to start tying the tattoos in together. Still have some more work to do. The pick was taken the morning after, so obvious some swelling, bruising, and seeping. Getting chest tattoos sucks.

Is the cover-up healed in this photo or fresh?

Just out of curiosity.

The yellow lines and shield were fresh. The rest was about 3 weeks old.

Love the cover up. I have a tat that I would like to cover up. It is a Dracula portrait on my right upper arm. I am a TX resident that lives only 2.5 hrs from Dallas/ft worth area. Wondering if your guy does many tribal tats. Not talking about generic tribal bands, but serious tribal stuff.

I don't think he does tribal.

haha. that's a pretty nice rule. How do you know how would i tlook in 10 years though?

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knowing that some fading and line widening is to expected, if it's boarderline when you get it from 10 feet away then it it's going to go downhill from there.

I see tattoos all of the time now that I can't tell what the hell they are

I use the 10/10 rule. If you probably not going to be able to tell what it is in 10 years from 10 feet away, then it's too small

Whether you get a traditional tattoo or a new age tattoo, as a collector, you should still leave the decision of how to shade something up the artist. I can't begin to tell you what the old school approach to shading is versus new school. That shouldn't even matter. Your point about our opinions on what makes a good tattoo; yes, good shading makes a good tattoo. But how that shading is completed could be any number of ten different ways.

I'm not implying that it shouldn't be up to the artist. I'm simply discussion trying to expand the conversation that has been talked about extensively from the long-timers on here about traditional holding up better because of the amount of black used. I am simply discussion this approach with new school tattoos.

It obviously is not leaning that way and people are interoperating that based on something not intended. Can I delete this thread?

Good luck I could sit 6-7 hours for arms and back without blinking an eye. As soon as I started my chest, every bit of it sucked.

Well, most collectors don't hang around tattoo forums or even have good tattoos for that matter. I honestly see more bad tattoos than I see good ones. The people on here clearly have opinions on what makes a good tattoo or there wouldn't be a humongous thread about it. That being said, there is a heavy bias with preference leaning toward traditional styles on this forum. I personally am the type that cares about how my tattoo will hold up long term. I don't expose them to the sun and take good care of them. Most photos I see of tattoos are posted right after they were done and hardly look the same not too long after healing. While I am not a fan of American Traditional for me, I respect some of the principles behind longevity of the tattoos. I guess you can say that there are different design approaches in non-traditional new school tattoos that may use old school approaches. Does that make sense?

I see the general topic of more black the better in tattoo design and longevity and now that I am getting more tattoos and paying more attention to other tattoos and even watching some shows, I see many approaches to shading/coloring. I see a lot of color tattoos were a large palette is used to get a shade of color. For example using a base red with various levels of black shading to get a desired shade of red vs. using different shaded of red ink. I am curious as to opinions or differences from a collector standpoint?