CollectorWithEczema

Lots of anecdotal advice in here, so I will throw some in. Your healing process is as important as it is subjective. Heavily saturated tattoos, and ones in sensitive areas absolutely require more intensive aftercare. I have really bad skin, and around 30 or so tattoos now. It’s all very very bold stuff except for my hand. I have a couple pieces by Julian Bast and a lot of stuff from Rempe for context. It took a long time and probably 15 tattoos before I figured out how to get them to agree with my skin. Living a healthier lifestyle certainly hasn’t hurt. I’m an extreme outlier, but I think the stuff I’ve learned may help others. I use saniderm when it’s available, but at least some kind of covering, like cling wrap, changing maybe 3 times daily until my tattoos stop throwing plasma off. Then I wash it a few times a day and leave it the hell alone until it’s itchy. Depending on scabbing, different moisturizers come into play. Most of the time I don’t put anything on it until it’s 75% or so healed. I dry healed my hand after the saniderm stage, and it’s about as perfect as you could hope. If I don’t go through this ritual, half of my tattoo will fall out. My brother and I both got tattooed on the same day, same tattooer about two years ago. (Very talented guy, he actually did my previously mentioned hand.) I wrapped mine for three days and my brother’s didn’t make the 2 hour ride. My larger tattoo healed in a week, his took 3 or so. He started wrapping afterwards with much better results. I think you you should listen to your artist, don’t get me wrong, but first and foremost, listen to your body. Most of the guys or gals I get tattooed by nowadays just look at me and tell me to keep doing whatever it is I’m doing. I used to be someone who could make the best tattoo heal like a scratcher put it there.