soderpopzzz

I really like it. I like the simple minimalist feel to it especially with the black outline but with a dash of color. It feels right. And it’s charming, reminds me of the artwork you’d find an old books.

6 hours ago, Hogrider said:

It's really just semantics. What is it that you want to do? I'm usual pretty careful for a week, then cocoa butter and it's on its own.

I wouldn't go into a gym with it uncovered, but I'd go into a gym if I covered it up 4 days out.

I mostly just want to run and also be around my dog and not have to worry lol. Those things are probably ok now right?

and also for running, since it’s too new for sunscreen and on an exposed part below my running shorts, is there anyway I can protect it from the sun or should I just treadmill indoors for now?

like how much of sun exposure on a new tattoo is bad? Is it only if facing the sun directly for a long time to the point of where skin would get sunburn? Or is it also if it’s exposed to the sun for a min or so, gets some shade, is in the sun again but without the sun hitting it directly, gets some shade again etc. (basically just normal sun movement while running outside with a lot of trees/or even just walking from my car to a store etc)?

I’m not sure if that last question made sense but I hope you get what I mean. Thanks btw. 

So I got a new thigh tattoo last Friday. The next day I applied tegaderm and left it on until today (weds), so 4 days total. At this point, is it still an open wound? 

I have tattoos that are 10 plus years apart and while you can tell, they don’t look *that* much faded than my newer ones or out of place with them. How much has yours faded? Mine are black and grey tho and I’m really pale so maybe that adds to it 

do you not like because of what others might think? or something else? every tattoo will look sideways or upside down when your arm is up or bent

$400 seems like a LOT for an idea this simple and small. it's usually by the hour i thought, like $150/hr seems to be around the standard. 

I usually bring my ideas to my artist and since he knows better about placement regarding muscular shapes and whatnot, he’ll tell me whether something will work or not in that area. As someone who likes tattoos but isn’t a tattoo artist, I always forget that the shape of the muscle and the way it moves needs to be considered. For the most part, my ideas have been able to work on where I wanted them but maybe a slight alteration in placement and/or design that still ends up working for both per my artist’s expertise 

Btw, so since I’ve never had a tattoo heal with this much heavy scabbing and scarring (other than the typical slightly raised outlined scars), are there any issues long term with tattoos that healed with more scarring than usual?

like I know you’re supposed to keep the scar out of the sun for like the first year or so, but since this is on my arm, if it gets too much sunlight will the scarring grow bigger or feel harder or get darker or any other issue? Or will it remain the same or get flatter or lighter etc? Anyone have any advice or input at all regarding scarring in tattoos in general? 

13 hours ago, Hands On said:

phew!

(nice fly tattoo, btw)

Hey thanks! Anytime I swat at an actual fly, my fly tattoo looks at me and makes me feel like a real asshole lol 

2 hours ago, Hogrider said:

It’s not done healing. 4-6 weeks for normal tattoos. Given those scabs, I’d think AT LEAST two months.

Yeah you’re definitely right regarding those heavy scabs and long healing time, thanks. I’m just relieved it’s turning out not as bad as I thought it would so far. Here it is just now, 24 hours after the final scab came off. The day after all the scabs came off always looked better I noticed. I know you’re right tho, I’m keeping in mind to give it another month, thanks for your comment. 

Update: after three weeks the scabs finally came off. It’s not too bad. Some scarring where the nastier looking scab occurred and the only real color loss/distortion is in the small left corner outline. What do you think? All of the smaller lightning bolts scabbed up pretty heavily (of course not as bad as the big one) and left little scars when their scabs came off but they’ve already kinda settled in and aren’t that noticeable anymore, maybe the big one will too.  It’s not GREAT but it’s also definitely not as bad as I thought it would be considering how nasty that scab was. I’ll let it settle down more but I’m thinking I’ll just leave it as it is

Update so far, 13 days since I got it. The smallest one’s scab fell off first, looks ok. The second one fell off yesterday, it looks like the skin under a scab still, kinda raw and muddy looking, hopefully will get better. The big first one is looking better, but the nasty scab is still stuck on, I’m praying it won’t just be bare skin when it falls off, some of it is lifted and it’s very oniony milky wrinkly underneath and clouded, eager to see what it will look like when normal skin returns. The third one also had a deeper scab but it’s really small and I suspect that one will be ok. Overall, worst experience I’ve had with a tattoo but hopefully will be ok. My artist offered to use tegaderm but declined due to saniderm leaving a mark on another part of my arm but now I definitely regret not using it 😕 

If it’s leaking outside the bandage, which it sounds like it is, you have to just remove it and just heal it normally is what I’ve been told. Makes sense too, if stuff is coming out then it’s no longer sealed to prevent things from going in

can you post a picture? 

6 minutes ago, LAwalk said:

 

More that I keep obsessing that the shape is "wrong" from certain angles, and doesn't fit my body the way I envisioned. 

you don't like it because of how it looks or because how much your body is covered?

The tattoo I posted about recently has zero meaning and no significance to me whatsoever other than that it looks super cool and I am just as anxious about it healing wrong and would be so sad and upset also on a spiritual level, so I get where you’re coming from lol

1 hour ago, Rosebud91291 said:

Fair enough! Part of the anxiety is due to the fact that this is a sacred symbol of my tribal nation so the thought of possibly having ruined it is upsetting on a spiritual level as well, if that makes any sense. 

4 hours ago, Hogrider said:

Infection is usually indicated by redness, soreness, oozing and/or an odor. If you don't have any of those symptoms, it's probably not infected.

4 hours ago, SStu said:

Just looks rougher than normal, but should be just fine eventually. 

Where on your body is this? Down by your ankle or something will take extra time, too. 

It’s on my inner forearm. Here’s how it looks today when I woke up. I think it had a little crack overnight 😕 you can kinda see it in the weird discolored part. 
 

I don’t think it’s infection because as you can see the other smaller lighting bolts have the same kind of hard stubborn scabbing, just that the bigger one has the cracking and discoloration. 

unless maybe there was a minor infection in that bigger one but somehow healed itself from washing while it was still tiny and before it got a chance to grow into a bigger infection. Is that possible?
 

why do you guys think this one turned out so rough?

and what do you think caused the discoloration? 
 

im bummed such a tiny tattoo turned out so rough and problematic. 

3 hours ago, Hogrider said:

I've never had one that bad. There just really is no way to tell. Be really careful with it and let it fall off naturally, no matter how long it takes. Worse case scenario, you have it touched up.

Ok, thank you. 
 

and to be clear, you don’t think it got infected right? With that cracked area with the yellowish scabbing. It is 9 days old. 

1 hour ago, Hogrider said:

It usually takes 4-6 weeks to heal, but that's a pretty big scab. Leave it alone, let it heal and in a couple of months you'll know what it will look like. DON'T MESS WITH IT!!!

Thank you for your reply. So you think there’s nothing more going on other than just a heavy scab that will take longer than usual to flake off right?

ive never had a tattoo scab up this much before and was concerned and thought infection when I saw dried up yellow in bits of it in the scab, but someone told me it was dried plasma which makes sense there’d be that much since it’s scabbed so thick and heavy. 
 

I’ve just been doing the usual wash 1-2 a day with antibacterial soap and light unscented lotion, is there anything I should be doing more for a scab like this?

Also, have you ever had a thick scab like this? How did the tattoo turn out after it all healed?

thanks again 

I think it might actually just be irritated scar tissue from the antibacterial soap I’ve been using on the new one right next to it. But check out my post about that, can you give me your input? It’s such a small tattoo yet having a rougher heal 😞

Here’s another angle. You can see it’s cracked in the middle where the dried plasma and blood is. 

Tattoo looking more like an injury than a tattoo. I got this on the 10th and it’s really small, usually it would be close to healed by now. None of my other ones have scabbed this way before. At first I thought it was infected but I guess that yellowy bit is dried plasma and dried blood? 
 

scab feels pretty stuck on there too, like it’s deep and thick. I’m using unscented lotion, which is my usual routine but, should I do anything more than usual? Is this going to look like shit when it’s finally healed? It was just supposed to be a little gap filler yet it’s having such a rough heal compared to bigger complicated ones I have

tattoo is 3 months old and i've read keloids take 3 months to show up. i've never had a keloid before so i didn't think i'm prone to them and i know keloids from tattoos, while not impossible, are pretty rare. the circled areas are where scarring occurred from tattoo and normally i don't care, but lately these seem red and maybe more raised, i'm concerned. 

Ah, got it!

is there a way i can edit or delete this post?