Preparations & Aftercare
Body conditioning
- Make sure that you’re well rested (8 hours of sleep is recommended!)
- Make sure you ate before your session
Alcohol and drugs
- Do not drink alcohol or caffeine for at least 24 hours.
- Smoking or drug (medication or illegal substance) will also cause excessive bleeding.
- Make sure you have already completed your antibiotics intake a week prior.
Clothing
- Wear loose and comfortable clothing.
- White or any light-colored clothes are not recommended as it will get stained during tattoo session.
- Make sure you bring extra hair clip or ties for your piercing.
Shaving
- Shave the area of your tattoo placement 24 hours before your session.
Tattoo Aftercare and Other FAQ about Healing
Piercing Aftercare and Other FAQ about Healing
Tattoo Aftercare and Other FAQ about Healing
- Remove the film/wrap after 1-2 days or when it starts to peel – whichever comes first.
- Cleanse it with mild soap – whitening and heavily scented soaps aren’t recommended – and lukewarm water, along with gentle taps/wipes.
- Healing time depends on your skin type and how you care about your tattoo, and its size and complexity; usually it takes up to 3 weeks for a minimal tattoo to be fully healed.
- Avoid soaking your tattoo in water or under the sun for too long; activities such as working out, swimming pools and beaches aren’t advised for the first 2-3 weeks.
- Keep your tattoo exposed as much as possible for quicker healing.
- Do a little research about how a tattoo heals to know what’s normal and what’s not.
- Excess ink inside the film/wrap, and you clean your tattoo is normal.
- Your tattoo looking faded in the first couple of weeks is normal.
- Your tattoo will scab, and your tattoo will itch, nothing to worry about since both are normal. No picking, no scratching, just gentle taps.
- When your tattoo is healed, from now on, you will want to protect it from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. These can fade and damage your tattoo very fast.
- Don’t expect the tattoo ink to look as vibrant as it did the day of your tattoo. Tattoo ink sits under the top layer of the skin so, once healed, you’ll be looking at the ink through the top layer of your skin.
- Do wait 30 days before considering a touch-up. Tattoos can look less-than-perfect while healing and need 30 days to be completely healed. Depending on the design’s complexity.
Piercing Aftercare and Other FAQ about Healing
- What to expect after getting pierced:
- A little swelling, light bleeding, tenderness, and light bruising.
- Cleaning solutions
- 9% Saline solution (can be bought in Mercury Drugstore)
- A homemade sea salt solution (250ml warm water + ¼ teaspoon of non-iodized salt)
- Cleaning process
- Transfer your solution of choice to a bowl and soak a cotton bud with it and clean the pierced area in a circular motion.
- Do your Saline solution soaks twice a day.
- What to expect during healing
- Some discoloration
- Some light itching
- Piercing bump/s
- Secretion of white-yellowish fluid
- Some crust/s formation from the fluid
- If your piercing is still healing, please avoid swimming in pools, beaches, or other bodies of water.
- Maintain proper hygiene since bacteria that reside on unwashed skin and hair can infect piercings, so keep yourself clean.
- Keep your new piercing clean and free of dirt and other debris, which can cause piercing infection.
- Avoid dying your hair while your piercing is healing, cosmetics, lotions, sprays, and other personal care products should not be used on or near the piercing.
- Betadine, Alcohol Hydrogen Peroxide, or other soaps containing triclosan should not be used to clean your piercing since they can harm your piercing wound.
- Ointment should be avoided because they prevent necessary air circulation.
Things to Remember
- It should be cleaned 2-3 times per week (2x per day, morning and evening)
- 2-3 times a week doesn’t mean every day. When you don’t use rock salt, saline. Or any aftercare solution for that day, just use water to clean it.
- Don’t touch it.
- Don’t play with it.
- Do not overclean.
- Don’t remove it.
- Never use alcohol or any other treatment.
- Do not sleep on it.
- Avoid swimming for one month
- Saline solution (0.09% only). Once you open it, it will only last for one week (put it in the refrigerator).
- Rock salt (non-iodized) with warm water, then apply it using a clean cloth or cotton buds, set it aside for 5 minutes, then rinse it with water (you can put it in a spray bottle, but it will only last for 24 hours).
- Sea salt
- Neil Med Solution
- Swelling 1st to 2nd
- Dryness around the surface
- Itchiness
- Bleeding
- No more crust.
- No more swelling.
- Not painful anymore.
- No redness around the piercing
- You can push the piercing back and forth without feeling pain.
- NOTE: These are the types of jewelry that you can use:
SURGICAL/STAINLESS STEEL, GOLD, SILVER, TITANIUM
Tattoo Aftercare and Other FAQ about Healing
- Remove the film/wrap after 1-2 days or when it starts to peel – whichever comes first.
- Cleanse it with mild soap – whitening and heavily scented soaps aren’t recommended – and lukewarm water, along with gentle taps/wipes.
- Healing time depends on your skin type and how you care about your tattoo, and its size and complexity; usually it takes up to 3 weeks for a minimal tattoo to be fully healed.
- Avoid soaking your tattoo in water or under the sun for too long; activities such as working out, swimming pools and beaches aren’t advised for the first 2-3 weeks.
- Keep your tattoo exposed as much as possible for quicker healing.
- Do a little research about how a tattoo heals to know what’s normal and what’s not.
- Excess ink inside the film/wrap, and you clean your tattoo is normal.
- Your tattoo looking faded in the first couple of weeks is normal.
- Your tattoo will scab, and your tattoo will itch, nothing to worry about since both are normal. No picking, no scratching, just gentle taps.
- When your tattoo is healed, from now on, you will want to protect it from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. These can fade and damage your tattoo very fast.
- Don’t expect the tattoo ink to look as vibrant as it did the day of your tattoo. Tattoo ink sits under the top layer of the skin so, once healed, you’ll be looking at the ink through the top layer of your skin.
- Do wait 30 days before considering a touch-up. Tattoos can look less-than-perfect while healing and need 30 days to be completely healed. Depending on the design’s complexity.
Piercing Aftercare and Other FAQ about Healing
- What to expect after getting pierced:
- A little swelling, light bleeding, tenderness, and light bruising.
- Cleaning solutions
- 9% Saline solution (can be bought in Mercury Drugstore)
- A homemade sea salt solution (250ml warm water + ¼ teaspoon of non-iodized salt)
- Cleaning process
- Transfer your solution of choice to a bowl and soak a cotton bud with it and clean the pierced area in a circular motion.
- Do your Saline solution soaks twice a day.
- What to expect during healing
- Some discoloration
- Some light itching
- Piercing bump/s
- Secretion of white-yellowish fluid
- Some crust/s formation from the fluid
- If your piercing is still healing, please avoid swimming in pools, beaches, or other bodies of water.
- Maintain proper hygiene since bacteria that reside on unwashed skin and hair can infect piercings, so keep yourself clean.
- Keep your new piercing clean and free of dirt and other debris, which can cause piercing infection.
- Avoid dying your hair while your piercing is healing, cosmetics, lotions, sprays, and other personal care products should not be used on or near the piercing.
- Betadine, Alcohol Hydrogen Peroxide, or other soaps containing triclosan should not be used to clean your piercing since they can harm your piercing wound.
- Ointment should be avoided because they prevent necessary air circulation.