Tattoo After Care

Now that you have decided to get your tattoo, keeping up with your tattoo after care is the most important thing you can do to keep a beautiful tattoo now, and in the future. Your tattoo is in the most danger of infection right after you get it as the skin has still not healed and is susceptible to infection.

Even after your tattoo has healed, you can keep it looking good on your skin by taking care of it right. Taking care of your tattoo will result in a wonderful piece of body art that you will be proud to wear for a lifetime.

After you have taken the step to your new tattoo, wait 2-3 hours after your tattoo is completed and bandaged by the tattoo artist. Then follow the procedures outlined here.

- First, wash your hands with unscented soap and water before touching your new tattoo. Wash them for at least a minute. Make sure you do a good job of it and wash between your fingers and clean under your fingernails.as you wash your hands. Your hands must be really, really clean.

- Next, remove your bandage with soap and water, using only your hands and fingers. Be gentle as you do this. Once you have removed the bandage, wash your tattoo gently with soap and water. Do not use a sponge or a rag to wash your tattoo, use your hands and wash it gently and softly.

- Pat your tattoo dry with a paper towel. Do not use any old towel that is laying around, make sure to use a paper towel to keep infection out of your tattoo. Even a clean towel or cloth will leave lint on your tattoo, so use clean paper to dry your tattoo, even if you have to use clean toilet paper!

- Let your tattoo "air dry" for 15 minutes. Don't touch it. Just let it get some air.

- Apply a thin layer of emu oil to your tattoo. Emu oil will relieve discomfort and reduce inflammation and redness. Emu oil helps set colors and reduce plasma oozing. Using emu oil on the clean tattoo will help keep artwork moist and reduces or eliminates the flaking and/or scabbing that often occurs.

- Repeat this process 2-3 times daily until your tattoo has healed. For a better looking tattoo, continue to use emu oil on it daily. The colors in your tattoo will remain vibrant and your tattoo will stay luminous if you do.

Do Not:

- Once the bandage is off, do not re-bandage the tattoo.

- NO direct sunlight on the tattoo for the first 2-3 weeks.

- DO NOT pick or scratch at your new tattoo while it is healing.

- NO shaving or waxing tattoo area until the tattoo is completely healed.

- DO NOT apply alcohol, Vaseline petroleum jelly or sunblock to your fresh tattoo.

- DO NOT listen to friends or so-called tattoo experts. You may get misleading and conflicting information. When in doubt, go back to your tattoo artist for the last word.

Some extra stuff:

- Once you have left the tattoo parlor, the tattoo is your responsibility.

- Small amounts of color may appear on your clothing or sheets for the first few days.

- If your tattoo peels, color will appear in pieces of dry skin.

- If the tattoo is in an area where it can be exposed to the open air, allow it to breathe. Allowing it to breathe will help the healing. Your body and oxygen are going to heal the tattoo.

- If possible, wear loose fitting clothing over the tattoo and be careful not to suffocate tattoo with socks or pantyhose.

If your tattoo starts to peel after 3-6 days and you see color in the dried skin that comes off, don't worry, this is just the top layer of dead skin coming off. The ink is still in your skin and your tattoo is NOT disappearing. Using Emu Oil will reduce the amount of peeling that occurs naturally as your tattoo heals.

Do you have a new tattoo and think there is something wrong? The first thing you should do is go back to the tattoo artist who gave you your tattoo for their opinion of how your tattoo is healing and if there is something wrong with the way it is healing, they will be able to tell you how to treat it.

If you have used Emu Oil from the start as directed here and have kept everything clean then the likelihood of an infection occurring is very small. The signs of infection are extreme seeping, heavy scabbing, excessive inflammation and sometimes a rash (little bumps) or pimples.

If you work or live in a dirty environment, you run the risk of infection. Emergency rooms, nursing homes, hospitals, being around animals and their waste, toxic chemicals, and filth of all kinds can result in serious infections. If you have a dirty job, wear loose protective clothing and do not touch your tattoo unless you have washed your hands. Dirty bedding can be problem, so make sure that you put fresh sheets on your bed when you get your new tattoo. Always make sure to wear clean clothing and use clean wash cloths and towels.

Allergic reactions to tattoo ink are very, very rare. Most professional tattoo pigments are made out of natural ingredients that shouldn't cause a problem. Most people are not aware that they are allergic to certain colors of ink until they are applied. However, people who are allergic to metals and have reactions to cheap jewelry often do react. If you are allergic to a pigment, it will be evident by that one color bubbling up and raising off your skin. It looks like a blister or a raised red mole. It will itch and not look healed, no matter how long it has been. You have two choices, one is to use hydrocortisone cream to control the itching and promote healing which can take up to 5 years, or you can have the offending color removed and replaced with a color that does not cause a reaction. Removal is not any more painful than the original tattoo process.

Allergic reactions to latex will more than likely be apparent before you get your tattoo. Let the tattoo artist know that you are allergic to latex, if you already know. The signs of an allergic reaction to latex are extreme rash and/or redness. If the tattoo artist knows that you are allergic to latex, they can use non-latex gloves and tape on you during the tattoo procedure.

Sun exposure is the worst thing for your new tattoo. If you expose your healing tattoo to the sun, it can fade the ink in the tattoo before it is even healed. Tattoos that are exposed to the sun too soon look faded, blurry and washed out and much older than they should. Under no circumstances should you expose your tattoo to prolonged direct sunlight or tanning. Even a healed tattoo will fade with time when exposed to the sun or tanning beds. If you must expose your healed tattoo to the sunlight, use a high SPF sunblock (at least 45).

Long term cigarette smoking, eating poorly, and over exposure to the sun will damage skin. A tattoo on damaged skin will rarely look as good as a tattoo on healthy skin. Sometimes the lines aren't clear and the colors of the tattoo are not as bright.

The routine application of Emu Oil to your tattoo area will result in the promotion of healthy skin. Since Emu Oil heals, brings blood and oxygen to the surface of your skin through natural hyper-oxygenation and moisturizes by penetrating 7 layers deep into your skin, you will see results quickly and you will be amazed at how good your tattoo will look, no matter how damaged your skin is to start with. Even healthy skin will benefit from the regular application of Emu oil.

If you are older, and your skin is naturally older, thin, weak or sun damaged, your tattoo may be harder to heal. Never fear, Emu Oil promotes the thickening of thin skin, and as stated earlier, promotes healthy, pliable skin. It would be beneficial in these cases to start using Emu Oil on the tattoo site prior to the tattoo, to promote healthy skin for the application of your new tattoo.

Think of your skin as the canvas. When your skin is damaged, it is very easy for the tattoo artist to accidentally overwork the skin. If this happens it is not the end of the world, the tattoo may have heavier scabbing while healing if this happens, but with the regular application of Emu oil this will be kept in check. Once your skin has healed, your tattoo artist will want to touch up your overworked tattoo.

If you don't practice good personal hygiene, pick at your tattoo, wear tight clothing or let clothing stick to it, scrub the tattoo, or are not careful in the shower, your tattoo will not look nice when it has finished healing. The tattoo can end up with ink missing and sometimes it may have heavy scar tissue over it.

The worst thing you can do is take advice from other people like family or friends about your new tattoo and the healing procedure. These people mean well, but there is a lot of misinformation out there on tattoos and everyone will have a different opinion or ideas about what to do for a new tattoo. It can be dangerous to listen to this well meant, but sometimes misguided information from others.

If you suspect that your tattoo is not healing right, that you have an infection or there is some other trouble such as an allergic reaction to the tattoo pigment, don't panic. Tattoo healing problems are not an emergency. The best thing is to go back to your tattoo artist.

A word about doctors. Often times doctors know very little about tattoos and prescribe drugs and treatment that may make the tattoo worse. This is not to say this is true of all doctors, but you never know when you will run into one that knows about how to care for a tattoo versus one who may be prejudiced against tattoos. This is why your first stop should be your tattoo artist if you suspect a healing problem. They will know if you need to contact a doctor for medical treatment or not, and may even be able to recommend a doctor to you that knows tattoos if that step is necessary. This is important so that your tattoo heals looking it's best.

Pure emu oil penetrates and moisturizes through all 7 layers of the skin. It contains essential fatty acids and naturally hyper-oxygenates which increases the circulation to the applied area. This means that it brings blood and oxygen to the surface of the skin. This is why it works so well to heal.

An emu is a bird from the ratite family of birds, the second largest bird in the world after the ostrich. The emu bird originally comes from Australia. Emu Oil has been used throughout the centuries by the Australian Aborigines to heal wounds and for other medicinal purposes.

The father emu bird sits on the eggs for the mother emu bird, and thus the emu bird has a large layer of fat on it's chest to incubate the eggs. This layer of fat is where the emu oil comes from. Poor daddy bird, what a reward for being such a good father bird, eh? The females also have the layer of fat, so it is equality for both sexes in this case.

From the 1930's to the 1950's a glut of emu birds was shipped to the United States from Australia, and many emu ranches were started up. Today, emu ranches are all over the U.S. When you buy Emu Oil, most likely it is coming from American emu birds bred in the United States.

The emu industry is very good about they way they treat their livestock. They also do not waste any of the bird. They turn the meat (which is incredibly good for you because it is very low in cholesterol), the skin, feathers, and legging skin into emu products.

Emu Oil and Emu Oil products are the main product of the emu bird, however.

Emu Oil has 3 main characteristics, it is healing, anti-aging and moisturizing, and it is an anti-inflammatory. Many studies have been conducted, and are still in progress regarding the benefits of Emu Oil. There is no doubt that it has many beneficial properties, and more are being discovered all the time.