Tattoos & Piercings - PART 2

How to take care of your tattoo if you already have one or just had one done.

When the tattoo artist has finished his work, yours isn't. There's a lot to do to make sure your tattoo and skin don't get ruined! First of all, right after it's done, NEVER take off the bandage from the tattoo before at least 2 hours have passed!! Your tattoo is like a wound when it has just been done, so you have to keep it away from air bacteria that might infect the wound. You must know that after the bandage is put on, the tattoo artist has no more responsability on you and your tattoo. So if it becomes a disaster, the fault is only yours, because you didn't take good care of it. 

 (the famous Kat Von D, Tattoo artist of L.A.)

When taking off the bandage, you have to wash your tattoo with gentle (very gentle) antibacterial soap. DO NOT SCRUB IT. (I mean, it's a wound..scrubbing it would be very dumb and hurtful too :P) You better use your hands to wash away the blood and all the ointment on the skin. Make it perfect clean! Then pat the area with a soft towel to dry it and put on a bit of ointment (I think some petroleum jelly is perfect, but you better ask your tattoo artist for a specific product). Keep doing this for more or less 5 days.

If it itches, don't scratch. And do not peel anything off. Just pat it or put lotion on it.

Keep away from the sun. Ultraviolets rays will make your tattoo fade more easily. So be sure to put on high sun protection lotions before exposing yourself to the sun!

When you take showers or bath, do not soak the tattoo too much, especially in the first period, because it might get seriously damaged. Avoid swimming pools and sea for at least 2 or 3 weeks.

♥♥♥♥

And now let's get to the piercings again :)

 (how cool is this one?! *-*)

Beware of piercings made with a piercing gun!

"Piercing guns are usually made with plastic and cannot be sterilized in an autoclave. Sure, they wipe it with alcohol or antiseptic in between uses, but how sterile is that? It is not unreasonable to guess that in a 2-week training course, these mall piercists are not being taught about infection control and blood-borne pathogens. A quick wipe with a sterile pad is not effective in removing disease-carrying blood.

Some will argue that the piercing gun never comes in contact directly with the customer's skin. This might be true, but the piercers hands do - if they touch the customers skin and then touch the gun, the gun is now contaminated. Period. And when the gun drives the stud through the flesh, if the skin starts to bleed there is no way of knowing whether or not tiny particles of blood could have been dispersed into the air contaminating everything around it." (infos taken from tattoo.about.com)




When you are done a piercing, you will be given a piece of paper with instructions on how to keep it clean and avoid infections. Do NOT lose it! And if you do, go back to the piercer and ask him for one again or you'll end up to have the piercing removed forever for the big infection!