Basic Instructions:

Leave your bandage on for a minimum of four (4) hours, but no more than twelve (12) hours. This means you have to wait to show your friends—even pulling up the corner to sneak a peak can pull at your fresh tattoo causing irritation. When it's time to remove your bandage, get in the shower and get the bandage completely wet so that if your bandage is sticking to your tattoo, you won't damage it by pulling at it.

Once the bandage has been removed, clean the area using your fingertips and a mild soap such as Ivory, Dove, or Softsoap. If using a bar soap, soap your fingertips and not the tattoo. Avoid anything containing fragrance, aloe vera, or astringents such as witchhazel or anything containing rubbing alcohol. After your shower, gently pat the tattoo dry with a clean towel and let it air dry for one hour. Apply a small amount of salve to the tattoo with clean hands, making sure to dab away any excess with a paper towel. Apply it sparingly though... use thing coats. The first night, you need clean sheets on your bed.

Until your tattoo is completely healed, you will need to clean your tattoo at least once a day. Follow the regimen described above. You will also need to keep your tattoo moisturized until it is fully healed. There are a few products you can use to keep your tattoo moisturized. Your artist may prefer one above others. Whatever you use, you must always remember to wash your hands before you touch your tattoo, and this includes applying ointments or lotions.

What to Avoid:

Here is a list of things you need to avoid while your tattoo is healing. Don't forget, you paid for this in money and pain. Consider this list as insurance that your tattoo will look the way it is intended.

• Restrictive clothing (consider waistbands, tight clothing, shoes, bra straps, etc)
• Picking
• Scratching
• Scrubbing
• Itching the tattoo
• Tanning
• Public Gyms
• Shaving over the tattoo
• Swimming pools
• Hot tubs
• Baths
• Touching your tattoo with dirty hands
• Direct sunlight!

Recommended moisturizers or ointments:

• Black Cat
• Palmer's Cocoa Butter
• Shea Butter
• Fragrance-free Curel
• Lubriderm
• Cetaphil
• Jergens
• Aveeno lotions
• Aquaphor
• Bag Balm

More info on moisturizers:

Ingredients to avoid in your moisturizers include fragrances, aloe vera, and heavy amounts of petroleum or alcohol. Some ingredients that may cause irritation in certain individuals include lanolin or vitamin E. It is possible for some people to have a reaction to any type of moisturizer. Usually a bad reaction includes small raised bumps that resemble pimples. If this happens to you, call your artist immediately so they can recommend something to switch to.

One of the most common misconceptions with healing a tattoo is that more is better when it comes to ointment and lotion. Remember, you want your tattoo to breathe just as much as you don't want it to dry out. Use the smallest amount you need to cover the surface of your tattoo. More can always be applied later. Listen to your body. If it feels dry, itchy, or tight, it's probably time to apply more. Most people need to apply lotion about four or five times a day, but this depends a lot on your skin type. If you have very dry skin, you will probably need to apply your moisturizer more often.

Between days three and five it is normal for the tattoo to peel like a sunburn. Do not pick at it or scratch it. Instead, let the dead skin slough off as it naturally will in the shower or while you apply moisturizer.

Cleaning Solutions:

Use one of the following solutions for healing:

• Sterile saline solution with no additives (read the label), or a non-iodized sea salt mixture: Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized (iodine-free) sea salt into one cup (8oz) of warm distilled or bottled water. A stronger mixture is not better; a saline solution that is too strong can irritate the piercing.
• A mild, fragrance-free liquid soap-preferably anti-microbial or germicidal.

Do not ever use the following on a fresh piercing!

• Rubbing alcohol
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Witch Hazel
• Sea Breeze
• Antibiotic ointment
• Any ointments gels or lotions.

Cleaning Instructions for Body Piercings:

• WASH your hands thoroughly prior to cleaning or touching your piercing for any reason.
• SALINE soak for five to ten minutes once or more per day. Invert a cup of warm saline solution over the area to form a vacuum. For certain piercings it may be easier to apply using clean gauze or paper towels saturated with saline solution. A brief rinse afterward will remove any residue.
• SOAP no more than once or twice a day. While showering, lather up a pearl sized drop of the soap to clean the jewelry and the piercing. Leave the cleanser on the piercing no more than thirty seconds, then rinse thoroughly to remove all traces of the soap from the piercing. It is not necessary to rotate the jewelry through the piercing.
• DRY by gently patting with clean, disposable paper products. Cloth towels can harbor bacteria and snag on jewelry, causing injury.

What is Normal?

• Initially: some bleeding, localized swelling, tenderness, or bruising may occur.
• During healing: some discoloration, itching, secretion of a whitish-yellow fluid (not pus) that will form some crust on the jewelry. The tissue may tighten around the jewelry as it heals.
• Once healed: the jewelry may not move freely in the piercing; do not force it. If you fail to include cleaning your piercing as part of your daily hygiene routine, normal but smelly bodily secretions may accumulate.
• A piercing may seem healed before the healing process is complete. This is because they heal from the outside in, and although it feels fine, the tissue remains fragile on the inside. Be patient, and keep cleaning.
• Even healed piercings can shrink or close in minutes after having been there for years! This varies from person to person; if you like your piercing, keep jewelry in-do not leave it empty.

What to Do:

• Wash your hands prior to touching the piercing; leave it alone except when cleaning. During healing, it is not necessary to rotate your jewelry.
• Exercise during healing is fine; listen to your body.
• Make sure your bedding is washed and changed regularly. Wear clean, comfortable, breathable clothing that protects your piercing while you are sleeping.
• Take showers instead of baths, as bathtubs can harbor bacteria.

What to Avoid:

• Avoid over-cleaning. This can delay your healing.
• Avoid friction from clothing, excessive motion of the area and playing with the jewelry. These can cause the formation of unsightly and uncomfortable scar tissue, migration, prolonged healing, and other complications.
• Avoid all oral contact, rough play, and contact with others’ bodily fluids on or near your new piercing.
• Avoid stress and recreational drug use, including excessive caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol.
• Avoid submerging the piercing in unhygienic bodies of water such as lakes, pools, hot tubs, etc.
• Avoid all beauty and personal care products on or around the piercing including cosmetics, lotions, and sprays, etc.
• Don’t hang charms or any object from your jewelry until the piercing is fully healed

Detailed Instructions for specific piercings:

Navel:

• A hard, vented eye patch (sold at pharmacies) can be applied under tight clothing (such as nylon stockings) or secured using a length of Ace® bandage around the body (to avoid irritation from adhesive). This can protect the area from restrictive clothing, excess irritation, and impact during physical activities such as contact sports. Also be aware while buckling your seatbelt.

Ear and Facial:

• Use the t-shirt trick: Dress your pillow in a large, clean t-shirt and turn it nightly; one clean t-shirt provides four clean surfaces for sleeping.
• Maintain cleanliness of telephones, headphones, eyeglasses, helmets, hats, and anything that contacts the pierced area.
• Use caution when styling your hair and advise your stylist of a new or healing piercing.

Nipples:

• The support of a tight cotton shirt or sports bra may provide protection and feel comfortable, especially for sleeping.

Oral:

• Clean the outside of the lip or mouth as normal.
• Use an alcohol free mouth rinse every time you eat or drink anything besides water and after you smoke for the first two weeks.
• Avoid alcohol for two weeks as it will make you swell.
• Avoid kissing and oral sex for six weeks.

Genital:

• Genital Piercings-especially Prince Alberts can bleed freely for the first few days. Be prepared.
• Urinate after using soap to clean any piercing that is near the urethra.
• Wash your hands before touching your piercing.
• Avoid sexual activity for six weeks. Sexual activities should be gentle during the healing period.
• Use barriers such as condoms, dental dams, etc. to avoid contact with your partners’ body fluids, even in monogamous relationships.
• Use clean, disposable barriers on sex toys.
• Use a new container of water-based lubricant; do not use saliva.