You’ve paid good money for your tattoo or piercing, so look after your investment. Summer can be a tricky time for healing piercings and tattoos – even years down the line you should still consider looking after your tattoo to maintain its quality. Here are a few tips on how to maintain happy healing for both your piercing and tattoos as things heat up…
- No swimming
Avoid submerging both fresh piercings and tattoos as they are technically a minor open wound, which puts you at risk of infection and irritation. Avoid pools, the sea, any body of water that exposes you to bacteria.
- Stay in the shade
At best UV rays will fade your ink, at worst, burnt blistered skin can cause irreparable damage to your fresh tattoo. With a fresh piece it’s recommended to avoid the sun altogether, as your sensitive skin will take longer to heal. With healed and older tattoos, wear minimum factor 50 or full sunblock to protect your design.
Fresh piercings also don’t appreciate the sunny weather. Sunblock and sweat will irritate your piercing and the same applies with a tattoo. You have what is essentially a minor open wound that will take longer to heal with sun exposure.
- Rinse and dry after activities
Moisture is the enemy of fresh piercings and tattoos. If you’re getting hot and sweaty in the warm weather, rinse your new piece with clean, ideally filtered water and dry it off (we always recommend a hairdryer on a cool setting), to avoid your piercing or tattoo getting moist and gooey.
- Make your appointment weeks before or AFTER your holiday
It’s tempting to book in before a holiday so you can show off your new ‘accessory’ but think first. You want your piercing or tattoo to be nicely healed and look good for the big reveal and you really do not want to miss out on all the holiday fun. I’m also sure you don’t want to throw your time and money away spoiling and ruining all you’ve paid for, so make things easy and book in weeks before you go to enable it to have plenty of time for initial healing OR wait until after your holiday.
Have a read of our blog When is the Right Time to get Tattooed for more information towards planning your work.
