In this thread, we commiserate about healing our fresh tattoos.

[Pugilist]

Is it weird that I kinda miss healing tattoos? First time in about 2 years I haven't had a big patch of fresh healing tattooed skin. I'm just working through some outlining of clouds and lightning all over my thigh

You crazy!

[gougetheeyes]

I'm trying this thing where I heal one tattoo at a time. It's tough though. I'm sure it's better for the body and what not.

I used to heal like, 3-4 tattoos at the same time. This guy that was getting tattooed next to me noticed that, and he mentioned that I should take vitamins and iron pills.

Does everyone else heal 1 tattoo at a time? Or do you guys heal multiples too?

Only healed two simultaneously a few times. Such a pain.. Were you getting multiple tattoos done at conventions or just makin' it raaaaiiin when you stopped by the tattoo shop??

[CultExciter]

SCOTT STORCH ON THEM BEATS YO!

[CABS]

Only healed two simultaneously a few times. Such a pain.. Were you getting multiple tattoos done at conventions or just makin' it raaaaiiin when you stopped by the tattoo shop??

I'm such a sucker for guest spots. If I see an artist I like coming through town, I'll try to secure a spot even though I have something already booked close to that date. That's usually what happens. Or if an artist is relocating for good, I'll try to get booked with them too before they leave.

But sometimes when I travel, I try to get more than one tattoo (to make my trip "worth it", get my moneys worth, etc.).

I honestly had no idea what the norm was for healing 1 or multiple tattoos. Sounds like most people heal 1 at a time, which is good because that's what I'm starting to do. When Forrest Cavacco tells you that you're going to fast, then maybe I should pump my brakes, take his advice, and slow it down a bit. If I see a guest artist coming into town and I already have an appointment booked for that month, then I'm just gonna have to miss out.

[hollyjoybee]

i spent pretty much all day wednesday getting tattooed (slightly dramatic it was about 7.5 hours all in) and i felt like i had been actually hit by a bus yesterday. Was absolutely fine getting tattooed. Expected to really struggle but it was fine but when i woke up the next morning. Wow. i have a face full of coldsores so i spent most of yesterday resting and trying to eat good food. i'm now healing 3 relatively large tattoos at the same time so it'll be interesting to see if this has an effect on how well and how long i take to heal!

[else]

i spent pretty much all day wednesday getting tattooed (slightly dramatic it was about 7.5 hours all in) and i felt like i had been actually hit by a bus yesterday. Was absolutely fine getting tattooed. Expected to really struggle but it was fine but when i woke up the next morning. Wow. i have a face full of coldsores so i spent most of yesterday resting and trying to eat good food. i'm now healing 3 relatively large tattoos at the same time so it'll be interesting to see if this has an effect on how well and how long i take to heal!

I can only imagine how "hit by a bus" you must feel!

[ChrisvK]

I'm currently healing an inner bicep tattoo. Getting it was painful but the thing i hate the most is the extreme itch once it starts peeling. God its horrible

[hollyjoybee]

I'm currently healing an inner bicep tattoo. Getting it was painful but the thing i hate the most is the extreme itch once it starts peeling. God its horrible

I think this is probably the next move for my arm... i find anything on the inside arm to be a bit of a pain to heal purely because of the rubbing on stuff... im currently itching on both thighs and upper arm. so glad it isnt warm here yet!!

[ChrisvK]

I think this is probably the next move for my arm... i find anything on the inside arm to be a bit of a pain to heal purely because of the rubbing on stuff... im currently itching on both thighs and upper arm. so glad it isnt warm here yet!!

Yeah healing my inner arm is a pain, specially since I'm carrying a 18kg backpack all the time and living on the road atm. When I got it the tattoo it was 27 degrees celcius in Italy, which was a bit too much and I couldn't stay out of the sun so now im in Germany for a little while till it's healed, luckily I can stay here at someones apartment. I can't imagine itching on both thighs and upper arm at the same time, that must be horrible! Good luck with that haha

[Dan S]

Yeah healing my inner arm is a pain, specially since I'm carrying a 18kg backpack all the time and living on the road atm. When I got it the tattoo it was 27 degrees celcius in Italy, which was a bit too much and I couldn't stay out of the sun so now im in Germany for a little while till it's healed, luckily I can stay here at someones apartment. I can't imagine itching on both thighs and upper arm at the same time, that must be horrible! Good luck with that haha

That's a 40 POUND backpack, Homer...you ain't been in Europe THAT long! (if you had, you'da called it a rucksack!)

[ChrisvK]

That's a 40 POUND backpack, Homer...you ain't been in Europe THAT long! (if you had, you'da called it a rucksack!)

hmm rucksack is how we call small backpacks, atleast in the Netherlands. The big traveling backpacks are backpacks as far as I know haha. And yeah 18kg is roughly 40 pounds. You get used to carrying that around after a week or so. It's slightly under 25% of my bodyweight, which is the recommended maximum. But now this thread is getting sidetracked. Itchy fresh tattoo's are a bitch and now others can complain again about healing their tattoo's ;)

[Johannes]

rucksack=smaller backpack yes. like one you put yer schoolbooks in when you're young.

backpack=hey ho let's go camping/travelling/steal alot of stuff...

[slayer9019]

You crazy!

I am taking back what I said about missing healing. After a nice 4 hour session yesterday filling in a huge section of clouds I am now in pain again...

[EmmaB]

I'm a woman with two huge arm tattoos, forearm and upper arm. No difference in hair regrowth in the slightest - just as there isn't when I shave my legs. I haven't checked beez' snopes link but I imagine that one reason for the myth of hair growing back thicker is that it all grows at the same rate, and longer unshaved hair tends to taper away at the end whereas shaved hair will at first have a blunter end, perhaps giving the appearance of being very slightly thicker.

Edit - sorry, I've just realised this is a response to a post that's several days old! Hope it's still helpful.

[el twe]

I've got the simultaneous peeling tattoo/hair starting to grow back itches. Also it's been about 70 degrees and sunny all week and I've wanted nothing more than to wear shorts (the new tattoo's on my lower leg)! Luckily the clouds are back so I don't have to deal with all three of these things at once.

[sbhikes]

The thing I don't like about healing is how the tattoo looks so awful. I want to show it off right away but have to wait about 3 weeks for it to look good. And this time around my tattoo wasn't finished in one go so that will add 2 weeks to the amount of time between starting the tattoo and being able to walk around showing it off.

[Ducky15568]

Im guessing you cant show it off because of the method you use to heal it? Because everyone of my tattoos I can show people the day of that tattoo, but i usually wait a couple days.

[hogg]

This could be cross-posted to the http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/1043-lower-leg-tattoo.html thread, but I'm remembering the joys of getting a tattoo--even a small one--down by the ankle. The dull, throbbing pain is still there three days later. At least I got a decent night's sleep last night (for the first time). There's just no good place to put your leg at night, is there?

[Pugilist]

So getting my inner thigh tattooed was not nearly as bad as I had worried - it was fine. HEALING my inner thigh, however sucks. At least @Graeme is enjoying making fun of my hobbling.

[real meta]

This could be cross-posted to the http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/1043-lower-leg-tattoo.html thread, but I'm remembering the joys of getting a tattoo--even a small one--down by the ankle. The dull, throbbing pain is still there three days later. At least I got a decent night's sleep last night (for the first time). There's just no good place to put your leg at night, is there?

So getting my inner thigh tattooed was not nearly as bad as I had worried - it was fine. HEALING my inner thigh, however sucks. At least @Graeme is enjoying making fun of my hobbling.

Hoo boy, I can relate to both of these. Except I would say that getting the inner thigh tattooed also sucks really bad.

[sbhikes]

Im guessing you cant show it off because of the method you use to heal it? Because everyone of my tattoos I can show people the day of that tattoo, but i usually wait a couple days.

I can show it the first couple of days but then it starts to look pretty embarassing. Crusty, then flaky, then dry and peely. I don't like to show it until all that is gone. I have really dry skin so I imagine the flaky, peely stage lasts a little longer on me.

Even worse than healing is healing it to get more work done. The wait has been killing me. It still itches and I'm going in for more in a couple hours. I woke up in the middle of the night certain I had poison oak and was going to have to cancel my appointment, thus drawing out the process another few weeks. Thank god it was all a bad dream.

[hollyjoybee]

I'm having some real trouble healing the gorilla on my right shoulder. It's a blast over of a colour butterfly piece I hated. The part of the tattoo that's solid black is honestly SO dry it looks like elephant skin. It's still itchy and I'm about 4 weeks in. I dunno if I'm doing something wrong or I should be treating it differently to my other tattoos ? :/ im meant to be back to get it finished with colour next week. I shall get in touch with the artist and see what he reckons. All the line works healed perfectly so I'm hoping it'll be ok to go ahead :)

[sbhikes]

I got my tattoo finished last night. The healing process all over again ugh. The swelling on my lower leg is murder. And the itchiness of the healed side continues. I feel like I have both poison oak and really bad edema.

[Graeme]

Healing is going well, but getting my forearm tattooed in the summer is goddamned stupid because while everybody is out wearing shorts and t-shirts, I'm sweating it out in long sleeves trying to keep a healing tattoo out of the sun.

[Brock Varty]

Healing is going well, but getting my forearm tattooed in the summer is goddamned stupid because while everybody is out wearing shorts and t-shirts, I'm sweating it out in long sleeves trying to keep a healing tattoo out of the sun.

I started wearing longsleeves almost year round to protect my arms. It's dumb, I know.