Can You Preserve Color?

[21stNow]

Is there anything that can be done differently during healing to preserve the color in a tattoo? I know that there are products that claim to preserve color, but I'm wondering if there is anything special that can be done that really works. I would think that you would just want the healing process to be as normal as possible and to not have scabs that could come off and let the ink out of your skin. I wanted to see if I was missing anything and am looking for thoughts and opinions in this thread.

[Synesthesia]

I'm not sure what you mean...all properly done tattoos will have at worst some small patches of color come out if you were to pick off a scab or something. I've never seen one lose a noticeable amount of color unless it was applied poorly to start with (by a scratcher). The colors will fade slightly from application to healing...but they should look "settled in," not faded. If you mean aging tattoos losing their color, there's nothing you can do in the healing stages to prevent that. You just need to maintain them throughout the years and maybe get a touch up to keep them looking nice.

Generally, when I get home with a new tattoo: I unwrap, wash with warm water and soap, pat dry, apply a thin layer of aquaphor, rewrap before I go to bed to prevent mess, and after a couple days of aquaphor I switch to lotion. I've never lost significant color doing this. To keep healed tattoos looking nice, I take general care of my skin (not a lot of sun, sunblock if I do need to be outside a lot, staying hydrated, etc), and apply a tiny dab of lotion to my tattoos every now and then when I think about it. I don't have anything much older than 5 years though.

Looking at your pics, no offense, but it doesn't look like you've gone to the world's greatest artists to begin with. Some of your problem might just be from the designing stage and application...

[21stNow]

With one exception, I haven't had color come out of my tattoos during the healing process. I was wondering if there were any truth to claims by some tattoo ointment companies (Tattoo Goo being one of them) that the colors would stay vibrant longer after using their products. I haven't used Tattoo Goo specifically because it has artificial color in it.

I don't have large complaints about the way that the color appears after my tattoos heal. Most colors outside of red are not going to show that well on my dark complexion. I just wanted to find out if there were any after care methods that can preserve color more than others.

[Dan]

Is there anything that can be done differently during healing to preserve the color in a tattoo? I know that there are products that claim to preserve color, but I'm wondering if there is anything special that can be done that really works. I would think that you would just want the healing process to be as normal as possible and to not have scabs that could come off and let the ink out of your skin. I wanted to see if I was missing anything and am looking for thoughts and opinions in this thread.

the only thing I can think of is to keep it out of the sun, FOREVER ! either with clothing or sunblock.

[21stNow]

the only thing I can think of is to keep it out of the sun, FOREVER ! either with clothing or sunblock.

Thanks. Most of my tattoos are hidden well by clothes, so I haven't had the sun concern for those. I use a wristband for my wrist tattoo even for driving or short walks to lunch.

[sophistre]

The color 'settles in,' to borrow Synesthesia's phrase, because your immune system continues to ferry ink particles into your lymph system slowly, and because you grow new layers of epidermis, so the bits of ink wind up kinda swallowed up by more cells, and, yeah. You can't prevent that. Unless you stop making new cells. In which case you would be dead, so don't do that.

[ChuckJ]

I agree with everyone else on here. Tegaderm is definitely my favorite healing technique.

[CABS]

Is there anything that can be done differently during healing to preserve the color in a tattoo? I know that there are products that claim to preserve color, but I'm wondering if there is anything special that can be done that really works. I would think that you would just want the healing process to be as normal as possible and to not have scabs that could come off and let the ink out of your skin. I wanted to see if I was missing anything and am looking for thoughts and opinions in this thread.

TEGADERM

[omeletta]

TEGADERM

Gentle warning: when you take off the dressing it will LOOK like you're taking off some colour, this is perfectly normal though and no reason for concern...

[21stNow]

TEGADERM

For those of you who use Tegaderm, do you apply it after you get home (after removing the artist's bandage) or does your artist apply it when he/she finishes the tattoo?

[SeeSea]

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/4795-tegaderm-saniderm-tatuderm-healing-process.html

[21stNow]

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/4795-tegaderm-saniderm-tatuderm-healing-process.html

Thanks for posting the link. It seems that people who use these products are doing it to have less scabbing. I don't scab with my tattoos as it is. Would the Tegaderm product still be advisable for me? It doesn't seem like it would cause someone who doesn't scab to start scabbing, but I don't know.

[SeeSea]

@21stNow - I can't answer that question - I have never tried it.