Tattoo maintenance with acne-prone skin?

[Naiemh]

Hello there!

This is my first thread so I hope I did it in the right sub-forum.

First of all, I'm so sorry for my bad english:

I always had acne-prone skin. As I'm 21 now it's kind of under control. I usually have two or three pimples on my face but I just don't care about them as they are usually small and, meh, I'm super young, they will eventually disapear with ages... Or at least I hope so (I tell you this so you can make an idea how "acne-prone" it is).

About my back, since a few years ago I never had acne anymore.

So, when I started my back tattoo a month ago my back was fully clean and I had super healthy smooth skin: no acne, no scars. Just perfect skin.

And it was this way for about two years ago, so I didn't worry about acne on my back after my tattoo because I actually had no back acne anymore.

But, after two weeks, some super small pimples started to appear. They're not like regular pimples, they're super small and invisible (at least I can't see them in the mirror, but I can feel them when I touch my back).

They're like the smaller ones on this picture:

I know what kind of acne it is and it happens because of clog pores. That's the result of moisturize and I know it's normal and everybody had experience this when they keep moisturizing the tattoo at least 2 weeks before it's fully healed.

I know they will dissapear when I stop to moisturize, BUT I also know that, to maintain your tattoo with perfect and bright colors you need to moisturize everyday at least once.

And that's what I do. 17 days passed from my last session and for the two first weeks I washed and moisturized twice a day, but now for the last 5 days I just did it once a day and that's what I kept in mind to do forever, as I want my tattoos to be perfect as far as possible and I know they need to be moisturized to achieve it.

The moisturizer I use is Dream Cream fro LUSH and it's super super super moisturizing, 100% vegan, 100% natural ingredients, so that's the best I can do for my tattoo.

But... I don't want to have this annoying pimples forever because I'm sure the're going to hurt my tattoo anyway at long term.

So, what should I do?

I know I can't find any natural moisturizer that will not clog the pores, so I don't know...

Will it be okay to just stop moisturizing?

As my skin is actually oily skin, will it be enough to keep my tattoo naturally moisturized with my own skin oils? (it just happens on my upper back, so I would keep moisturizing my lower back, which isn't an oily zone).

WOW, I'm so sorry about the super long post, hahaha

Thanks a lot if you read everything :)

[Graeme]

Relax about the tattoo.

Yes, how well you take care of yourself and your body generally, especially with regard to sun exposure, is going to have an effect on how the tattoo looks over time, but a lot of it also comes down to how the tattoo was made to begin with. Not moisturizing every day isn't going to make your tattoo fall apart.

[jdberetta]

Just because it's made from vegan and natural ingredients, it doesn't mean that it's good for your skin, pores, or healing skin.

Try rubbing some all natural organic vegan holistic fairly traded Buddha-blessed poison ivy on it and see what happens...

In all seriousness though, I've always used Preparation-H ointment (not the cream) to aid in the moisturizing of my tattoos (and I have a substantial amount of ink). Other friends that I have just use a simple hypo-allergenic non fragranced moisturizer that isn't water based. Maybe try a different lotion on a small portion of your healing skin and see how that fares.

'Hope that helps a bit.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[9Years]

It seems like you know the answer to your own question: your skin is reacting to being over-moisturized. This reaction will likely be worse for your skin-health (and therefor the tattoo) longterm than simply not moisturizing everyday. So, don't moisturize everyday.

You don't need fancy products and herbs and salves and potions for good tattoos to look good for a long time.

[LadySparrow]

Sorry, I couldn't resist, the intense worries about moisturising kinda reminds me of:

But in all seriousness, you really don't need to moisturise every day, especially the back, where skin is usually not dry at all.

I use a lotion on my tattoos only when they get irritated (by clothes or something) or when I lotion whole body after bath, which is no often than once in two weeks or so.

[oboogie]

I know it's hard not to worry, but you really need to just let it be. Don't obsess over it.

[Naiemh]

On 25/4/2016 at 9:02 PM, Graeme said:

Relax about the tattoo.

Yes, how well you take care of yourself and your body generally, especially with regard to sun exposure, is going to have an effect on how the tattoo looks over time, but a lot of it also comes down to how the tattoo was made to begin with. Not moisturizing every day isn't going to make your tattoo fall apart.

 

On 26/4/2016 at 4:15 PM, LadySparrow said:

Sorry, I couldn't resist, the intense worries about moisturising kinda reminds me of:

But in all seriousness, you really don't need to moisturise every day, especially the back, where skin is usually not dry at all.

I use a lotion on my tattoos only when they get irritated (by clothes or something) or when I lotion whole body after bath, which is no often than once in two weeks or so.

On 26/4/2016 at 4:23 AM, 9Years said:

It seems like you know the answer to your own question: your skin is reacting to being over-moisturized. This reaction will likely be worse for your skin-health (and therefor the tattoo) longterm than simply not moisturizing everyday. So, don't moisturize everyday.

You don't need fancy products and herbs and salves and potions for good tattoos to look good for a long time.

Yep, thanks, I guess I'm not going to moisturize it every day. Two or three times a week maybe makes the little pimples dissapear :) Hope it works!

P.s: Hahahaha, such an horrible funny gif

On 26/4/2016 at 3:07 AM, jdberetta said:

Just because it's made from vegan and natural ingredients, it doesn't mean that it's good for your skin, pores, or healing skin.

Try rubbing some all natural organic vegan holistic fairly traded Buddha-blessed poison ivy on it and see what happens...

In all seriousness though, I've always used Preparation-H ointment (not the cream) to aid in the moisturizing of my tattoos (and I have a substantial amount of ink). Other friends that I have just use a simple hypo-allergenic non fragranced moisturizer that isn't water based. Maybe try a different lotion on a small portion of your healing skin and see how that fares.

'Hope that helps a bit.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hahaha, you have a point! Anyway, I checked all the ingredients and they're nice, also I had read a lot of reviews about the product and it works really well.

Anyway, you're so right, I will try to look for other lotions which maybe don't clog my pores, hope I find a nice one soon!

 

 

On 26/4/2016 at 4:48 PM, oboogie said:

I know it's hard not to worry, but you really need to just let it be. Don't obsess over it.

I won't do it anymore, I think I just got super worried at that moment and thought that writting it would maybe make me relax and then read your advices make me feel better, thanks :D