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Unfortunately, there's still a lot of bias against tattoos out there, especially in certain fields and professions. There are a good number of folks who work at my college with visible tattoos. I interview every full-time employee before they are hired - some came to the interview with exposed tattoos, some not. And many of them work in my IT department. For me it isn't an issue at all. I also don't hide the fact that I have tattoos - although I have not made the jump to a below-the short-sleeve shirt level....yet. I find it funny when I'm out somewhere with folks of my age and hear them comment about tattoos. Generally, I don't say anything but, if I'm wearing short sleeves I'll casually make like I have an itch on my upper arm and expose part of a tattoo. The reactions are priceless. I also make a point of wearing sleeveless shirts in the warmer months and my social media pages have pictures of me with my tattoos exposed. Call it my campaign to help eliminate tattoo bias. Of course, I'm 62, have an Army retirement check coming each month and I'm the president of the College. There's not much people can do to me at this point. Still, I will probably wait until I retire in a few years to move to an exposed area. That's my long way of supporting what people have said about focusing on the importance of your job. It's unfortunate, but unless you are willing to wear long-sleeve shirts for work I'd probably forgo an exposed tattoo for now.

It took my skin off. And the shower won't help. Tried it all. I have pretty sensitive skin.

So, I'm in Atlanta for a software conference and it let out earlier than I expected and I found myself with an afternoon with nothing to do. Browsed the interwebs for shops close by and didn't see anything promising. Just as I was about to give up and found one that looked good and ran over and got this done. It is a really bad pic but you get the idea. It wraps a bit so I doubt I will ever rally get a good shot. Tattoo by Stenvik Moström @stenviking_libertytat2

I'm currently working in Saigon VN and have to wear long sleeves to cover my tattoos. I have to say, it's a bit warm for it here at the moment but the majority of my time is spent indoors with AC so it's no big deal. You can cover healing tattoos with clothing just make sure they're loose fitting and clean when you put them on

i wore long sleeves to work exclusively for 3 years (to see if i could do it) before i took the plunge with tattoos dropping below the tshirt line. and now i've been wearing long sleeves for 10 years covering up my tattooed arms. long sleeves all the time ain't a big deal. they work great in the summer to protect from direct sun :p

nah, just hope your massage therapist loves dead skin

Mr. Oliver Peck was visiting in Asheville yesterday at Hotstuff and i was able to get in for a quick oneshot.

Definitely the job is an issue. I work in IT for a community bank. I hope I am not here forever, but there are a lot of factors that play in to it. I've been here 10 years, and sadly do not see a change on the horizon any time soon. I figured that would be the general consensus.. I guess I just wanted to ask in case someone had a magical answer! ;)

I think that the big issue is your job. Figure that out first before you get the tattoo! You can manage around healing and keeping it covered but is it really worth it? For me, forearms in the South would be a PITA to keep covered for work. :|

You've already been given several options for advice. Did you try Benadryl as was suggested? If, as your artist suggested, it might be heat related did you try anything that would help eliminate a heat rash? In the end, though, the best course of action is to see your physician at this point and definitively determine what is causing the bumps.

My latest tattoo is a little over a week old, and my husband and I took a long weekend to Savannah for our anniversary. I'm in full peel/brutal itchiness phase, did my best to sweep the dead skin flakes out of our Airbnb bed before we left. Anyway we went to have massages today and despite me explicitly asking the massage therapist to avoid my right leg all together, she still passed over my peeling tattoo twice with eucalyptus oil. She almost certainly took some loose skin with her, but hopefully no damage was done. Does anyone know if eucalyptus oil will be problematic on a week old tattoo?

@scottyg Thanks man!! Now that my skin has settled out, the yellow in the eyes really contrasts against the pink and green. Better photos after everything has settled in! But man wow, your piece is incredibly powerful, I can't wait to see the black and colour go into it.

Sounds like a GREAT vacation to me. Good stories, too. You earned this one, right? @Synesthesia

I think I made things worse for myself. I got it on day 4 of my vacation and on days 2 and 3, I drank an ungodly amount of beer and we walked all over the city the days before doing tourist-y things. So I was pretty sore and probably slightly hungover. Not ideal conditions for tattooing...but a fun vacation!

I use Aquaphor very lightly that first week. Works like a charm for me... @Boiled Dove Lord, @Synesthesia, you sound like you are having a good time healing! Hang in there!

I think Aquaphor isn't even that highly recommended anymore because it's petroleum based and can suffocate the tattoo. But I don't care, I find it really soothing for those first couple days. My latest is in uncharted territory for me, I finally broke down and went to the forearm. Healing has been a whole different beast. I never realized how much your forearm twists throughout the day. Between the swelling and scabbing (also hadn't considered gravity making it ooze nonstop unless I propped my arm up!), I couldn't fully and comfortable rotate my arm until a few days after having it done. I also usually dry heal (or mostly dry heal) but this one was so scabby and constantly uncomfortable that I had to break down and use Lubriderm once or twice a day. I'm on my second peel now and the itchiness is in full swing.

So, for years here I've heard y'all talk about Aquaphor and didn't think much of it. I didn't think it could be much different from anything else. Well I was walking through the drug store the other day, just as my ribs were getting crusty, and saw that it was on sale so I grabbed a little tube. Holy crap, that make healing a whole different experience. Why had I not listened to you guys sooner?

I had a shoulder piece done 4 days ago... the itching is not actually too bad (hope I haven't cursed it by saying that now!) and it's just starting to peel, so is looking a little grim. It's not finished, still got the majority of the colouring to do but I couldn't take the pain any more It's still very tender and I can't even stand to have a loose, light t-shirt over it. I know it will be worth it in the end though!

Excellent! I love how the artist put such living expression in the eyes ... seems to be saying something like "I dare you dude ... go ahead ... make my day!" :) I personally am finding the underbelly of the forearm more sensitive than the top of the forearm, but we are all different ... and some tattooists are more heavy handed than others ...

so I had this done yesterday. This time the pain was quite strong. My first tattoo was on the opposite side of this tattoo, but then the pain wasn't strong. Could it be because of lack of sleep? Because there were moments, when I tought that I will not handle this:D

I had this done last night on my foot. Surprised the pain was quite tolerable. I was medicated but not that much. We breezed right through it in 2 hours flat. I went to bed that night and then it was painful and took something for pain. Today only surface swelling and it feels pretty good. I'm staying in for the next few days to give it time to heal.

Got a small tattoo yesterday that I think qualifies as a "groin" tattoo. It's located on my hip bone towards my pube area. This healing should be interesting. The tegaderm has already ripped once, so I slapped another piece over it. Good times.