tertia

Covering it with a relatively loose, non-abrasive long-sleeve shirt should be adequate to hide your tattoo while it's healing, especially after the first day or two. Then just let it air out when you're at home. Tegaderm also seems like a reasonable option. I work in a hospital (also in the Southern US) and visible tattoos aren't allowed, so a LOT of the nurses/doctors/other tattooed employees opt to wear sports sleeves over their tattoos. I probably wouldn't put that over a healing tattoo, but it could be a better option than full long sleeves all the time once it's healed.

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?

Looks good! Who fixed it up for you?

James Cumberland made me this Kirtland warbler sitting on a rowan branch:

Can finally post in this thread. Finished linework a little bit ago, laying down color now. My artist put some numbing cream on before starting color and it's magical but I feel like I'm cheating a little bit. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Very cool! I have an appointment with James next month and I can't wait.

I also vote for color, but that's just my preference. I have an appointment booked for tattoo number two with James Cumberland in April! Also hoping to get back in with Myra Oh in April since I wasn't able to get a March appointment. Working on those squidpants.

Pretty! Who are the artists? Welcome to the board!

Hey Silverbird, this thread has a lot of information on healing tattoos in places where a bra might rub:

(I posted these questions as a reply in another thread, but it was in the Initiation forum and got buried pretty quickly so I hope it's okay to cross-post here.) I do gymnastics and aerial silks, and I'm worried about how the intense friction/frequent bruising/silk burns that come with these sports (especially the latter) might affect the integrity of my tattoos long-term, even after they've healed. For example, my new tattoo is on the back of my calf, and when we climb the silks for warm up, we descend back to the ground by wrapping the fabric tightly around one leg and sliding to the ground, which causes a lot of friction where the silk is wrapped, including against the back of my leg where the tattoo is. I have two questions: 1) Could this kind of repetitive friction damage (e.g. cause accelerated fading) the work over time? What about repetitive bruising? 2) This is a little moot now that I'm two months healed, but for future work, how long should I wait to subject new pieces to this kind of friction? To foam block gymnastics pits? There's plenty of info here and elsewhere online about the potential risks of going to a germy gym/sweating on a new tattoo, but I'm specifically concerned with exposing it to abrasive surfaces like gymnastics floor carpet, beam suede, pit foam, and aerial silks. For the record, I am aware that I worry too much. This forum has already done wonders in easing my mind about many other tattoo-related worries, so I figured I throw this out there. Thanks! And yay fitness!

Cute! Who was the artist?

Well that's pretty solid advice. And it seems obvious now. I'm strongly considering going back to the same artist for the other calf because I had a great experience with her last time and that way even if the shapes of the tattoos don't totally mirror each other, at least having them done in the same style will add a degree of congruence. Thanks for taking the time to reply to an anxious tattoo noob with a propensity for overthinking everything!

Not really my style, but I like the second artist best out of these options.

Welcome Brett!

I’m in the early stages of brainstorming my next tattoo. I want to add a piece on my left calf that mirrors the jar of flowers I already have on my right (by Myra Oh): I’m not aiming for perfect symmetry, but something with a similar silhouette in an American traditional style. (The imagery doesn’t have to be traditional, though I’m open to that.) A traditional hot air balloon is a contender right now, something like the ones Ashley Love does: What other kinds of designs might fit well in this space and balance well with my current tattoo? Somewhat related: In general do you find artists are willing to work with loose design ideas (e.g. something traditional that will fit on my calf and have a similar shape to the tattoo on the other leg), or do they prefer a more concrete idea? (I’m sure the answer to this is “it depends on the artist”, but maybe you guys have some deeper insight.) Thanks all!

I love these roadside "weed" flowers too! Cool idea. Everyone's Friday the 13th stuff is neat.

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but since this is the "definitive" American traditional thread... Who are your favorite present-day American traditional tattooers? Both well known and maybe not so well known. One artist whose style I'm really drawn to is Justin Tyler from my home state of Michigan. I love his super bold linework. https://www.instagram.com/justintylertattoo/ I also love Ashley Love!

I got my first tattoo a month ago and was waiting until I came home for Christmas to tell/show my mom. As I expected, it was not a big deal, though she made some weird comment about me being a "true millennial". She also said it was pretty and asked if I was going to get more. My grandma's reactions were the best though: Initial reaction: "At least it's flowers and not something else." Then: "That's one of the nicer tattoos I've seen in a while." Lastly: "Some people have those all over their body!"

That's awesome. I especially love the skeletons.

Another question related to hair removal: how long should you wait before shaving a newly tattooed area?

Agreed! And as long as I don't get sewn up with bad tattoos, I think I'll be in the clear.

I love this thread! At present, I intend to keep my tattoos at/below my knees (famous last words, I know), with loose aspirations for American traditional-ish patchwork "sleeves". I want to take my time filling them up though, and really only pursue work from artists I love for pieces that resonate with me, rather than rushing to get covered for the sake of getting covered. Also, I promised my husband I'd take it slow, partly for the sake of our bank account, and partly because he's worried I'm going to "get all tatted up like the guys from Lucero".

I'm brand new myself, but welcome!

I'm wondering about this too. I've heard exfoliating can help tattoos look brighter since you're essentially getting rid of some layers of dead skin that could never clouding it. Is there any truth to this? I also posted a question about intense sports impacting the longevity of tattoos which I posted here: As far as sun protection goes, I've been an anti-UV zealot and sunphobe for years, long before ever getting tattooed. (Though I figured this made me a good candidate for tattoos since I knew keeping them out of the sun wouldn't be anything new.) Anyway, after many years of trial and error with different sunscreens and such, I find that I far and away prefer UV-protectant clothing to sun cream when possible. I really like a company called Coolibar. I have a couple jacket/wrap things that I can wear over any outfit and know that my arms are well protected without any sticky, smelly sunscreen. A+ for convenience, at least! Does anyone know if physical blockers (like zinc oxide) are better over tattoos than chemical sunscreens (like avobenzone)? I prefer physical blockers in general because they're not absorbed into the skin but would definitely make tattoos look a little cloudy when applied. I'd be paranoid about the chemical products potentially causing discoloration or something since they are absorbed, though I can't imagine the effects of the sunscreen could ever be more damaging/discoloring than the sun itself!

A couple newbie questions re: blowout: 1) Is blowout something that only happens during healing, or can it happen any time throughout the life of the tattoo? 2) The the other info I've read here regarding blowout says you have to wait until the tattoo is fully healed to truly know how the lines are going to settle and look in the long run. I know everyone heals differently and at a different pace, but in general after how man you weeks/months can you look at your tattoo and say "yep, those lines are blownout and theyre probably not going away?" Thanks!