Bigboy67

@cltattooing color realism has sort of overtaken tattooing in the sense that it seems like unless it's realism, people don't think other styles are great tattoos.... Kind of annoying. But.... Nobody on planet earth uses color the way Cecil does, his tattoos are hyper real but when you spend time looking at them you realize he uses about 70 different colors in his pieces... Just look at this fucking Dice Clay he just did, savage, unmatched color palette as far as realism artists, he really takes it to the limit with color

Getting 8-10 more hours on this owl tomorrow, pretty sure we will do a forest scene a cross the bottom at some point too

I love it because I can also hit a new piece with some decent ice time too. That combined with sleeve and lots of safe and sleep have led to me healing these last few tattoos amazingly. Getting 8-10 more hours under the needle with Cecil tomorrow AM ... I of course will be doing the Tegaderm method and will post during then After pics. Last 9+ hours session healed beautifully. Can't wait to finish this owl

While I agree with @Killercook76 that it SHOULD hurt when you take it off, I think it should feel way more like peeling a shirt off a real bad sunburn , versus peeling off a layer of skin with a filet knife. In the end though, I'd still take 20 mins of brutality for the way my tattoos heal now

@KBeee did you try using the Tegaderm on untattooed skin first? I wonder if you are one of those folks who is real sensitive to the adhesive? It definitely shouldn't have been that hard to take off. It'll be slightly hard to take off, but it shouldn't be excruciating or take 25 minutes. Have you been tattooed by this specific artist before? I'm wondering if he's a heavy hand and the irritation was more from the work and not the Tegaderm? (I'm just spitballing here, not saying that's the case or trying to insult your tattooer) I had 10 hours of work, so I've used this now on really tiny all the way to giant spanning pieces, never has it been more than just slowly peeling it off. It's sore of course, but not anything like you're describing

@suburbanxcore ya , there's nothing traditional about this method, which is why I think it scares lots of folks. You're thinking of the "semi wet" style healing, where there's cling wrap used to cover the tattoo ding the entire heal This stuff is totally different, the entire thing is basically one huge sterile adhesive sheet that locks in the healing enzymes your body produces under stress

@suburbanxcore ah I gotcha. Well this is going to be the mind blower for you then haha, because the ENTIRE sheet sticks to the tattoo and surrounding skin. That's why it works the way it does, blocking out all moisture and bacteria, while still being breathable OUT. So the short answer is it sticks everywhere, that's what you want, no worries about at I king it to the tattooed skin. Slap it on, wait three days, peel off in shower and be amazed, the end.

The only thing if be concerned about if I had a whole sleeve blasted out at once is making sure you're cool with limited mobility in the arm. The Tegaderm is really flexible, but doing an entire arm would restrict some movement, so if you have an active job it might screw with work. The flip side of that though is it's only on for three days so you could time your tattoo a little better (if possible) so it accounts for you being out on commission a few days. But if it's really that big of a hindrance, you probably also shouldn't be getting that much work at once, maybe try smaller sessions and piece the sleeve in two sessions versus just one?

@rolso and @suburbanxcore it's super easy, don't stretch the material though. You just lay it on softly, no stretch, lightly apply pressure to make sure it's stuck to all of the skin, then you're done. That half of an owl I posted a pic of is like 7" x 12"... It works fine on larger pieces. I personally prefer the 4x4 sheets now because it's so much easier to work with. You'll find the stuff kind of feels like a very think rubber skin. If you hold it wrong it will fold over on itself... you've wasted a piece, ha. Tegaderm is perfect for all tattoos, small pieces to slap on one sheet or larger ones that require multiple sheets. The material will still breathe out just fine if you overlap, and I haven't had overlapping affect the waterproofing either. Even when you use a ton of sheets, it still peels off in one big sheet, not like you gotta sit there and peel a hundred smaller pieces. For a sleeve I would start at the top, making sure you go above the piece by a full couple of inches and do a top row, then move down (overlapping the last row by an inch) and do the same until you've covered the whole piece. Do yourself a favor and leave a full 2" (though id say 3" after experimenting). Try to apply it with the least amount of bunching up of the material, try to make it look smooth across your skin but again DO NOT stretch this out across your skin, you will be super uncomfortable and it may heal a bit off. Once you've covered it you are done!

I just sat for a shade under 10 hours on friday, did my (new) usual, leave plastic wrap on overnight, wash dry and Tegaderm in the AM, leave on 3 days and when you take it off you're done except the "sunburn" light peeling stage. Annddddd that's where they get me. That itching sensation is the worst annoyance in this damned world Combine that with my hairy back which is already starting to grow back, and it feels like someone is constantly lightly rubbing a 100% wool sweater across my back. Akkkk! Before i tegaderm'd I used to ruin all my clothes though, plus my sheets which my wife loves to explain were real expensive

Tegaderm-ing an in progress piece I recently got. 10 hours of lines, mapping out, some base color, etc. probably another 10-15 hours to go on it. First pic is fresh, second covered in Tegaderm with small amount of weeping. Obviously will post a few healed pics, but we will be going back in on February 2 to finish it as well.

Got about 10 hours under the needle with Cecil on Friday. Pic below is the progress we made, mostly mapped entire owl body and one wing, blacks and browns started in as well as some others. Second wing obviously not even started yet. Don't usually post "progress" shots, but I think it'll be really cool for others to see where this starts and what iTools like after round two. Multi-session tattoos aren't for the faint of heart, haha, you gotta walk around explaining to anyone who sees it "oh it's my finished".... One more that is about 48 hours later (covered of course with Tegaderm for healing). Mostly seeing a small amount of weeping, but no pools or anything, Cecil has one of the lightest hands I've gotten work from so I wasn't too beat up after...

For what it's worth, I met up with Cecil Porter to shoot the shit about our upcoming appointments and he mentioned that the Tegaderm heal method is something he has started using as well and that it's making the rounds as a preferred method for a lot of heavy hitters

@graybones just supplement your iron and use Tylenol instead of ibuprofen, it's an NSAID that doesn't have anticoagulant properties

Was able to get a second appointment with Cecil Porter (just got lucky since I live in Portland where he is now), so I think now that I have about 16-18 guaranteed hours with him that I'm gonna change up my plans and have him do a coverup for me, covering a piece in my upper back, and also tattoo over my shoulders onto my chest as well. Will post up pics for sure, two appts with Cecil in January and one with Tim kern in feb means I gotta save up? These boys ain't cheap

I added ice application, ibuprofen, and Benadryl to my after care program. Take it day before, of, and after tattoo to help with inflammation. Been reading up on the anti inflammatory effects of marijuana as well which is real interesting. Allegedly they make thc pills now too, so no smoking. Of course, it's still federally illegal to use , so I don't condone or promote it's usage Cool showers seem to make sense to help reduce swelling. The -derm products are awesome though so you can just apply Ice directly. I would just keep showers short and the tattoo out of the heat and just use ice during the rest of the day

I definitely agree with waiting. A SOLID 12 hours before applying -derm.... Then leave it on for the full 72 hours. I had plenty of buildup in some spots, no biggy, healing just fine, while point of the -derm products is kind of a "set it and forget it" kind of aftercare, I probably would've went with an alternative/old school healing program instead of re-derming every day. Sorry, I know this is a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking at this point. How did you end up healing?

@Killercook76 do you buy from a specific eBay seller or do you just deal hunt? Friday @8am - completely done with the sunburn peel and skin is looking lizard-riffic !!! Here's a quick pic from this AM (pre-lotion, so very very dried out)

Be careful buying Tegaderm on eBay for one other reason too, some of the ones being sold there are expired. Does it really matter? I don't know. But when I don't know I don't use it on a fresh wound lol

***Sorry for the shitty pics***

@slayer9019. I got the 6"x8" box of 10 for 28.95, and in picking up the 4" x 4" box of 50 for 29.97, both on amazon. Prices are the same as eBay or real close. For me, I sort of tripped out buying sterile bandages off some dude on eBay. Not saying it's a bad idea, just felt funny in my little brain so I decided to get it through amazon instead @Killercook76 it's healing great. Thursday - 8am - here is a quick up close pic of the healing. I basically went through the entire sunburn peeling process in about 24 hours. Almost all peeling is done, and you can see I've moved onto the shiny lizard skin phase, with a little sunburn peeling sill left to go. Healing great. Still never got a scab, and that hasn't happened for me with various other methods over my last at least 10 tattoo sessions, so I don't think I'll ever use anything else again. The deal on the 4 x 4 patches works out to be a much better deal than the 6x8 patches

@slayer9019 you can buy it on Amazon with pretty fast shipping. But any medical supply place should have it, and I think even Walgreens and rite aids have it too, maybe ask the pharmacist? Tegaderm is really widely used in the medical profession so it should be easy enough to find. Or of you know anybody that's a nurse, doctor, etc you could just have them being home some from the hospital, of course that's the ultimate hookup! I'm gonna be praising this method for a long time to come. Might just buy a roll of it to have for the long haul. Just the fact that you really don't have to think of the new tattoo, obsess on the cleanliness, etc makes it worth it, but the speed and quality of the healing? Damn son!

Wednesday - 6am - noticed this morning when I woke up that I had begun the full on "sunburn peel" stage of the healing process Here's a real dry shot right before moisturizing

Well, I had to pull my bandage a few hours early due to an early day tomorrow. had it bandaged exactly 64 hours. Feels amazing. Zero scabbing. Skin completely smooth. I've just never had a tattoo heal like this before. Usually on day 3 after being tattooed I'm full on in the midst of scabbing, harshing my skin with Dial soap, and obsessively washing, aquaphor, repeat. It was amazing to actually forget I had just gotten tattooed. I'm still interested to see how long the "sunburn" phase of the heal and how it heals completely, but I'm pretty impressed so far. I just wish I had this amazing healing experience with a better tattoo, haha. But this old garbage tattoo needed a little reblast... At least now I know for the future so when we go in to lay in skin tones I'll heal it the exact same way again, honestly I don't think I'll ever heal a tattoo another way. For those wondering, here's my exact protocol in one summary (sorry for all the dumb and very exact info, but people are gonna ask): 1. Tattooing ended at 7pm Friday. 2. Friday - 8pm - An hour after tattooed, scrap old bandage, wash, and air dry. 3. Friday - 8:05pm - Re wrap with plastic wrap, leave on overnight til morning. 4. Saturday - 5am - pulled plastic wrap, washed, air dried, and Applied Tegaderm, left on for 2.5 days (64 hours to the minute). 5. Monday - 9pm - Pull Tegaderm off (in shower under hot soapy water... VERY easy, not painful at all) 6. Monday - 9:05pm - Wash , air dry, and immediate begin "lotion protocol" for the next week or so. Here's a couple quick pics I just snapped 3 days and 5 hours after being tattooed (sorry for bad angles and quality, took these quickly with iPhone)

@TigerBlue77 this stuff is really flexible, kind of feels a little rubbery to the touch. And it gives great protection against things rubbing against the tattoos. I have two little kids and normally after i get work I have to stay away. This time with Tegaderm I've been playing with them all day, things can bump or rub the tattoo without discomfort