How to Apply Lotion to Your Tattoo

Chad Koeplinger: Hi, my name is Chad Koeplinger from Tattoo Paradise in Washington D.C. We are at here today making a video about tattoo and piercing aftercare. At this point in the game, we are going to go over what to put on your tattoo as its healing.

Few minutes ago, we washed this tattoo off really good and thoroughly and we blotted it dry, did all that kind of stuff. What you want to do after you have done blotting it dry is give it about two hours to completely air out. You are going to have some moisture in there still from the shower or whatever. If you put lotion on your tattoo or whatever you are going to put, I recommend lotion. If you put that on there, you are going to trap that moisture in and it is going to try work its way out against that lotion and it will help form a scab, which is what we kind of, want to avoid if we can.

Basically, when you put the lotion on, you are probably not going to be wearing rubber gloves, but I am since it's his blood not mine. We are going to put just a little tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little bit of lotion on his tattoo, this much.

Put that on, just work in a new skin like you would work it anywhere else. Put that on nice and thoroughly, just kind of even coat. That's about all you want to do. You are going to want to do that two to three times a day. The reason that you recommend hand lotion is your tattoo doesn't go very deep in your skin, so there is no reason to medicate it. Ointments and things like that, they are greasy. They attract bacteria and dirt, dust. They don't let oxygen get to it the way that it needs to be and for the most part, most people getting tattoos the majority of them are pretty much beginners. They are getting tattoo they are not old pros, they are not covered in tattoos. So, they haven't learned all the tricks, okay. Lotion is a fool proof method for somebody that isn't like a heavily tattooed person and hasn't done it very often. It's really hard to mess that up. Whereas, ointments and stuff work and maybe you have friends that it worked for them or whatever else, but it's a little bit more tricky. It's not a straight forward and stuff, so I don't recommend it so much.

Honestly, if the tattoo is applied properly and you left the bandage on long enough and cleaned it properly and everything in that first time, it should heal up rather quickly anyway. So, that's it, we just went over lotion. From here, we are going to move on to what to expect and the dos and don'ts during the next week or so of your tattoo's healing process.