1. Home
  2. Style
  3. Tattoos / Body Piercings
photo of Karen L. Hudson

Karen's Tattoos Blog

By Karen L. Hudson, About.com Guide to Tattoos since 1999

Opinion Poll: What's Your Favorite Tattoo Aftercare Product?

Sunday May 20, 2007
Do you have a favorite aftercare product for healing a new tattoo? If you do, take the poll! If your favorite product isn't on the list, please choose "other" and leave a comment below and tell us what you prefer to use!

View current poll results

Comments

May 20, 2007 at 5:39 pm
(1) ladytattoo says:

We use the advice given by Dr. Kris Sperry of Atlanta, Georgia. He composed the original Blood Borne Pathogen course for APT years ago.

Plain white lotion with no fragrance, no aloe. Available anywhere, inexpensive. Give your client the 89 cent travel size available at Walmart. Curel or Lubriderm travel sizes available. (yeah, GIVE them this….you just made a nice chunk of change on their tattoo, right?)

Hey, just heard from a tourist client that her ‘tattooer’ back home told her to use MAYONNAISE on her tattoo!!! Wonder who trained him….Bozo??

May 20, 2007 at 6:02 pm
(2) Andy says:

In my opinion I’d wait 5 day’s before using lotion. Lotions have been known to draw in bacteria. I’d use Bacitracin or A&D in VARY thin amount’s 3 times a day as needed for the first 5 day’s, then lubriderm lotion until healed!

May 20, 2007 at 9:57 pm
(3) Sorcha says:

The guy that I got my tattoo from recommended Bag Balm for the tattoo.

May 20, 2007 at 9:57 pm
(4) Sorcha says:

The guy that I got my tattoo from recommended Bag Balm for the tattoo.

May 20, 2007 at 11:19 pm
(5) Kim Jones says:

After trial and error my husband and I have discovered that a rotation of Bacitracin, Corn Huskers and vitamin E oil (tiny amounts) work best for us. We seem to heal faster, have less scabbing and lose less ink.

May 21, 2007 at 11:59 am
(6) peersurgurl says:

At our shop we’ve discovered Tattoo Serum - it is a purified emu oil product. It has no odor, no color and is healing tattoos in days. Check it out www.tattooserum.com.

May 21, 2007 at 11:59 am
(7) peersurgurl says:

At our shop we’ve discovered Tattoo Serum - it is a purified emu oil product. It has no odor, no color and is healing tattoos in days. Check it out www.tattooserum.com.

May 21, 2007 at 12:00 pm
(8) peersurgurl says:

At our shop we’ve discovered Tattoo Serum - it is a purified emu oil product. It has no odor, no color and is healing tattoos in days. Check it out www.tattooserum.com.

May 21, 2007 at 6:07 pm
(9) kellyheartache says:

The guy I got my first tattoo form actually told me to just let it “dry out” for the first two weeks. He said it loses less color that way. However, after about a week, it started to scab severely, so I asked one of the girls at Custom Tattoos For The Soul on 6th street what she thought I should do. She just told me to put some unscented lotion on it whenever it got really dry and to NEVER EVER PICK AT IT OR SCRATCH IT.

May 21, 2007 at 9:22 pm
(10) blame mame says:

Unscented soap and warm water several times a day for about three days, followed by a very very very light application of plain, unscented lotion. Nothing fancy.

May 23, 2007 at 1:50 pm
(11) Shannoon says:

I don’t do anything to mine for the first day. Then I use a thin amount of Aquaphor (diaper rash ointment - pretty cheap) for a couple days. It’s better than using A&D or any other ointment because it’s meant for very sensitive skin and is WATER-BASED. After that I use unscented lotion. I found it’s best to always have a small amount of lotion on it for about a week to reduce scabbing and ink loss (not too much though or it will pull the ink out). My tattoos always heal completely in about a week and I hardly ever lose ink :)

May 26, 2007 at 4:49 pm
(12) Nancy says:

I’ve alway used preperation H yea I know
what it’s really for but it hasan antibacterial agent issoothing has something for pain, swelling and itch..it’s been healing my work for years

May 27, 2007 at 5:16 pm
(13) Cory says:

Tattoo Boost seems to be the best. It really makes the skin soft, but best of all, it makes my faded ink shine like new. The formulation is has a nice consistency, is not greasy or filmy at all. The colors on my tattoo come alive almost instantly. It’s a good deal too, and the tube lasts for a long time. Check it out at

April 27, 2008 at 6:36 pm
(14) tracy says:

half of these products are unsafe for latex allergy sufferers they calim to be safe but a few exapmles of the products that can be harmful to latex allergy sufferers or even deadly in some cases are ..h2 ocean,tattoo goo,mirical lotion tattoo tonic and regular skin lotions like jergens the ingedient that you have to look for is dimethicome or silicone which both are latex..be safe…read lables

April 30, 2008 at 1:11 am
(15) JOhny says:

I use Tattoo Potion it is a great product its made by a real FDA approved manufacture its water based and helped me heal faster with little peeling. It had all the vitamins also
i went to www.tattoopotion.com

May 13, 2008 at 10:45 pm
(16) Jenny Terry says:

I was pretty happy with tattoo tonic because it was mild and the oil is natural and doesn’t just cover up. It didn’t affect my color and I had a very large I got it at a tatoo show so I’m not sure if you can get it everywhere.

May 20, 2008 at 10:16 pm
(17) matt says:

I just found this great product when i was in Cali called Tatoopotion it works great for my tat aftercare and i saw they have a sunsreen to keep it from fading.

May 23, 2008 at 12:43 pm
(18) internal instincts tattoo & piercing says:

we recommend washing with satin antimicrobial soap and tattoo serum to all of our clients. we’ve used a number of products in the past, but these two are the best by far

July 1, 2008 at 8:16 pm
(19) Kelsie says:

The rest of my family and I swear by bag balm. I know some artists say not to use it but my tat looks great and so does all the other peoples I know that used it. It heals much faster with bag balm and it’s a cheap product.

July 15, 2008 at 7:13 pm
(20) JoJo says:

TATTOO TONIC!! definitely. Petroleum products just cover up. This one you can feel difference.

Leave a Comment

Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

Explore Tattoos / Body Piercings

More from About.com

  1. Home
  2. Style
  3. Tattoos / Body Piercings

©2008 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.