When Can I Take Off My Tattoo Wrap?
Method 1: Ointment – Remove the bandage after 3-12 hours. For example, if you get tattooed early in the day, leave the bandage on until the evening, but if you get tattooed at night and go to bed soon after, it’s ok to leave the initial bandage on until the morning.
Either way, don’t remove the bandage until you can properly clean the tattoo with mild soap and warm water. Rinse it well, gently rubbing off the slimy coating that may have formed over the tattooed area while underneath the bandage.
Gently pat it dry with a clean cloth or paper towel, then allow it to air dry for 15 minutes before applying ointment. Apply a tattoo healing product like Vitalitree to the tattoo as needed, massaging a very small amount into the skin to keep the tattoo slightly moisturized, but NOT smothered.
Use just enough ointment to give the tattoo a barely noticeable, slight shine, and blot off any excess. For the first day or two, your tattoo may require more cleaning or blotting, as the traumatized skin may still be seeping a small amount of plasma.
The proper minimal amount of ointment, along with daily cleaning, will prevent this small amount of plasma from forming into a thicker scab that could pull out color or cause cracking. The healing tattoo should never stay submerged in water. Therefore, limit yourself to only short showers until the tattoo has finished peeling.
It’s also important that a fresh tattoo be protected from the sun and dirty environments (gyms, pet dander or saliva, etc. ) with clothing or by simply avoiding certain activities, as it’s still an open wound for 3-5 days until the skin has peeled.
All normal activities involving water, sun exposure, or dirty environments can usually be resumed after one week. Only apply ointment for as long as it takes for your tattoo to peel, usually 3-5 days. When the peeling begins, the outermost layer of tattooed skin will flake like a sunburn.
Contents
How long should I leave my new tattoo wrapped?
Best. tattoo is reader-supported. When you buy via the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. It’s a delicate process, getting a tattoo. It takes time and care to think about the design you want, the color that best suits your skin tone, and then waiting patiently for it to heal.
After all that work comes the wrapping up of your new ink with cling film – how long should you keep a tattoo covered ? The short answer is that it depends on the tattoo artist and what they recommend, but most artists will say to leave your new ink wrapped up for at least 24 hours.
If you want a more detailed answer, we’ve got this article about how long to keep tattoos covered in cling film. Let’s get reading!.
Can you work with a tattoo wrapped?
How to take off a tattoo bandage – Very, very carefully. Some tattoo wraps may be a bit difficult to remove. And if you’re not careful, the film may stick to the skin and draw some ink out. If this happens, you can try removing the film under flowing, warm water.
Can You Wrap a tattoo in a cling film?
One of the most important things to do after having your new tattoo is the aftercare process. Regarding this aftercare guide, how long to keep your tattoo wrapped in cling film is one of the most frequently asked questions. Wrapping tattoos in a cling film has been a common practice since the ’60s to ’70s by bikers groups. Image Source: Bangbangtattoo Related:
- Will My Tattoo Get Messed Up If I Lose Weight?
- How Does A Rotary Tattoo Machine Work? Are You Curious?
- How Can I Make My Spine Tattoo Hurt Less? – Overcome The Fear
Now let’s dive into the meat of the article, in which we will discuss everything you need to know about the process.
Should I Cover my New Tattoo?
Tattoo: To Wrap or Not to Wrap? – Wrapping your tattoo in cling film or plastic wrap is believed to have developed from the ’60s and ’70s Biker gatherings. Freshly tattooed Bikers were brazenly ripping off their bandages repeatedly, showing off their new tattoos, blood and ink oozing everywhere.
- The “cling film” legend goes like this: one of those bike enthusiasts decided to wrap his new tattoo in see-through plastic, so he could show all his mates without taking off its cover;
- It worked;
- His mates could now see his new tattoo, and he didn’t flick blood and ooze around;
(This was at a time and age where concerns and knowledge about blood-borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis were uncommon. ) Whether this journey back into Biker history has any merit, the message itself does: You need to protect your freshly inked tattoo from external infections for best results. The real questions are:
- What should you wrap your new tattoo with?
- When should you wrap your new tattoo?
- How long you wrap your new tattoo for?
A critical step for a naturally healing tattoo is air-drying it out. Only expose your fresh tattoo to a clean environment like your bathroom rather than the garage. Once the top layer of a tattoo has dried out and flaked off, it will reveal your tattoo underneath.
