I got a tattoo of 5 japanese characters on the inside of my upper arm about a 11 days ago, and despite following the aftercare guidelines exactly (washing 2-3 times a day with antibacterial soap, patting dry with towel, moisturizing etc..) is scabbed badly. I went back to the tattoo artists yesterday to see if he thought it was alright because as its my first tattoo i dont really know what to expect. He said it should be fine and that it would take time to heal, and if there was any missing colour he’d redo it for me, but i woke up this morning and one of the scabs had ᴘᴇᴇled off in the night, leaving a sore patch with no visible ink underneath! Will it look better after its healed fully, or have I done something wrong? Has this happened to anyone else?
6 Answers
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To me it sounds like the ink wasn’t put deep enough, or if you experienced serious scabbing, it was possibly put too deep.
If this is the case it is nothing you have done, I have dry healed tattoos, used loads of product and everything in between and never experienced ink loss such as you describe.
you may even be allergic to that particular ink, in which case your body has rejected it. Being allergic to one ink does not mean you will be allergic to all ink, so don’t despair
Bear in mind that it is normal for a tattoo to ᴘᴇᴇl (light flakey ‘scab’, which it is quite normal for the scab to contain the excess ink and so it will be the colour of bit of the tattoo it comes away from) it’s alarming if it’s your first tattoo, but normal.
most new tattoos need touch ups which are usually free, bu if you have experienced major/total ink loss from your tatt. that is not right
I would wait till it’s done scabbing then go to a different artist and get their opinion
Source(s): lots of tattoos and experience, this is what it seems like to me -
You dried the ink out. So when you scabbed and rubbed it fell off into the dead skin as well. It’s going to require a touch up.
Also
Try avoiding lotion with smell or color, just a basic moisturizing lotion works best
Pat the ink both in the shower with your sponge and while drying off.
Apply the moisturizer twice a day and keep the ink out of direct sun light.
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If the scabbing is as bad as it sounds, looks like your artist severly overworked your skin.
Scabbing, if any should be minimal. Inner bicept is a sensitive area w/ thinner skin compared to the outter bicept, thus it needs to be worked more gently.
Source(s): Professional Tattooer / Machine Builder -
Sure, it’s happened to lots of people. He’s a pretty nice guy to offer to do the touch-up sitting in advance.
Source(s): I’m a professional tattoo artist, 9 yrs.
