After 2 days, your new tattoo should look tender, slightly red, swollen, and might be oozing clear fluid, plasma, or a bit of ink, potentially with some light flaking starting, feeling tight or like a sunburn; this is normal, but continue gentle washing and moisturizing with a thin layer of balm, keeping it clean and avoiding sun/submersion as it transitions into the scabbing phase.
Days 2 to 3:
During these days, your tattoo may look dull and cloudy as your skin heals and new skin starts to form. Excess ink and plasma may still ooze from your skin.
Stage One (Days 1-6) – Oozing, swelling and redness that gets better gradually over each day. Scabbing begins to form over the area. 2. Stage Two (Days 7-14) – Itching and flaking begins, and this continues until layers of dead skin and scabs have fallen off.
How Do You Tell if a Tattoo Isn't Healing Properly?
Tattoo Aftercare Tips Day 2: Peeling, Hydration & What's Normal
You have a rash or bumpy skin around your tattoo
If you notice a rash or lumpy, bumpy skin around your new tattoo, this could be something to worry about. Any itching that seems extreme, or rashes and cracked skin, could indicate infection.
Keeping the tattooed area moisturised is critical during the peeling process to avoid excessive dryness and promote healing. Use a gentle, fragrance-free moisturiser several times per day to keep your skin hydrated and supple.
Keep moisturizing your tattoo regularly for at least 2-3 weeks, or until it's fully healed. Even after it's healed, continuing to moisturize daily, as you would with the rest of your skin, will help keep the ink vibrant and your skin healthy. A good daily moisturizing routine is a great habit for overall skin health.
Signs of a Tattoo Infection
Your tattoo may also develop a thick, clear layer similar to a callus. This layer is a scab. It shouldn't have any visible brownish or blackish scabs, and it shouldn't have a crusty texture. If it does, that's a sign that your tattoo may not be healing property.
Here's a handful of bad habits that are top of the list of things tattoo artists hate.
A $500 tattoo is typically a medium-sized piece, often around palm-sized or slightly larger (roughly 4-6 inches), but the actual size heavily depends on the artist's hourly rate (usually $100-$200/hour), design complexity, color, and location, allowing for 2-5 hours of work, potentially resulting in a detailed forearm piece or a smaller chest/back design, rather than a full sleeve.
Line work is more intense concentrated pain while shading is much broader. Shading goes over already raw and worked skin multiple times. Because of this the constant penetration of the needle required for shading can intensify the discomfort, making color-heavy tattoos more challenging for some individuals.
Important Dos and Don'ts
Showering is fine, however, please DO NOT soak your tattoo for at least 2 weeks. This means no swimming, baths or submerging your tattoo in water for long periods of time. Avoid direct sunlight on your tattoo for at least 2 weeks and your tattoo is completely healed.
Over-moisturizing your tattoo can cause the ink color to fade. It can also cause the ink to spread, making the tattoo appear more blurred. These changes can make your tattoo look less vibrant and more sloppy. After you get a tattoo, your tattoo artist will likely provide you with clear aftercare instructions.
Signs of a tattoo infection may appear across the entire tattoo or only within specific colors. They can include: Bumps on your skin (papules) that sometimes contain pus (pustules). Nodules, bumps on or below your skin that are larger than papules.
Skin rejecting tattoo ink often shows as persistent itching, redness, swelling, and bumpy or scaly patches, sometimes with blisters or oozing, which can appear days, months, or even years later, often linked to certain colors like red ink. This reaction, known as allergic contact dermatitis or a photosensitivity reaction, signals your immune system is overreacting to the pigment, requiring a dermatologist's evaluation if it's severe or prolonged.
If you have a healing tattoo and you are seeing bumps of any kind form, be alert. Scars and skin may shed during the healing process, but if there are any bumps that look like they are sticking around, you might be dealing with an infection.
Apply a water-based lotion or cream to your tattoo to keep it moisturized — it's never a good idea to leave your fresh new ink susceptible to dryness. “Moisture will help the skin to heal faster and keep scabs from forming,” Dr. Sra says.
Bepanthen is one of the most highly recommended tattoo aftercare products and is the go-to ointment for many tattoo artists and studios. Typically used as a nappy rash ointment, Bepanthen has been around for a long time, and its gentle formula is used to treat babies with irritated skin.
Wash your new tattoo within five hours of completion and continue washing it a couple of times a day until fully healed. Use clean hands and gentle, antibacterial soap to wash your tattoo. Rinse thoroughly and ensure all soap is removed. Let your tattoo air-dry or gently pat it dry with a clean cloth.
It is still important to wash the tattoo, even while it's peeling, and even if you notice some ink coming away as you do it.
Around the second week, the peeling phase occurs. You may notice itching and flaking skin as the top layer sheds. This phase can make the tattoo appear dull, but it's normal. By the end of two to four weeks, the skin should be fully healed, although the deeper layers may continue to take longer.
Sleeping with a peeling tattoo
Rubbing off the top layer before it's ready to naturally fall off could result in the ink falling out, leaving you with a patchy tattoo. Not what you want to happen to a brand new piece!