Hair prevents the needle from properly penetrating the required layers of your skin. If you don't shave the area, the tattoo may not take. And if hair is thick, the design will be compromised.
Shaving before a tattoo is essential – it's important to make sure there are no hairs in the way to guarantee a smooth finish and to help prevent the tattoo from becoming infected. Tattoo artists will usually shave your chest, back, or wherever else you're getting tattooed, before inking you.
Shaving the area to be tattooed is mandatory before the ink application because we need to ensure there is no visible or invisible hairs between the needle and the top layer of the skin. Shaving helps the tattooist to perform a precise and beautiful artwork.
The body hair feature might impact the artwork placement because there are more follicles on the top section of each arm. No one should be discouraged from having a tattoo due to the color or type of their body hair. However, it would be more beneficial to consider the desired style once the hair has grown back.
Be careful to avoid any cuts or nicks while shaving, as these will need to heal completely before you can safely get a tattoo. You also need to avoid razor bumps and ingrown hairs, so shaving should not be done too long before the appointment.
In most cases, acne blemishes will not damage a tattoo. However, picking or popping a pimple will increase the risk of spreading harmful bacteria to nearby skin, which can lead to more pimples on an old tattoo or a skin infection in a new tattoo.
If you have acne-prone skin and want some ink, don't worry—you can still get tattooed. That said, tattooing over active breakouts is a no-no because it may damage your skin and spread bacteria.
While experts admit that arm hair can affect your tattoo's appearance, whether or not you decide to go hairless is entirely up to you. Still, the most important way to keep any tattoo looking its best—and this has nothing to do with the to shave, or not to shave, debate—is by following the right tattoo aftercare.
Shaving helps to clear a path to the skin so it can be properly cleaned before the procedure. Hair can get in the way when applying the stencil, potentially distorting the linework. The tattooing needles may push strands of hair back down into the skin, which can cause infection.
"Hair can harbor bacteria and should be removed gently to avoid any razor burn or irritation before tattooing," says Otsuji. “If you have sensitive skin or shaving irritates your skin, you can shave a few days prior to your tattoo to let your skin calm down," adds Rabach.
I have come to find that shaving tattoos genuinely makes all of your art look much sharper, more beautiful/eye-catching, and more like the artist intended for it to look like. Keep in mind that new tattoos should not be shaven until they are fully healed. Shaving a tattoo while it still healing can damage the tattoo.
Drink a lot of water during the week; avoid alcohol for at least 24 hours before getting tattooed. Please do not shave the area; we will do it for you at your appointment. Avoid aspirin or blood thinning medication at least 24 hours before your tattoo; ibuprofen, acetaminophen, & other NSAID pain relievers are OK.
Waxing Before a Tattoo
Get waxed, then get inked. “To receive a tattoo, the skin must be hair-free, so tattoo artists usually shave the area, but hair begins to grow back within a day, which can cause stubble and discomfort,” explains American Spa.
Don't apply to broken skin. Avoid hairy skin – you can shave before applying but bear in mind the hair will grow back and push on the tattoo. Sweaty or grease will also reduce the life of your temporary tattoo.
Shave. If the area you will be getting tattooed has hair on it then it might be time to pull out the razor. We recommend shaving 2-3 times per week leading up to your tattoo. This will help prepare your skin for your tattoo session and it makes it a lot easier for your artist to work on the area.
In order to heal your tattoo needs to breathe. Cling wrap prevents it from doing so and also can trap bacteria and increase the possibility of infection. Your tattoo artist might have cling wrapped it when they finished working on it, but once you take that off you should not cling wrap it again.
Yes, You Must Shave Before Getting a Tattoo
Even peach fuzz has got to go. Hair prevents the needle from properly penetrating the required layers of your skin. If you don't shave the area, the tattoo may not take. And if hair is thick, the design will be compromised.
Shaving, waxing, and tweezing are always options, but they are time-consuming and NOT PERMANENT. Fortunately, Electrolysis is a permanent solution to hair removal that is 100% safe for use on tattooed areas. Electrolysis is the only form of hair removal that will leave your tattoo undamaged.
The right artist can make any tattoo design kick butt (no matter how “skinny” your own may be) but wrap around tattoos play out very well on thinner physiques. Wrap around tattoos are as they sound, and work great on the circumference of forearms, upper arms, thighs, and calves.
Not only does it compromise the surface of your skin and prevent an artist from working on an ideal canvas, the process can spread bacteria to other parts of the skin and/or worsen existing breakouts. For this reason even small and less obvious (no discoloration or clear infection) breakouts call for rescheduling.
Tattoo ink can show up in lymph nodes at any time
While it's more common for new tattoos to cause this reaction, Omofoye says even older tattoos can cause ink to appear in lymph nodes.
The bulging vein can distort the appearance of your tattoo in unexpected ways. Furthermore, the process of getting a tattoo involves applying pressure on the skin while deploying a needle at a high frequency. This may cause the vein to rupture, bleed into the surrounding tissue and lead to an infection.
Older tattoos may be raised due to scar tissue
Thicker lines, and more pressure applied during tattooing, can cause some scarring. It's nothing to be concerned about, but it can sometimes raise up, and this is generally caused by changes in body temperature or weather conditions, as well as general health.
An ink allergy is usually characterized by itchiness and a few other things. "Even years after getting the tattoo, some people can develop lumps or bumps at the site as a reaction to the pigment in the tattoo," Marchbein explains.
Typically speaking, tattoos can get infected anywhere from a few days to a couple of months after they are finished. This is because healing times vary, and, as long as there is still skin to heal, infection is possible.