As soon as your tattoo has been finished, the tattoo artist will offer you some advice on the right ways to take good care of your fresh tattoo. Some tattooing outfits will provide an information sheet which will list out instructions that you should follow. Two basic rules are essential when it comes to taking care of a new tattoo, moisturize but do not over moisturize, DO NOT pick at scabs when they start to form. If you choose to do otherwise and neglect these rules, you run the risk of getting infected and you also run the risk of ruining your new tattoo. As long as you keep to these bits of advice, you should be alright. Forget what other people say about taking care of new tattoos and only stick to the rules which are known to work. A lot of people get one tattoo and decide to mix up the rules when they get another one. Regardless of whether you have used something which you developed a reaction to, you are better of contacting the tattoo artist and asking for what you can substitute it with. A patch test on your skin before you get a tattoo may be a good idea to see whether you develop a reaction. One problem is that the recommended ways that you should properly take care of your tattoo may differ from one tattoo artist to the next and this can become a problem. One tattoo artist may instruct you to use Neosporin several times a day whereas another may suggest that you powder your bed before getting into it (this avoids you sticking to the sheet), a mild baby soap to wash the tattoo, baby lotion to moisturize the skin, and diaper rash cream to apply to any areas that might rub against the bra, waist of pants, socks, etc. Certain other individuals will suggest that you use a number of different ointments and lotions. Some will say that the Tea Tree Oil (toner) from the Body Shop is the best because of its healing powers or that the cheapest form of tattoo treatment is Vaseline Intensive Care. If you stay in an area that is dry the chances are that you will be using a lot of lotion anyway so you can opt for a large pump bottle of lotion in order to get the best bargain. This will help you forestall any problems and take proper care of your tattoo. Varying opinions are held from one studio to the other when it comes to the issue of body art healing and this can become rather confusing. Despite this fact there are many legitimate reasons why so many differences in opinion exist. Some of the means through which you can take care of your tattoo have been covered already and there are many other options such as ointments and lubes designed simply for tattoos but most of them are really just commercial versions of most products listed above. There is a plausible reason for the variety of ways to take care of your tattoo; this is because of various improvements in technology and a variety of products that have become available in the marketplace. Petroleum jelly was a largely popular product in the past due to the fact that it was widely available, inexpensive and did the task rather well. However ever since then it has been discovered that products which are petroleum based tend to drain the color from tattoos and they possess no healing powers.
