The question that comes in the first days is almost never about the design. It is about what is normal and what is not. This is what I say, week by week, with the same guide I hand you in writing before you leave the atelier.
Days 1 and 2: the urgent part
Do not take the wrap off before the time I told you. When you do, clean hands, warm water, parallel to the skin, never upward. Then wash with neutral soap and your fingertips, no sponge and no scrubbing, until it is not sticky. Dry by dabbing with disposable paper towel, never dragging a cloth towel, and apply a thin layer of the product I indicated. Thin for real: a thick layer smothers healing and pulls pigment. No sun, sea, pool, rivers or hot tubs for at least 20 days. Exercise and heavy sweating, only from day 5. Short showers, yes.
Days 3 to 7: it dries, tightens and flakes
This is normal, not an alarm. The skin gets tight and starts to flake. Keep moisturizing thin and often, without overdoing it. The essential thing this week: do not scratch or pick the scab. Skin lets go when it is ready. Pulling it early takes pigment with it and leaves a gap that does not recover the same way.
Weeks 2 to 4: new skin, and color that looks dull
This is the stage that raises the most questions, because the piece can look cloudy under a layer of new skin, and that is alarming if nobody warned you. The color comes back on its own as that layer goes down. Sun rules this stage: no exposure at all during the first 20 days. Sunscreen comes in only once the piece is healed, from day 20. Sun is what ages a tattoo most over time.
Does the pace change with the area or the size of your piece?
Yes, and it is something we already talk about in the consultation before the session, not something you find out halfway through healing. An area that bends or stretches a lot, a hand, a foot, a joint, pulls more as it dries and asks for more care with clothing and rubbing in those first days. A large piece, or one with a lot of worked color, tends to swell more in the first 48 hours and to flake more visibly the following week, simply because there is more worked skin.
None of this is cause for alarm on its own. That is why the aftercare guide I hand you after the session is written for your specific piece and is not a generic text. If your piece was done across several sessions, each block heals separately, on its own calendar: there is no need to wait for everything to heal before caring for each part.
And the touch-up?
It is assessed with the piece fully healed, never before. While the skin finishes settling, the line and the color can still change. If a touch-up is needed, we look at it once healing is done.
When to write to me
I would rather you write too much. Send me a photo as soon as you see any of this:
- If pain rises instead of falling, after the second day.
- If redness spreads beyond the worked area, or it feels hot to the touch.
- If you notice something you were not expecting, a change in color, in texture, or something weeping, and you are not sure what it is.
- If an itchy rash appears over the pigment, days later.
And if you feel unwell, your doctor comes first. Do not wait for my reply before that.
If something does not look the way you expected, send me the photo.
The full aftercare guide is on aftercare.