As some of you humans out there know, healing a tattoo is a responsibility and has a few steps . These steps are simple:
– Wash your tattoo with antibacterial soap twice a day
-Keep it moist with non scented lotions all day every day.
-Make sure it doesn’t rub, or touch, much of anything.
-Don’t dunk your tat in water, don’t use super hot water.
-Keep it open to the air so oxygen can do its thing.
and so on, and so on..
Doing these things is a big gap in your day, but in order for you to get the best results, you gotta do it. And even if you do this, you might have little scabs show up, or scarring. This is normal and should be very small if taken care of right. Also if done right, your tattoo will heal in a normal 12 day period.
But there is SUCH a better and easier way.
This is my experience with something called “Saniderm.” It’s a wrap that you wear over your healing tattoo. It is said that it heals quicker, and there is less scabbing and scarring. It’s also easier to manage when it comes to being careful with your tattoo. I decided to try this for my next tattoo, which ended up being a TIE Fighter on my leg.
Here is my favorite tattoo studio and my artist and friend is
Check out this place, it’s awesome!
Anyway, he told me about this wrap and said it would heal in 7 days after getting it done. I was like, “Hell, I’ll try it.” Thus I became the first customer at Norsk to try it out. So I documented everything.
After getting my work done, Corey put the wrap over the work along with a little ointment. My first impression was, ‘this feels like a giant sticker,’ but after a few hours, I got used to the feeling. It felt a little loose after the first hour, but it naturally tightened over my skin and moved with it; this fascinated me.
My first night with this on my leg was interesting. I am used to worrying about getting ink and plasma on my sheets, but when I awoke the next day, no mess at all.
But I’m a sleeper that rolls and tosses over. This created kind of a problem.
Once I stood up I found the corners of my wrap had peeled, but still covered my tattoo. A little later the ink and plasma did seep, and dripped out the side.
I just wiped it up off my leg and went with it. It felt like a small puddle attached to my leg, but I just kept wiping off whatever came out.
For the peeling problem overnight, I came up with a solution: an ace band! Yes, it worked. I just wrapped it loosely enough to where my night rolling wouldn’t peel it anymore. It stayed in place, and I just took it off in the morning. The next day It looked a little better and no more ink was dripping through the wrap.
At the end of day 2, I peeled it off to wash it and let it air dry, as instructed by my artist. Peeling it off wasn’t so bad. I took it off carefully but quickly, like a band-aid.
After cleaning it and letting it air dry, there was a little redness, just like any tattoo. But overall it looked like it was doing well so far.
So, I put the new wrap that my artist gave me back over it. I didn’t use any lotion or ointment. Nothing. Just once it dried, I put it on. I found putting it on was like putting on a car decal. I would peel off the waxy paper part and hold the sticky part like a taco. Then I would push from the middle out, not creating any wrinkles or bubbles.
I got the, ‘this feels like a giant sticker,’ feeling again. I sat down and was careful with it while the wrap was kind of forming to my body. I say that because this is what it looked like right after putting it on:
And this is how it looked after an hour:
It kind of tightened and formed to my leg. I could move around without it feeling odd, and I could even shower with it on and not get any water underneath the wrap! The seal is airtight:
So I let the days go by, going to work and doing my normal everyday things. I kept using the ace band at night so it wouldn’t peel, and it worked every time. Nearing the 6 day mark, it itched a little. But it was only the day before taking it off.
Taking it off on day 6 was a little more tricky than before, I took it off while stretching it instead of just peeling it. It worked better and came off slower, but much more easier.
Look! A free print of your work! Just kidding, throw it away. Its got dead skin all over it!
So I washed my leg and let it air dry for an hour. Then I put a little lotion on it.
But the next day, my skin started to peel rapidly. It all peeled at once very quickly. The skin practically fell off on its own.
After the peeling was over, the next day I looked at it, It looked better and was fully healed!
My tattoo was done and didn’t give me any trouble. It didn’t feel raised up on my skin, like tattoos sometimes do, or feel super sensitive. It did itch a little on the days to come, but I just applied a little lotion, which fixed it. The best thing is, that there were no scabs or scarring.
My artwork was healed in a total of 7 days without me tending to it every day. My job is crazy, so it felt nice to just do what I needed to do. Mind you, I was still careful. I didn’t let it get knocked on anything or pushed on. I didn’t dunk it in water, or let the sun hit it. I followed the same rules you should follow while healing your tat the traditional way.
From this day forward I will never go back to healing my body art the traditional way.
The finished and healed tattoo:
I encourage any tattoo collector or studio out there to use this. The work comes out looking just like day 1.
Here is there website if you wanna buy some yourself.
Thanks for reading and remember to stay creative out there,
-Jenna
jennafleshtats 