Jordans’ Seven Essential Tips For Healing Fresh Work Most Efficiently
Most of us enthusiasts know that healing tattoos is a concentrated effort that must be taken seriously. However, I personally am a believer that it is a far more simple process than many make it out to be. I have healed over 700 hours worth of tattoo work as well as many laser treatments over my 11+ year tattoo collecting journey thus far.
In this article I have put together a list of seven essential tips I have for anyone looking to heal their work the same way I have been for years that I have found to be the most efficient steps for healing broken/vulnerable tattooed skin. I am confident many of you will find this piece helpful for years to come in your tattoo collecting and healing practice.
Photograph by Jorge Garcia of Jordan’s collection. Image contains work by Sergio Sanchez, Rember Orellana, Nikko Hurtado, Orks (Levit Ora), Jak Connolly, Isaac Roman, and Stefano Alcantara.
1. Always keep the freshly worked on tattoo/open wound free of debris from any dirty surfaces (such as vehicles, chairs/furniture, clothing, gyms, animals, etc). It can cause real issues if nasty stuff is getting into your open wound so be very mindful of the surfaces you are allowing to touch/brush/rub/scrape along your fresh tattoo.
Image features work by Isaac Roman and Nikko Hurtado
2. Always keep fresh tattoo/open wounded skin out of hot tubs and other potentially contaminated and/or harmful water sources. Use only clean water free of harmful chemicals. Avoid waters of extreme temperature such as for instance again hot tubs, as well as overly hot or cold showers. Even taking too long of a hot shower can be irritating during the healing process.
Image by Mike Tate featuring work by Rember Orellana, Daniel Rocha, Nikko Hurtado, David Vega, Jak Connolly, and Robby Latos.
3. Always keep work that’s healing clean and covered. Long/oversized clothing is your best friend here in addition to a quality aftercare routine. Side note: be cautious of bed sheets and keep in mind that fresh/sticky tattoos have an evil tendency of wanting to get stuck to bed sheets if exposed to them and this can cause rips and peels in your healing tattoo, which I shouldn’t need to explain why there can be issues here if not careful (this mostly applies to back tattoos, but can still be relevant for any body placement/location).
“Freed Mind” piece by Stefano Alcantara (work above flowing into Stefano’s piece is by Matt Jordan)
4. Don’t allow the area to be scraped or bruised when healing. This could cause permanent scarring/discoloration/pigment loss. If the open wound/healing tattoo is scraped or bruised, my best advice would be to continue applying our Healing Balm while the wound is still in a vulnerable state and just do your best to baby it until it is back to being normal healed skin. Depending on the severity of the scrape or bruise you may need or want to have the piece touched back up by the artist after the skin is healed for a sufficient amount of time.
5. Wash with Elevated Foaming Cleanser and warm water, then gently pat dry with clean towel or cloth and apply a small amount of Elevated Healing Balm to the tattooed area 3-5 times daily for the first 4-5 days.
6. Once your new piece stops peeling and any itchiness you may have been experiencing from the tattooed skin subsides, it is safe to switch over to our Daily Tattoo Moisturizer which you can use in addition to the Healing Balm for daily love and care. Keep in mind that our healing balm may be used regularly as well even after the healing stage when you are wanting to give your tattoos/skin an extra boost of vibrancy and nourishment.
Image by Jorge Garcia taken of Jordan’s collection. Contains work by Nikko Hurtado, Daniel Rocha, Jak Connolly, Matt Jordan, Isaac Roman, Rember Orellana, Luke Palan, and Orks (Levit Ora).
7. Be certain to wait to shave the tattooed area until the skin has been healed for at minimum 3-4 weeks. Once past this threshold, you may begin to shave the tattooed area carefully, gently, and precisely with our Safety Razor and Elevated Shaving Cream.
