How it heals is half the tattoo.
We do our half in the chair. The next three weeks are yours, and they decide whether the lines stay crisp or go soft. This is the sheet we hand you at the door, kept here because paper gets lost by Thursday.
Not medical advice. This is what we tell our own clients based on what we see heal well. If something looks wrong, stop reading websites and see a doctor — the section at the bottom says exactly when.
The short version
- Keep the second-skin film on for 3 to 5 days, unless it leaks
- When it comes off: wash twice a day, dry, thin layer of cream
- Do not pick, scratch, soak or sunbathe for three weeks
- It will look terrible around day 6. That is the normal part.
Day 0 — the day itself
You leave with a transparent second-skin film over the tattoo. Underneath it will collect plasma, ink and a bit of blood, and it will look alarming within hours. That fluid is supposed to be there.
Leave it alone. Eat something, drink water, do not go to the gym, do not drink alcohol tonight — it thins the blood and gives you a wetter, longer heal.
Days 1 to 5 — the film stays on
Second skin stays on for three to five days. Shower normally; it is waterproof. Do not soak it, do not scrub it, do not peel a corner to have a look.
Take it off early only if it starts leaking at an edge, lifts away over more than a quarter of the tattoo, or you get itching and small raised bumps around the edge — that last one is a reaction to the adhesive, not to the ink, and it is not rare.
Taking it off: in a warm shower, slowly, pulling it back against itself flat along the skin rather than up away from it. It will not hurt if you are patient and will if you are not.
Days 5 to 14 — washing and cream
- Twice a day, wash with clean hands and unscented soap, lukewarm water, no cloth or sponge
- Pat dry with kitchen paper, not the bathroom towel — towels hold bacteria and catch on flaking skin
- Let it air for ten minutes
- A thin layer of cream. Thin. If it shines, it is too much, and too much cream suffocates it and pulls ink out
Around day six it will flake, peel and look patchy and dull, and you will be convinced it has gone wrong. It has not. Every tattoo goes through this and nobody photographs it, which is why it is such a shock the first time.
Whatever happens, do not pick. Flakes come away with ink in them. That is where patchy healing comes from, and it is the single most common cause of a touch-up.
Weeks 3 to 6 — the quiet part
The surface is closed but the deeper layers are still settling. It will look slightly cloudy or matte for a few weeks, then the colours come back up. Keep creaming once a day while it feels tight.
From week three you can go back to normal: swimming, sea, sauna, long baths. Sun is the exception — see below.
For three weeks, do not
- Soak it — no baths, pools, sea, river, sauna or hot tub. Showers are fine
- Sunbathe — none at all on a healing tattoo, and this is Lisbon, so plan around it
- Train hard for 48 hours, and avoid anything that stretches or rubs the area for a week
- Wear tight clothing over it, or let a bag strap sit on it
- Shave over it
- Let a pet sleep on it. This needs saying more often than you would think
Forever, actually
Sun is what ages a tattoo. Not time, not skin, not the artist — ultraviolet light. Once it is fully healed, factor 50 on it whenever it is out in the sun will keep it sharp for decades, and skipping it will fade a black piece to grey-blue in about eight summers.
Normal, and not normal
Normal in the first week: redness at the edges, warmth, swelling, itching, plasma under the film, flaking, dullness, and a patch that looks lighter than the rest.
Call a doctor — not us, a doctor — if you get any of these:
- Spreading redness that moves outward from the tattoo, especially in streaks
- Increasing pain after day three rather than decreasing
- Yellow or green discharge, or a bad smell
- A fever, chills, or feeling generally unwell
- A rash, hives or swelling beyond the tattooed area — this can be an ink allergy and is not something to wait out
Infections are uncommon and entirely treatable when caught in the first day or two. Waiting a week to see if it settles is how a minor problem becomes a scar. Tell us as well, once you have seen someone — we log it, and if a batch of ink is involved we need to know today, not in a month.
Touch-ups
Send us a photo at six weeks, in daylight, no filter. If something healed unevenly through no fault of yours, the touch-up is free and we book it for you. If you picked at it or spent a fortnight on a beach, we will still fix it at the hourly rate and we will not make a thing of it.
Reading this before you have booked?
Good sign. The people who ask about healing first are usually the ones whose tattoos still look sharp in ten years.