Aftercare, an important part of owning body art.

     Owning a piece of body art, especially a new piece, comes with a set of challenges and responsibilities.  Many new tattoo owners, and even more new piercees have questions about how best to take care of their new body art.  For tattoos; the process runs for about three to five weeks, involving regular washing with fragrance/dye-free soap and warm (not hot water), and moisturizing with a plain unscented lotion at regular intervals throughout the day.  Keeping a fresh tattoo safe from direct exposure to sunlight will not only help it heal faster, but will keep the crispness of the lines, and the vibrancy of the colors intact.  Also, a healing tattoo needs freely-circulating air, avoid constricting clothing around your tattoo and it will heal beautifully.

     For piercings; the process runs a fair amount longer, typically between six and twelve weeks for most piercings, and most often consists of washing your hands before preparing a saline soak solution (1/4tsp iodine-free sea salt and 8oz of warn distilled water in a clean cup.) and soaking for 5-10 minutes (A longer soak make a piercing happy.), sometimes it's helpful to use a few cotton balls saturated with this warm saline solution to get to those hard-to-reach places.   This is followed by swabbing away the softened secretions/scabs, using a small amount of a mild fragrance/dye-free antibacterial soap helps. Finally; it is important to rinse the saline and soap off very well with fresh, warm water.  Rinsing removes traces of salt and soap from your skin, if salt recrystallizes on the skin; it will become dehydrated and will not heal as well as it should.

      There are many products out there on the market that bring a great degree of convenience and consistency to healing new body art, not all are created equally, and as with everything; one usually gets what one pays for, more expensive does not necessarily mean more effective, or safer, or better, however; a small amount of research into what others have had great success with usually result in upper-shelf products.  Treat yourself to convenience and peace of mind and protect your investment with quality aftercare, usually available at your body art studio, also online, and in specialty stores. It will make the process of healing your new piece of body art more enjoyable.
     It is important to note however, that keeping aftercare products free from contamination is of the utmost importance, hand-washing is a must! If you are using an ointment, be sure to not 'Double-dip', this will prevent  cross-contamination between any bacteria on your skin and the contents of your aftercare container.  When using a spray, or foam; be sure to never touch the nozzle directly as this will keep the contents as clean as can be.

The custom tattoo process, how it works, and how to get the most out of it.

   When you're thinking about getting a new tattoo, there are many things that complicate matters, most of these are known only to the tattoo artist. Things like whether to get color, or simply black and grey, artistic style, font, placement and size are all important factors that have an impact on your tattoo. A critical factor that many seekers of tattoo work are unaware of is the impact the specific placement has on the tattoo application process; everyone's skin varies in elasticity and complexion from one place to the next, moreover the design itself can sometimes clash with the flow of the client's physique.  The tattoo to the right, for example, does not make adequate use of the "canvas", not to mention the mediocrity seen in the line work, and other details, though this may have been a 'stylistic' presentation of bad lining. One improvement to this design would have been the incorporation of background, or foreground elements to more fully realize the concept presented.

On the other end of the Execution/Planning Spectrum'; this portrait of Billy Bob Thornton's in Terry Zwigoff's 'Bad Santa', features an excellent use of color and detail, while fully utilizing the 'canvas', on the client's arm.  Like many tattoos, the subject of this one is of a personal nature, and is of primary significance and appeal to the client it was applied on.
     While there are so many things to bear in mind when planning your next tattoo; making sure that all is well when you and your artist set down to the actual tattooing is of the utmost importance, don't fall victim to a false sense of security when getting lettering done, especially when it's in a location that you cannot easily see while the tattoo is being applied, some unscrupulous artists make 'mistakes' and others, simply cannot spell, case in point...
Care, caution and planning should go into every tattoo you choose to have applied to you, , because it is after all, your choice.