Inner Elbow Tattoo Aftercare Tips
Getting a new tattoo can be exciting. However, taking care of your tattoo can be a bit tricky if it’s your first time or even if it’s in an irregular place. Whether you’re getting a tattoo on your arm, back, leg, or inner elbow, proper aftercare is essential to keeping your new ink healthy. What are the recommendations and tips for taking care of your inner elbow tattoo?
The most important tip for taking care of any tattoo is to listen to your tattoo artist. It is crucial to keep your tattoo clean and moisturized just enough. It is also best to avoid direct sunlight on your tattoo while allowing it time to air out. Remember to clean the tattoo as recommended.
There are a lot of tips on tattoo aftercare for any tattoo. Along with general tattoo aftercare, there are also tips and recommendations for tattoos in different places. The most valuable rule of tattoo aftercare is to listen to your tattoo artist. There are also a lot of tips regarding tattoos and tattoos of the inner elbow.
General Tattoo Aftercare Tips
The most vital rule to always remember when getting a tattoo is to listen to your tattoo artist. Your tattoo artist should give you aftercare tips based on the ink they used, the tattoo area, and other aspects. However, some basic guidelines and suggestions have been used for tattoos in the past, which can help you a lot.
Keep Your Tattoo Clean
One of the more important parts of tattoo aftercare is to keep your tattoo clean. Your tattoo artist would have told you when to wash your tattoo the first time, and after that, you should wash your tattoo two to three times a day.
The number of times you wash your tattoo mostly varies based on the area of the tattoo and how active you are.
Keep The Tattoo Moisturized
When getting a new tattoo, your tattoo artist will usually recommend a specific moisturizing ointment to apply after washing or if the tattoo becomes dry. If your artist did not suggest a cream already, it is best to give them a call and ask.
Different artists recommend different moisturizing ointments, but most agree that you should not use too much lotion on a new tattoo. It is recommended that you only apply a little at a time.
Allow The Tattoo To Breathe
After getting a tattoo, you will have to give it time to breathe instead of keeping it always wrapped. Certain types of tattoo wrapping film allow the tattoo to breathe while still being covered.
It is best to listen to your tattoo artist’s recommendations to determine when to wrap your tattoo and for how long.
Tips For Taking Care Of Your Inner Elbow Tattoo
Above the regular tattoo aftercare tips, other tips are tailored explicitly for taking care of an inner elbow tattoo. These tips have been recommended by artists and tattoo enthusiasts alike.
Avoid Too Much Activity
Since inner elbow tattoos are in a place that gets used regularly, this might not be an easy recommendation to follow. The more you move your arm, the more you will stretch and condense the tattoo’s skin. Moving too much could cause irritation and extend the time needed for the tattoo to heal fully.
To the greatest of your abilities, you should avoid being too active. Extreme sports or adrenaline activities are not recommended. Manual labor or any action that requires you to bend and straighten your arm regularly will irritate the skin of the tattoo.
Be Careful How You Sleep
After getting a new tattoo, sleep is one of the most essential parts of healing. However, sleeping on the area with a fresh tattoo can damage or irritate the skin. It is recommended that you do not rest on the side of the tattooed arm.
It is also recommended that you do not sleep with your inner elbow touching any material, as this could also cause irritation and cause your tattoo to take longer to heal.
Do Not Pick At Scabs
Since there is little chance of you keeping your arm entirely still, your tattoo might start scabbing. This is especially likely if your job or daily life requires you to move your arm regularly.
It is essential not to touch or remove the scabs if your tattoo scabs. Removing the scabs from a fresh tattoo could ruin the tattoo, cause fading, or cause scarring. On the slight chance that your tattoo starts scabbing badly, it is best to ask your tattoo artist for advice.
Things You Shouldn’t Do
After looking at some of the tips mentioned above on how to take care of your inner elbow tattoo, it is also essential that you remember some of the things you should never do to any tattoo.
Don’t go swimming
Swimming with a new tattoo can cause extreme irritation due to chlorine or other chemicals getting into the open area. When swimming with a new tattoo, there is also the chance of causing an infection or decreasing the quality of your tattoo. Avoid swimming or getting your tattoo wet unless you’re washing it.
Don’t expose your tattoo to sunlight
While the tattoo is healing, it is essential to keep it out of direct sunlight. You should not apply sunblock to the newly tattooed area as this could cause irritation or infection. Instead, it is recommended to keep the tattoo covered with clothes when out in the sun.
Don’t wear tight clothes
As mentioned earlier, friction is the enemy of healing a new tattoo. Wearing tight clothes or rolling up your sleeves to your elbows is not a good idea if you have a new inner elbow tattoo. The friction caused by wearing tight clothes could irritate your tattoo and even cause it to scab.
Don’t use scented soaps
It is critical that you not use scented soaps or lotions on a fresh tattoo. The chemicals in the soap or ointment can cause the tattoo’s color to fade much faster and cause extreme skin irritation. If you want your tattoo to heal at a normal pace and do not want the color or colors to fade faster, avoiding scented soaps or lotions is a must.
Don’t be afraid to ask
When it comes to aftercare of a new tattoo, it is always better to be safe rather than sorry. If your tattoo takes longer than expected to heal, there is extreme swelling or redness, or you are developing pain in the area, it is best to see your tattoo artist for advice.
If the process is not normal, you might be recommended to go to a doctor or someone that could help you in the case of severe infection. Remember that it is okay to ask and that your safety is always the primary concern.
Conclusion
If you plan to get an inner elbow tattoo or want to get a tattoo that goes over your inner elbow, it is essential to know how to practice proper aftercare. If you don’t take care of the tattoo correctly, you could hurt yourself or cause damage to the tattoo. Make sure always to follow the guidelines provided by your artist as they always know best.
Some of my favorite designs, tattoo books, and aftercare products, selected for you
Thank you for reading my article, I hope that you have found it helpful. If you would have trouble finding ideas for your tattoo, wonder what is meaning of design that you have found or what to buy for aftercare, to make sure that your tattoo will be healing quickly and easily, here are some of my favorite products in one place, hope that this will also help.
Design and tattoo ideas
For some ideas you can have a look at those 3 books with hundreds of designs that I use with my clients, they are available on Amazon for Kindle or in classic, paper version (links below):
- Great Book of Tattoo Designs, Revised Edition: More than 500 Body Art Designs (Fox Chapel Publishing) Fantasy, Celtic, Floral, Wildlife, and Symbol Designs for the Skin by Lora Irish
- The Big Book of Small Tattoos – Vol.1: 400 small original tattoos for women and men by Roberto Gemori
- Tiny Tattoos: Over 1,000 Small Inspirational Artworks by Rebecca Vincent.
Tattoo meaning
If you would like to read more about the meaning of different tattoo styles and designs before you will decide what you would like to have, I can recommend a book that was really useful for me when I was starting my tattoo adventure – it’s “Conscious Ink: The Hidden Meaning of Tattoos” by Lisa Barretta (through the link you can find it on Amazon for around $10).
Tattoo aftercare
The skin at the tattoo site often dries out. To prevent it and speed up healing for my clients, I usually recommend one of those tattoo aftercare balms (you can find them on Amazon):
