Hellllloooo my lovely inhabitants of SG Land! I hope you are all having a very wonderful day/evening :-)
So, I have a few things I wanted to write about today, but I am going to dedicate this particular blog to tattoo aftercare. Particularly, Tatu-Derm. I had never heard of such a thing until yesterday.
Also, as a disclaimer, I feel that I may have a lot of run-on sentences in this blog.. my bad! : )
If you do not know what Tatu-derm is, it is a breathable, hypoallergenic clear "bandage" that is wrapped tightly around a tattoo with at least an extra inch of space all around the edges so that the product has plenty of room for adhesion. The bandage collects fluids that seep from the tattoo during the healing process, and acts as a barrier to other people's nosy fingers & bacteria from every day life. Think of plastic wrap, but without the annoying wrinkles & bunching.
If you haven't read already, I moved from Myrtle Beach to Maryland a few months ago, and just recently FINALLY found a local shop with amazing artists (Lucky Bird Tattoo, Riva Road, Annapolis, Maryland- I sat with Josh yesterday for six hours for two freehand tattoos and another piece, and I am beyond pleased!). Needless to say, every shop/artist has their own advice & way of healing their art. The two methods I had been using prior to yesterday were [Dial soap to cleanse before using] Aquaphor or Vitamin E oil (whichever of the two I have on hand). Personally, I have had great results with both the Aquaphor & vitamin e oil, despite what other individual's results may have been (if you have any comments/anecdotes on this, please share!). When I asked Josh about this, he said that he was not a fan of Aquaphor for the healing process (I neglected to mention the vitamin e oil to him).
Now, this was my first experience with this artist/shop, and they may be sponsored by Tatu-Derm, I do not know (they are a five star-rated, multiple award winning shop, and most or all of the artists travel regularly to guest spot/attend conventions in and out of the country. Not bragging, but I wanted to share the weight of their talent/how sought after they are), but Josh had of course explained to me in detail (but with a certain business-man routine to it) all about Tatu-Derm, and let me know that it was indeed for sale at the front counter of the shop. I am sure that the shop makes all of their artists inform and pitch the products to their customers, this is to be expected of almost any business. So that was not meant to rail against Josh, he is radical.
Anyway, I asked another friend about the product who has had years of experience with getting tattoos, and has most of his body decorated. He said that Tatu-derm is believed by many to be a rip off of another product called Tega-derm (I believe that is what he called it). He told me that people who subscribe to that belief feel that shops/people are purchasing Tega-derm for cheap, then repackaging it and selling it at a much higher price as "Tatu-derm." And with most products, some people have a successful time healing, some don't.
At this point I have had the product on my tattoos (the wrap covers from just under my shoulder to my wrist- basically my entire arm) since last night at 7pm (it is now 2:45 pm, not even a full 24 hrs). The first two tattoos on my forearm had time to seep & dry out while my artist drew up & did the third tattoo located on my upper arm. The third tattoo is bigger, more detailed, and has much more color than the first two. Overall, it was a much more complicated tattoo with more shading & coloring, thus the needle ripping back into already opened flesh, thus more blood/seeping. So, the top portion of the wrap was filling with blood & liquids last night, and has continued to fill with much more fluid into today. The two tattoos on my forearm have only started to seep today, with the tiniest amount of fluid (really not noticeable unless you inspect it). I assume this is normal, given the nature of all three of the tattoos.
Now, I am not squeamish- it takes something really fucked up to make me grimace- but this grosses me out because the pool of blood from the third tattoo is brownish (old blood) and warm to the touch, and I can feel it sloshing around whenever I move my arm. It's like a gross living entity just sliming around on my arm, that could burst at any moment. Appetizing, right? : p
So my question with that is, could the old blood be bad for the tattoo? Could it be reabsorbed? Infect the tattoo? I am assuming not since this method is used specifically to collect fluids for 24-48 hours at a time (the company recommends 12-24 hours, but the shop recommended 24-48 at least), but it just looks so odd.. wasn't sure how to feel about it!
I would LOVE it if you all shared your thoughts with me! Whether you have experience with this method or not, any advice, comments on other types of healing, ideas, jokes, criticisms, love, cat stories, whatever. Would love to hear from you all & find out your perspective on all of this :)
I will upload photos/videos of the wrap in just a little while!
All of my love, I am SO happy to finally be apart of SG Land!!!! Have a kick ass day <3
Siren
