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Aftercare.

The whole sheet is on this page rather than in a PDF nobody opens. The healing timeline is the same one on the home page; this is the part about what you do with your hands.

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Six things, in order

1. First 24 hoursLeave the wrap on for the time I told you — 3 hours for film-free dressings, up to 4 days for the second-skin film. Take it off in the shower, not dry, and not in front of your friends.
2. WashingClean hands, lukewarm water, unscented soap, twice a day. Pat dry with kitchen paper rather than a bath towel, which holds everything a bath towel holds.
3. MoisturiserA thin film of unscented balm, twice a day, for two weeks. Thin. A thick layer suffocates it and traps the plasma that becomes a heavy scab.
4. Days 3 to 7It peels, it looks dull and cloudy, and it itches. This is the window where people panic. Do not pick, do not scratch, do not scrub.
5. Two weeksNo swimming, no baths, no saunas, no gym mats. A shower is fine from day one; submerging it is not.
6. Sun, foreverCover it while it heals and use SPF50 on it afterwards for the rest of its life. Sun is the single largest cause of a piece looking tired at ten years, and it is the only one you fully control.

What the healing actually looks like

Days 3 to 7 — it peels and looks wrong

Thin translucent flakes come away and the piece goes dull, cloudy, almost milky. Every client who messages me in a panic messages me in this window. Do not pick it, do not scrub it, and do not judge the tattoo yet.

Weeks 2 to 3 — the surface closes

Flaking finishes and the colour comes back up. The outer skin is healed here, which is not the same as healed: the deeper layers keep settling for up to six months, so the piece is still moving under a surface that looks finished.

Week 6 — the real photograph

This is when I ask for a picture, and it is the only kind of photograph in my portfolio. A day-one shot shows my hand; a six-week shot shows what you actually own.

Healing time is set by the placement, not by you: outer upper arm closes in 14–18 days, and ankle and top of foot takes 21–30 days. Both are on the body map, and both are normal.