First of all, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and hope you all had a great new year! I ave been a busy busy bee of late with various different things going on in the studio and trying to keep up with the festive chaos so I do apologise for being absent from my Blog. I would love to share my latest revelation with everyone, a little thing called the "three day wrap". I love to do beauty, lifestyle and plus size motivational posts BUT I decided to dedicate a little review to this amazing little tip I was given, purely because I tried my best to find information about this technique online and have been a little unsuccessful. So for anybody who is interested in tattoos, aftercare, looking for a better way to heal your ink etc, then this is for you :)
Since I have been old enough to get tattooed I have had a rather hard time healing my tattoos because I have the immune system of a footstool. I have rather a lot of ink now I find it a constant source of irritation that I cannot heal my tattoos well and end up with patchy tattoos and a drawer full of appointment cards for "touch-ups". I was being tattooed only a a few weeks ago and the tattoo artist suggested I try the three day. Here is a little step by step for you guys to follow if you would like to try it as well:
Start with getting a Shiny new tattoo... here's one I made earlier :) (knee tattoos are ouchy!)
As soon as the tattoo has been done you will have to wrap it with cling film/saran wrap immediately. Most tattoo studio's in the UK will do this as procedure anyway. When the wrap is in place you can tape around the edges to secure the cling film. I use Micro-pore tape but you can use any adhesive tape/Medical tape that works for you, after all the tape is only there to keep the wrap from sliding off.
When your tattoo artist has wrapped your tattoo then keep this wrap on over night. Your tattoo will seem wet, gungy and even bloody but that is entirely normal and nothing to worry about. After you have had your wrap on over night you can change it that morning. Remove the cling film and wash your tattoo down gently with clean warm water. When you have done this you can apply some tattoo aftercare, do NOT use Nappy rash creams, hemorrhoid cream, Savlon or any other creams. Use aftercare that is SPECIFICALLY designed for tattoos. I use "Tattoo Aftercare by the aftercare company" but you can use whatever you feel works for you as long as it is aftercare designed for tattoos. Once you have applied your aftercare you can re-wrap your tattoo with a fresh piece of clingfilm/saran wrap and tape in place as before.
For the next 3 to 4 days you will repeat this process 3 to 4 times a day, I would clean, apply aftercare and re-wrap my tattoo in the morning, again in the afternoon and again in the evening before bed. Do not soak your tattoo for any reason or lie in baths . Do not take the wrap off for long periods of time during the 3 to 4 days.
So after your 3 to 4 days of wearing the wrap you can now remove it (Hooray!!). Even though the wrap is off you will still have to keep up with the aftercare regime although you can now wash and aftercare your tattoo 2 to 3 times a day. Follow this plan until you begin to scab/peel or flake, at this point you can stop washing and treating your tattoo with aftercare. Instead you can now use an un perfumed moisturizer. Make sure you use something mild with no harsh chemicals. I recommend "Vaseline Intensive Care with Aloe Vera" or "E45". Moisturize your tattoo twice a day or 3 times if it is particularly dry. Again DO NOT over moisturize as this can be quite damaging.
If you are a slow healer like me then it can still take a while for your tattoo to loose its scabs and dryness, don't worry to much about this as the tattoo should still be in good condition when the scabs/dryness subsides if you have followed the wrap plan.
I found that the three day wrap made an unquestionable difference to my tattoo. Not only did it increase my healing time but it massively improved the way my body takes ink. As you can see the black in the tattoo is SOLID. This genuinely is a first for me and I am delighted with the results. I HIGHLY recommend this technique if, like me, you find it difficult to heal tattoos, you heal slowly, you do not take ink well, if you would just like to improve the quality of your future tattoos OR if your tattoo is in a high movement area that is prone tocracking during scabbing or dryness such as a knee, elbow, back of knee etc.
Thanks for reading, I hope this helps a few of you guys n___n
