Seran Wrap Healing

[popcornsharingbox]

So I just got tattooed this past Sunday(pics to come of the progress) and my artist told me of a different way to heal tattoos.

He said that with one of his, all he did was wrap it in plastic wrap (without putting anything on it) before he went to bed. Leave that on all night. Take it off in the morning and you're done. Leave it alone and it'll heal super quick. o_O I tried it and it still seems a little dry today. But the scabs are way softer.. I'll have to see how this works.

Anyone else ever heard of/tried this technique?  

[phallumontis]

when i got my last tattoo, thats what my artist did...
aside from using lotion starting the second day.

the best part was being able to show it off immediately 3nodding

i think it healed fairly quickly, but dont have enough separate tats to
make any conclusions as to it being better or worse than other ways.

i cant wait for pics! you have rad inkery.  

[Artimus_Twitch]

I would still be pretty leery of trying it..
I dont like the idea of rebandageing a tattoo at all
Let alone with something like plastic wrap.
The tattoo with seepa bit during the night, and I dont want to hold that against the tattoo and let anything fester like that.  

[popcornsharingbox]

It still got dry and I finally put some vaseline on it. Guess healing methods work differently for different people.  

[Brynn Darling]

its actually not a good way to heal a wound. bacteria is trapped by the plastic, and it just heats up and makes a hot, squishy nest for bacteria to grow, promoting infection. the bandage is used to soak up everything, while still allowing your tattoo to breath. If you follow your aftercare, it shouldn't matter what you're bandaged with, but plastic wrap is just the cheap way of bandaging when they can't buy real bandages and nice gauze and tape and stuff.

sweatdrop  

[dagon is a gloomy bear]

Yeah, I don't think I like the idea of smothering a tattoo. I just left mine alone for the most part. It never really got that dry but I guess that was just how this one went.  

[Artimus_Twitch]

Brynn Darling

its actually not a good way to heal a wound. bacteria is trapped by the plastic, and it just heats up and makes a hot, squishy nest for bacteria to grow, promoting infection. the bandage is used to soak up everything, while still allowing your tattoo to breath. If you follow your aftercare, it shouldn't matter what you're bandaged with, but plastic wrap is just the cheap way of bandaging when they can't buy real bandages and nice gauze and tape and stuff.

sweatdrop

Plastic wrap is good for some things... I only leave it on for maube 3-4 hours after though...or until I get home. That scabs wont stick to it and pull off, and it doesnt really scab for the most part under it.
My favorate is meat packing, honestly... its plasticy so wont stick and it soaks up all the blood and leakage. Again I only leave it on for a few hours.

Its better then what I see in the mall I have a job in(it has three different tattoo shops, yay for the second biggest mall in the world) but plastic wrap is much better then paper towel and masking tape gonk  

[Brynn Darling]

ah, good ol' paper towels! xD yeah, that's pretty terrible. The way I tell aftercare to clients, and if they follow it, our tattoo work doesn't even scab, so there shouldn't be anything that catches or 'sticks.'

But then again, everyone tattoos (works the skin) differently, so different procedures are required I'm sure!

woooo yeah.  

[Taigeku]

~Eurydice~

It still got dry and I finally put some vaseline on it. Guess healing methods work differently for different people.

WHOA stop right there. NEVER put Vaseline on a tattoo, they are petrolium based, and can strip away colors and fade greys and blacks.  

[popcornsharingbox]

Taigeku

~Eurydice~

It still got dry and I finally put some vaseline on it. Guess healing methods work differently for different people.

WHOA stop right there. NEVER put Vaseline on a tattoo, they are petrolium based, and can strip away colors and fade greys and blacks.

Oh wow. I didn't know that.. o_o Holy s**t. Thank you so much. I'm actually getting some tattoo work done right now so thats great to know.

I'm still pretty new to all this tattooing stuff, as many as I have. sweatdrop  

[Angel de Lys]

My tattooist initially wraps the tattoo in plastic wrap, but I am to remove the plastic wrap after six hours. For the entire healing period, I wash the tattoo with antibacterial soap and use healing cream on it, both sold to me by the tattooist and specifically made for the purpose of healing tattoos. They are free of perfumes and artificial colours, etc, and are meant to be mild so as to not ruin the healing process.  

[Vulnerose]

I just got tattooed today, my artist told me to leave the plastic wrap on for 24 hours. When I was tattooed before I did the same. Didn't seem to change the healing or affect it in any way.  

[apanda999]

Artimus_Twitch

Brynn Darling

its actually not a good way to heal a wound. bacteria is trapped by the plastic, and it just heats up and makes a hot, squishy nest for bacteria to grow, promoting infection. the bandage is used to soak up everything, while still allowing your tattoo to breath. If you follow your aftercare, it shouldn't matter what you're bandaged with, but plastic wrap is just the cheap way of bandaging when they can't buy real bandages and nice gauze and tape and stuff.

sweatdrop

Plastic wrap is good for some things... I only leave it on for maube 3-4 hours after though...or until I get home. That scabs wont stick to it and pull off, and it doesnt really scab for the most part under it.
My favorate is meat packing, honestly... its plasticy so wont stick and it soaks up all the blood and leakage. Again I only leave it on for a few hours.

Its better then what I see in the mall I have a job in(it has three different tattoo shops, yay for the second biggest mall in the world) but plastic wrap is much better then paper towel and masking tape gonk

Ditto... we call em' chicken diapers! Leaving the plastic wrap on for more than an hour is just bad; especially for larger pieces that produce a lot of heat... it basically just gets to be a petre dish of bacteria. AND increases scabbing, which we all know, the more scabs and the thicker they are... blotchy and dull color. Also, FYI, artists use Vasoline while and after tattooing to help your new wound clot quicker and for other trade secrets with ink and so forth. It is NOT intended for after-care!

 

[emohawk]

the aftercare instructions i was given were:
when the tattoo was finished she taped down saran wrap over it
take off the saran wrap after 2 hours and wash thouroughly with an anti-bacterial soap
then don't scrub or soak it for 2 weeks, and keep putting tattoo goo, or polysporin on it whenever it felt dry  

[a random act of violence]

Seran wrap doesn't help the healing process. It gets smothered, sweaty, bacteria.... gross.

Just leave the seran wrap on for a few hours, if you get it done at night you could leave it on till the morning so you don't get your bed sheets gross, but after that it should be un-wrapped. moisturized twice a day with Tattoo Goo, A&D, or plain old Lubriderm.

As for washing, you should rinse as soon as the wrap comes off with cold water, moisturize, then rinse once a day after that with cold water to get lotion build up off, which will gum up the scab, and make it more likely to come off and look like s**t.