ACU TATTOO’S APPROACH TO AFTERCARE

Our body is an amazing machine that works nonstop to heal itself and regenerate parts of our body that are damaged or suffering from traumas. Knowing this has given ACU Tattoo and our collectors the edge and peace of mind during the, sometimes exhausting, tattoo healing process.  Clynt Costley has spent the better part of two decades studying what happens when our tattoos are healing and why. With loads of examples and satisfied collectors speaking about their experiences with healing their tattoo the Alterity way, we are confident that our aftercare methods are more than efficient regardless what body/ skin type you may have. We have laid out the easiest, most natural approach to healing your new tattoo and listed the steps below. If you still have questions about healing your new tattoo please feel free to send us a message or text anytime for more information.

PRO TIPS

SCABS:

TATTOOS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO SCAB! And when they do— it’s not your fault. Tattoos are only supposed to peel lightly similar to a mild sunburn. Healing a tattoo should be incredibly easy and pain free given the procedure is done at a high standard. This does not mean just because a tattoo looks good at the end of your session that it was done correctly or that it will heal properly. If there are scabs developing during your healing process that means the tattoo was overworked in that area and the scab is now necessary for the ”wound” part to heal not the “tattoo” part. If your tattoo develops a few small scabs that is fairly normal and nothing to be concerned about. Even the most skilled  artists who are surgical with their procedure may cause minor scabbing. Just avoid washing and moisturizing those scabbed areas as best as you can and allow them to come off on their own. Scabs that are picked or pulled off prematurely leaves your wound vulnerable to bacteria and will likely leave spots in your tattoo that will require touch up. If 75% or more of your tattoo scabs then your artist's procedure was likely compromised and you may want to seek other professional options.

 Numbing  Cream: 

With the sudden numbing cream hype and more collectors opting to use it,  ACU has spent some time researching the results of using numbing agents versus tattooing the traditional way without them. Foremost, Clynt maintains, how a tattoo feels has everything to dowith where you are putting it on the body, your pain tolerance AND possibly most importantly, your artist's procedure. When working with artist's who are surgical with their procedure you will notice the  experience can feel quite different. Even in the most painful areas things become drastically more tolerable when your artist is paying attention to the collector's comfort as well as doing their best to eliminate small, repetitive, unnecessary pains and annoyances through the process. Such as wiping your tattoo between applications. Simply utilizing your lubricants properly and a dab & twist method oppose to a wiping  motion can have great effects on the feeling of the tattoo as well as help to eliminate redness and swelling during the procedure . Simple, subtle changes like this have such a great effect on the process that we have found people are more likely to sit longer sessions without the need of any numbing agents.  If you decide you want to try numbing cream anyway here are a few things that may be helpful.

1.  Make sure you apply it generously and leave it on for as long or longer than the directions recommend. If there isn't enough applied for the  area or it doesn't have enough time to activate it, the benefits will not be efficient and it will not be worth the efforts of using it in the first place.  

 2. In our experience ,when using numbing cream it can also cause spots to appear in your healed tattoo that will need touched up later. We believe this is due to the ointment clogging the pores and not being given the right amount of time to evaporate before the procedure begins. That would mean your numbing it in the first place caused it to take longer due and perhaps cost more due to needing touch ups.

3. In the event that the numbing benefits do take effect, we have noticed that if there is no graduation of pain or discomfort from the start and throughout the procedure, collectors who normally manage to sit several hours without the numbing  agents suddenly find themselves introduced to all of the pain and discomfort all at once resulting in their tolerance bandwagon and then ultimately deciding to end their session early. This means more appointments due to shorter sessions and also results in more aftercare to experience.

Swimming:  Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions in tattooing is swimming. Swimming isn't the problem. Soaking is the problem. Soaking a wound in any body of water including your own bathtub puts you at risk for infection  as any body of water can become stagnant and harbor bacteria. So NO SOAKING.

 If you're going to be nearby a pool or something just be mindful. Don't submerge your fresh tattoo-- especially don't soak it AND wash, rinse, moisturize as soon and often as you can, the same way with the same attention to care that you would at home.

 The ocean is probably the safest body of water to submerge in considering the s use of it and the churning like filter effect happening in the saltwater. Swimming in public pools can always be risky considering the amount of ungoverned traffic they can have Making them high rush areas for new tattoos. Finally, bathtubs, lakes, puddles and similar bodies of water are high risk areas and  submerging/soaking in them should be entirely avoided.

Second Skin:

In recent years there has been a lot of collectors asking about second skin and if we use it. We like to start by saying  this. ACU tattoo aftercare method is not something that was handed down to Clynt by mentors like most aftercare methods provided to you. Clynt and Dana, as his canvas and study partner, spent many years tracing every step back through the process to identify what was happening and why. The aftercare method, that was strategically (and in Dana’s case, painstakingly) developed over the course of several years and several rough healing experiences, became one of the points of origin of the elevated standards of Alterity’s overall practice. Now with hundreds of reviews and testimonials about the results from those who adhere strictly to our aftercare methods, this aftercare , when fully considered as a continuation of the procedure itself,  has become one of the pillars in safe, high-quality body art. That does not mean that we think our way is the only effective way to heal your tattoo. That simply means when the second skin craze hit shops the world over, our aftercare had already been working great and we don’t see anything awe-provoking about second skin that has convinced us to change what already works so well. This, coupled  with Clynt’s  other discoveries  about  proper tattooing in a surgical manner, are why we do not use second skin in our aftercare methods. 

 This is based on our personal research and the testimony of other respected artists as well as our collector's personal experiences. If you have any questions about the above information please feel free to contact Clynt!