Your Hip Tattoo - How to Care For It

So you’ve finally gotten the hip tattoo that you’ve always wanted. What do you need to do now to make sure it stays looking this awesome?

As great as your tattoo looks, right now, it is a fresh and open wound and as with all wounds, it can become infected very easily. To prevent this, make sure you leave it bandaged for at least an hour or two after getting tattooed. By doing this, you will lower your risk of getting an infection. Getting an infection is not only painful, but it can mess up the finished look of your hip tattoo.

After you have waited for one to two hours, slowly and very carefully, remove the bandage. You need to be careful when doing this because chances are the bandage has stuck to the hip tattoo. The best way to do this is to use clean, warm water and let it soak into the bandage. Then slowly and gently, start to remove it a little bit at a time. Do not quickly rip it off. This will not only be painful, but you might rip off a “chunk” of scabbing and this certainly won't help the looks of your tattoo.

Next, you need to clean the tattoo. Don’t worry. It is normal for the tattoo to have some oozings and dried gunk. Gently clean using a soap such as Ivory. Do not scrub your hip tattoo and do not use liquid soap or hand cleanser. After thoroughly, but gently, cleaning and rinsing your tattoo, gently pat it dry making sure your towel is clean. Remember, you don’t want to take the chance of getting your hip tattoo infected.

Apply lotion or an ointment to your hip tattoo frequently to prevent it from becoming too dry. Dryness causes the tattoo to sting and hurt and will slow down the healing process. The most popular ointment to prevent the tattoo from drying out is A&D. If you use a lotion, use one that doesn’t have fragrance added.

Make sure you don’t scratch, peel, or pick at your tattoo. You can reopen the wound if you do this and, once again, expose yourself to infection. Believe me, you don’t want the pain; you don’t want to mess up your new hip tattoo and an infected tattoo on your hip isn't the greatest looking thing.

Remember that tattoos don’t look that great while they are healing. The colors tend to be dull and you will have a moderate amount of scabbing and peeling, but don’t worry. It generally takes ten to fourteen days for your hip tattoo to completely heal and with patience and the proper care, it will be a tattoo that you will be proud to show off for the rest of your life.

Check out more great information on hip tattoos. Got to http://www.squidoo.com/hip-tattoo

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