Being from a beach side town, it’s not a surprise many of my clients love a good soak in the sun. And I’m sure many other people from all places, generally love a little bit of sun on their skin. So how does this affect tattoos?

Your skin is the largest organ in the body, made up of 3 layers: the epidermis, dermis and hypo dermis. The structure of our skin is to serve as our body’s initial barrier against UV light, pathogens, chemicals and injury. Skin like all our other organs, is undergoing irreversible changes with the passage of time due to hormonal and dietary factors. But our skin is also directly affected by exposure to environment.

Why can’t my new tattoo be in sun?

We need to think of our tattoos are part of our skin, and not something hovering above. So looking after your tattoos, means looking after your general health and skin as a larger organ. So keeping your new tattoo out of the sun is especially important, since your skin will be inflamed from the tattoo process, it’ll generally feel better not getting baked in the sun too. Sunburns don’t feel great in general, so it’s definitely is not going to feel great on a fresh tattoo. Your fresh tattoo would appreciate sun protective clothing and a couple days out of the sun.

Why should I cover up or sunscreen healed tattoos?

One of the most noticeable things as a result, is the appearance, as we age and are exposed to the sun we loose elasticity, which can impact how our tattoos ‘age’.

So covering up or applying sunscreen, are precautions towards the what can accelerate the age appearance or texture (elasticity/firmness).

The reason why we tell you to sunscreen healed tattoos is because your tattoos are open wounds, and you don’t want to risk infection by introducing the chemicals/minerals in sunscreens, as it can irritate your skin. Depending how you do with texture, I always reccomend finding a sunscreen that’s thin in consistency, high in SPF, low in fragrance and absorbs quickly (so you don’t feel sticky/greasy)

Being susceptible to skin cancer, how does this affect tattoos?

Depending where you skin cancer is found, part of a tattoo can be removed with the cancerous cells. But generally moles are not tattooed over, for this very reason, so you can identify any changes to it, as signs of cancer. Sometimes this may be a concern for clients, that’ll it’ll disrupt or limit design ideas, but that’s not always the case. Always chat to your artist to see if there’s any subtle alterations that can be made, or other placement ideas.

Generally to look after our tattoos, we need to look after our skin. Staying sun safe, hydrated and moisturised is the way to go. It should always be the way we look after our skin, and tattoos shouldn’t be the only reason to start.