Top Tattoo Artist in Edmonton | Summer Ink Alert: Avoid THESE Sun Mistakes on New Tattoos!
All right, we’re back again with J from SkinartJ Tattoos – top tattoo artist in Edmonton. And today we’re going to be talking about summertime tattoos. Winter is often the best time of the year to get a tattoo, and your tattoo will be able to stay covered up easily, which makes for faster, easier healing. But summer has always been a popular time for tattoos. The warmer weather means t-shirts and shorts, and people start thinking of decorating their body. And while summer is a popular time to get new ink, there are some things to keep in mind to ensure that your tattoo heals well and without complications so that it can stay beautiful for a lifetime. So J, we’ve got some questions for you: Being the tattoo expert, why isn’t summer the best time to get a new tattoo?
Summer may not be the best season to try to get tattooed, being that you’re getting exposed to a lot more sunshine, especially for where we’re at currently. A lot of people like to soak it up in the summertime because we don’t see it much here in Canada. That being stated, it’s not taboo, but it also has some complications or has some limitations for someone getting tattooed where that risk is no longer there when it comes to the winter time. So just a lot of sunshine—everyone wants to enjoy it—but unfortunately that’s not the best for your tattoo.
Should You Get A Tattoo in The Summer?
So what is the best placement for a summertime tattoo?
If you are planning to get tattooed in the summer, just consider placements that maybe don’t get tanned or don’t see as much exposure. So example: a person that works in an office or they don’t go out too often, they’re pretty safe. They’re not going to see too much of sunshine that’s going to impact their tattoo. So, example, a person that loves to go longboarding or loves to go swimming a lot or is planning a whole bunch of vacations that are somewhere tropical, they might want to cover it in areas that they may not be as exposed. So, if they wear t-shirts a lot, maybe the upper shoulder, or they wear shorts, kind of the upper thighs type thing. It just depends on their clothing attire and making sure that the tattoo isn’t getting exposed to a whole bunch of sunshine.
Gotcha. Especially when it’s fresh.
Right.
Yeah.
All right. Do you need to do anything different to heal a tattoo in the summer than the winter?
Couple things that might be different with healing for the summertime is making sure the usual with the aftercare of not submerging it into any water. But after you heal that tattoo, you’re going to want to use sunscreen. Ideally all year round, but definitely in summertime. Being that the sun is basically like a very slow treatment of laser removal.
Use Sunscreen After Getting A Tattoo
So definitely lots of sunscreen.
Okay. So put some sunscreen on the tattoos. So what are some of the other summer activities you need to avoid after a tattoo in the summer?
Some activities that you’re going to want to wait on or avoid is things to do with water. You don’t want to be in any bodies of water while you’re healing a fresh tattoo.
And why is that?
You can get infections, there’s bacteria, and then it makes the healing process potentially really bad to, worst case scenario, life-threatening.
Okay.
So it is an open wound. You don’t want to be fiddling around putting a whole bunch of bacteria into an open wound because it creates complications, right? Otherwise, you’re going to want to make sure that that you’re taking at least the month break so that you’re not in the water. Otherwise, it can create a lot of risks with infections and the bacteria.
Keep Your Tattoo Clean During Healing
Other events that you might want to try to avoid is example going gardening. If you have received tattoos that are lower in your wrist and stuff, same principle. You don’t want to get that bacteria into that fresh tattoo. So placement and along with considering if it’s a lot of bacteria, you don’t want to do it. Other things that you want to wait on is going and working out extensively at right after you’ve received a tattoo. Your body’s just taking a beating. It’s needing some rest, and trying to put more stress on it can also create a lot of tension for your body and a poor heal for the tattoo.
Okay. Well, that’s really good advice. You know, so no open bodies of water, hot tub, swimming pools, take a break on the working out very strenuously. Yeah, all good things that you know people don’t really think of. I think they think they can just go about their life as usual, but you should take take advice from the pro and avoid some of those things. Now, I guess the question that that I have for you is what would be the best way for someone to schedule a tattoo around their summer vacation?
So if you are going to have a vacation, the best thing to do is to make sure that you’re doing it either when you’re coming back from vacation—consider if you are going to a super sunny spot—once again, wearing lots of sunscreen because getting super tan and getting tattooed, it’s going to impact how that tattoo looks in the skin and how vibrant it looks. So then people cannot see the true result of what to expect with a color, being that they have experienced a whole bunch of sunshine. They’re super tan, but that will fade, and then you’re going to see a difference in the colors as your natural tan goes away.
Otherwise, schedule it. I would say at least a few weeks before going on your vacation if you’re doing it before. Make sure it’s healed so that you’re not going on vacation with a tattoo that’s in the healing process because that’s going to limit a person to be able to go swimming and do all the fun activities that they want to do. Or example, if there’s a beach, you’re going to now have to cater to your tattoo and make sure that it’s not getting exposed to all these risks.
Go On Vacation After Your Tattoo is Healed
So usually you want to be healed before going on vacation, or if you’re coming back from vacation, you want to make sure that you don’t have a huge tan going on and get tattooed because once again, your skin’s already healing from getting exposed to that sun, especially if you end up getting sunburn. We cannot do anything about the condition of your skin when you show up with that sunburn. So, at that point, your tattoo might get delayed and it might create some consequences if you’re not able to do your session as planned, right? So, summertime not the best time to to get a tattoo, but I wouldn’t say don’t get one. There are lots of places that you can get tattooed that can stay covered up. And you know, if you really want to get a tattoo in the summer, then then you can. You just have to be aware of the the potential issues, the risks. And you know, like you said, if you tan, like I tan pretty easily, so the colors will show up a little bit differently when your skin is tanned and you got that melanin going as opposed to when you’re lily white from the winter time, not seeing any sun. So thanks for the thanks for the tips. Thanks for the advice. And you guys are looking for a tattoo, go to skinartjtattoo.com and schedule a session with J. Thanks for having me. You betcha.