The lower layers of skin will most-likely take 3-4 months to completely heal, though your tattoo will start to look much clearer and sharper long before those 3-4 months are up.
But a tattoo will never be as crisp or vibrant after it's healed as it was the day it was done. It's not supposed to. The skin that peeled was dead and your body naturally shed it. The reason it's more dull now, is because a new, fresh layer of your epidermis (surface layer of skin) has grown over it.
Generally, a tattoo may look brighter and more vibrant once it's fully healed, but some lightening is normal. Factors like skin type, ink colors, and aftercare can also influence how much a tattoo fades. Proper aftercare can help maintain the vibrancy of your tattoo.
Yes, tattoos can appear blurry while healing. This is a normal part of the healing process, which typically lasts about two to three weeks. During this time, the skin may be red, swollen, and covered with a thin layer of scabbing or peeling.
It's normal and expected that tattoos start expelling the excessive ink from the skin. This should happen throughout the healing process but keep an eye on it. If there's too much ink being expelled, you might have to retouch your tattoo later.
If you've recently gotten a tattoo, but it appears blurry and smudged during and after the healing process, you may be experiencing tattoo blowout. "A blowout is when a tattoo expands below the skin layer when it hits fat [and] veins or when scarring occurs," says Crys.
Moisturizing your tattoo regularly is extremely important. You should moisturize your clean tattoo 3 – 6 times per day, for roughly two weeks (though proper skincare is always important, and most tattoo enthusiasts moisturize their tattoos daily for life!).
2. Stage Two (Days 7-14) – Itching and flaking begins, and this continues until layers of dead skin and scabs have fallen off. 3. Stage Three (Days 15-30) – Tattoo looks fully healed but may look slightly cloudy for a few weeks.
Tattoo Aftercare with Second Skin
The following morning (i.e., before the 24 hours has passed), the second skin will be filled with excess ink, blood and plasma and your tattoo will probably look like it is covered in black goo. That is completely normal, so do try to keep the second skin on for the full 24 hours.
“Your tattoo will get a bit lighter or slightly thicker depending on how your body heals it,” Kim says. “Go with your artist's suggestion regarding placement, size, and detail.
Until the surface of the tattoo is healed (at a minimum of two to three weeks), wash the area gently 2-3 times per day. After cleaning the tattoo during this two to three week period, gently apply a thin coat of a lotion-based care product. We recommend After Inked tattoo moisturizer and aftercare lotion.
Black ink tends to outlast any other color because it is super pigmented. Other darker colors like dark blue, dark green, gray, and dark purple will have a similar lifespan to black ink. Lighter inks like yellows, reds, oranges, whites, and any pastel tones tend to fade a bit more quickly than darker inks.
Lastly, the American Academy of Dermatology states that petroleum-based products can cause the ink to fade. After all the pain and hard work you had to endure to get that beautiful new piece, surely you're not too keen on it just fading from something as simple as petroleum jelly, would you?
Unfortunately, in most cases the intensely saturated colour you see when you first get a tattoo, won't actually be the finished result. The ink will usually end up looking a tiny bit darker and less vibrant once healed. Of course, a lot of this will be down to the quality of ink used, and the technique of the artist.
Eucerin Aquaphor's gentle and non-irritating formula helps to alleviate discomfort, itchiness, and redness associated with brand new tattoos. By providing a soothing and calming effect, it allows the skin to heal undisturbed, promoting a smoother and more comfortable recovery.
Tattoos tend to peel without any ink underneath as they heal normally. In rare cases, they can have missing ink due to an artist's error. Peeling tattoos with missing ink aren't usually anything to worry about. It's normal for a tattoo to peel and lose a little bit of ink as your skin heals.
Should I cover a new tattoo when I sleep? Keeping your new tattoo covered for at least the first night or two will help reduce the risk of it leaking onto your bedding and lower the risk of infection.
Does a tattoo's color come back after peeling? Generally speaking, the waxy white flakes of peeling skin don't have much ink in them. The ink is actually in the deeper layer, so once the peeling is done you should see the original color.
Aftercare & Aging
Fine line tattoos are applied with less ink. While the ink is still embedded in the second layer of skin, the single needle does not penetrate as deeply or deposit as much ink. As a result, it is common for fine line tattoos to fade with age.
If scabs develop, they can remove the color beneath them if prematurely removed. It's important that they're allowed to dry out completely, and not get waterlogged at any time. The scab will eventually fall off on its own, and the tattoo should be fine if no deep cracks have formed.
Sadly, the answer is no, tattoo blowout will not go away on its own. Tattoo pigment particles are too big for the body's immune system to process away, so the blowout will remain, as if it were intended to be there.
Plasma is the fluid that may leak from the skin after getting a tattoo and is a normal part of the healing process. This plasma is rich in white blood cells that fight off infection and trigger the body's immune response and healing.
"If your tattoo becomes too dry, the healing may actually take longer, and you may risk losing color saturation."
Don't worry, this is completely natural. It happens because the old skin, damaged during the tattooing process, forms a thin layer over your tattoo and masks its true appearance. In time this old skin will naturally exfoliate itself, revealing your tattoo underneath in all its vibrant glory.