The Ultimate Guide to Ashes Tattoo Aftercare
An ashes tattoo heals exactly like any other tattoo, so the aftercare is the same: When you get it done, you’ll have ‘Second Skin’ on it which will instantly protect your ashes tattoo, which should be left on for 7 days if possible, (its waterproof so you can bathe and shower with it on). Once you take that off, keep it clean, keep it lightly coated in Bepanthen for another 7 days and leave it alone while it settles, ie no pecking it.
Once the prepared ashes are blended into the ink and worked into your skin, they behave like ordinary tattoo ink, so there’s no special cream, no extra step and nothing different you need to do because ashes are in there. This page walks through the whole thing, day by day, so you’re not left guessing at ten at night when the skin feels tight and you can’t remember what Paul at Bubblegum Ink said.
Most people worry that a memorial piece needs babying in some special way. It doesn’t. The care that protects a good clean line and solid colour is the same care that keeps your loved one’s ashes sitting right where you want them. Get the basics steady and the rest looks after itself.
What Do You Do In The First Few Hours After An Ashes Tattoo?
When you leave the studio the tattoo will be wrapped in a thin second-skin adhesive film. That covering is doing a job: it keeps bacteria off an open wound and stops the fresh tattoo rubbing on your jumper or car seat on the way home. Leave it on for the time the artist tells you, which is usually up to 7 days for the second-skin type. So in the first 48 hrs your job is to do nothing but sit there an keep looking at your amazing new ink !
A fresh tattoo can feel warm, look red around the edges and ache like sunburn for the first evening. Paracetamol is fine if you need it. Avoid aspirin and heavy drinking that night, since both thin the blood and can make the tattoo weep more.
When you take the second skin off after 7 days, wash your hands first. Then peel it slowly under lukewarm running water, because dried plasma can stick the film to the skin and yanking it hurts. You’ll see fluid, a bit of ink and maybe some weeping. That’s normal. It’s not your ashes leaking out and it’s not the tattoo failing. Give it that first gentle wash, pat it dry with kitchen roll or a clean towel you don’t mind marking. The first 48 hours after an ashes tattoo set the tone for the whole heal, so this early window is worth getting right, dont mess, trust the process and while the second skins on you have to do nothing.
How Do You Wash And Moisturise An Ashes Tattoo, once the Second Skins Removed?
Washing is the single most useful thing you do and most people are too timid with it. You want to clear off the plasma and old gunk that builds up on the surface, because that’s the best practice way. Use clean hands, never a cloth or sponge and a plain fragrance-free wash. Lukewarm water, a light lather, a soft circular motion, then rinse. Two or three times a day after you’ve taken off the second skin.
Pat it dry. Don’t rub. A clean paper towel is better than a bath towel in the first week because towels carry more bacteria and can catch on flaking skin.
Tattoo aftercare comes next and the golden rule is thin. A greasy thick layer suffocates the skin and traps bacteria. Use a small amount of an unscented, alcohol-free lotion or a dedicated tattoo balm, (Bepanthen), rub it right in until the skin looks satisfied rather than shiny and wipe off any excess. Two or three times a day, or whenever the skin feels tight and dry. If you want to know which creams suit a fresh memorial piece, our page on ashes tattoo aftercare products goes through the sensible options and the ones to skip, for best practice as we know it works well with our ink, we say again, use simple Bepanthen nappy cream.
Don’t switch to a brand-new product for the first time on a healing tattoo. If your skin reacts, you won’t know whether it’s the tattoo or the cream. Stick to something plain and boring and boring Bepanthen at a grand total of around £5 out of ‘Teski’s’ or your local pharmacy will be plently suffice
Can You Shower With A Fresh Ashes Tattoo?
Yes as simple at that, i do get asked when i tell people the second skin is waterproof, if they can have a bath or a shower, i think its always the momentum of the moment that makes the clients forget the basics. While that second skin one, go about your usual routine, the only things to avoid are free-swimming or saunas etc as a rule of thumb.
So to answer this question, can you shower after an ashes tattoo, YES as long as there’s second skin on the design. When your in Bepanthen Mode then bath, tap dry, Bepanthen, you can’t over Bepanthen a tattoo !
Baths are a different story.. Nope same, second skin rules the roost for waterproofing your design and getting it to heal fast as possible, while keeping all the design perfect. You got it on, then get in the bath, try to avoid a true lobster bath, like the one the wife runs, which even the inhabitants of hell would put cold water into, as this may melt the adhesive.
How Long Before You Can Swim After An Ashes Tattoo?
Stay out of pools, the sea, hot tubs, lakes and rivers until the tattoo has healed over completely, even with the second skin on. This is one of the strictest rules and it catches people out on holiday. Contamination, chlorine, salt water and other random bodies of water, may affect the second skin or tear it and next thing you’ve got all them not so pleasant bacteria free to have fun with an open wound. just don’t bother for the first could of week, trust your bath, don’t trust alcohol and jumping into the local canal to impress your mates, only while the tattoos healing!
Our page on whether you can you swim after an ashes tattoo covers the exact timings and what to do if you’ve had a memorial piece done right before a trip.
What Does The Ashes Tattoo Healing Timeline Look Like?
The surface of a tattoo heals in roughly two to three weeks. The deeper skin takes longer, often up to two or three months, though you won’t see much on the outside past the first month. Here’s the rough shape of it so you know what’s normal at each stage.
Days one to three: sore, warm, a little swollen and weeping. Colours look intense. This is the wound stage. Watch in ore. Beware at this stage the tattoo may look fuzzy and you start fretting……. Relax, as any tattoo heals it exfoliates a small amount of ink and seen as the second skins waterproof it not only not letting water in, its not letting that ink out. Its all good and natural.
Days seven to fourteen:Take the second skin off and it may flake and peels like sunburn. Don’t panic. Its doing it healing thing.
Weeks two to four: The surface feels smooth again, though the tattoo may still look slightly matte until the deeper skin settles. By the end of this the ink brightens up to its true colour. Your beloved is with you forever, so now get showing it off.
For a fuller breakdown, including what slows healing down, see our page on how long does an ashes tattoo take to heal. Everyone’s a bit different. Age, where the tattoo sits, how big it is and your general health all shift the timeline a few days either way.
How Do You Know Your Ashes Tattoo Is Healing Properly?
A healthy heal is fairly boring, which is what you want. Mild redness around the tattoo that shrinks day by day. A bit of warmth early on that fades. Light swelling that goes down within a few days. Itching in the second week. Possible Flaking and peeling. None of that is a problem.
What you’re watching for is anything that gets worse instead of better after day three or four, exactly like with a standard tattoo. Redness that spreads outward rather than settling. Heat that builds. Swelling that grows. Thick yellow or green discharge, a bad smell, hard painful lumps, red streaks running away from the tattoo or a fever and feeling unwell. Those point to infection and mean a call to your GP, not a wait-and-see. Infection is rare when a tattoo is done in a clean studio and cared for properly, but you should know the signs. Our guide to the signs of healthy tattoo healing lays out the good signs and the warning ones side by side so you can tell them apart when you’re staring at your own arm at midnight.
One small comfort about a memorial piece: because the prepared ashes are cleaned, sterilised to clinical standards and cleared of contaminants before they ever go near the ink, having them in the tattoo doesn’t raise your infection risk. It heals like any tattoo. There’s more on the safety side over on the ashes tattoo aftercare cornerstone if you want to read around it.
Which Ashes Tattoo Aftercare Mistakes Should You Avoid?
The damage almost always comes from doing too much, not too little. Picking and scratching is the big one, stop messing with it. When it itches and possibly peels, everything in you wants to help it along and if you pick a scab off before it’s ready you pull the ink underneath out with it and leave a pale gap. On a memorial tattoo that gap matters more than usual. Tap it, slap it lightly or moisturise it when it itches. Don’t scratch.
Over-moisturising is the next most common error, with some exotic random intenrt purchase, thats was sold to you on Insta under the guise of the best ever tattoo super cream every made n here’s some random person telling you why its amazing while getting a payout for telling their followers. Use Bepanthen.
Other things that quietly wreck a heal: sun burn on a fresh tattoo, which burns healing skin and bleaches the colour, so keep it covered by clothing for the first few weeks and use high-factor sunblock for a good year after that. Tight clothes that rub the tattoo raw. The gym too soon, since sweat sits in the wound and stretching skin reopens fine lines. Letting a pet lick it. Ive even heard of an old wives tales of sticking a raw steak on it, just stop it, spend your £5 on the Bepanthen and stop being daft with stupid stuff read online. We’ve pulled the worst offenders together on our page of ashes tattoo aftercare mistakes to avoid, because most healing problems trace back to one of a handful of habits.
If you’re weighing up the whole experience before you book, the complete ashes tattoo guide covers everything from choosing a design to the appointment itself and if budget is on your mind our page on what an ashes tattoo costs sets out what affects the price.
Does Aftercare Differ For An Ashes Tattoo Versus A Normal One?
No. And that surprises people, so it’s worth saying plainly. There is no separate aftercare regime for a memorial tattoo. The ashes are prepared, matched to the right particle size, cleaned, sterilised to clinical standards and cleared of contaminants, then blended into a dedicated, particle-matched, high-quality tattoo ink before any of it touches your skin. By the time it’s in you, it’s ink. It heals like ink, it fades like ink and it needs the exact same care as ink.
So you don’t need to buy anything special, book a special check-up or treat the area like fragile glass. The instinct to protect a piece that carries your mum or your dog is natural and the best way to honour that instinct is the plain, steady aftercare above rather than any extra ritual. A well-healed ordinary tattoo and a well-healed ashes tattoo look after themselves in identical ways.
One genuine difference sits before the appointment rather than after it. At Bubblegum Ink the ashes stay in view the whole time. Nothing is taken off to a back room. You bring the whole container on the day, a small amount is used, roughly a teaspoon to a tablespoon and the rest goes home with you. If handling the ashes feels like too much, the studio does that part gently while you watch or look away. That care around the ashes is what’s specialist. The healing afterwards is ordinary and that’s a good thing.
Who Is Looking After Your Memorial Tattoo?
Bubblegum Ink is a private, appointment-only studio in Sandbach, Cheshire, run by Paul Cutler. Paul has specialised in cremation ashes tattoos for around 20 years, within a tattooing career of around 30 and people travel from across the UK and from as far as Canada, the USA and Europe to have a memorial piece done here. He’s a multiple award-winning tattoo artist whose work has featured on the BBC and in national and international press.
Because the studio is one to one and private, there’s no shared, busy floor and no one watching over your shoulder while you sit with something that matters. That privacy is part of the point. You get the room to feel it and you get honest aftercare advice from someone who has healed thousands of these tattoos rather than a leaflet handed over on the way out.
If you’ve had your tattoo done and you’re unsure about something mid-heal, or you’re still thinking about booking and want to ask a first question before anything is committed, get in touch. Call the studio on 01270 385001 or email info@bubblegumink.com and you can talk it through with Paul directly. No pressure, no hard sell, just a straight answer about your own tattoo or the one you’re considering.
FAQ
How Long After An Ashes Tattoo Can I Stop The Aftercare?
Keep up the wash-and-bepanthen routine until the surface has fully healed, which for most people is two to three weeks, once the skin feels smooth again. Heres a good guide, look at the tattoo in a window from a extreme side angle if possible, if it has a slight glaze to it, its still healing, matt skin healed.
Is Aftercare Different For An Ashes Tattoo Compared To A Regular Tattoo?
No. Once the prepared ashes are blended into the ink and tattooed in, the piece behaves exactly like an ordinary tattoo, so it heals the same and needs the same care. There’s no special cream, no extra step and no separate routine because ashes are in it. 7 Days covered, then Clean, thin Bepanthen and no soaking or sun is all it needs.
What Should I Put On A Healing Ashes Tattoo?
There no way you read this far without already knowing what to put on it, so apply in thin layers two or three times a day, plus a plain unscented soap for washing. Avoid heavily perfumed creams, petroleum jelly slathered on thick and anything you’ve never used before, since a reaction on a healing tattoo is hard to tell apart from a problem with the tattoo itself. Oh and don’t use Sudocream, which is another nappy cream, it will pull the tattoo out, Bepanthen only.
Why Is My Ashes Tattoo Peeling Looking Cloudy?
That’s the normal healing stage, usually around days seven to fourteen. The tattoo may flake and peel like mild sunburn and underneath it a thin layer of new skin makes the colour look milky or dull for a week or so. Don’t pick at the flakes. Let them come away on their own and the true colour brightens up once the fresh skin settles.
Can I Go To The Gym Or Exercise After An Ashes Tattoo?
Wait a few days at least and longer if the tattoo is somewhere that stretches or rubs. Sweat sitting in a fresh tattoo can cause problems and stretching the skin can reopen fine lines and pull at healing edges. Light activity is usually fine after a couple of days, but hold off on heavy training, swimming pools and anything that leaves you dripping until the surface has healed.
When Should I Worry That My Ashes Tattoo Is Infected?
As with nay tattoo, watch for anything that worsens after day three or four rather than settling: spreading redness, building heat, growing swelling, thick yellow or green discharge, a bad smell, red streaks running from the tattoo or a fever. Those need a GP, not a wait. Infection is uncommon in a clean studio with proper care, but knowing the warning signs means you catch it early if it ever happens.
Written by Paul Cutler, founder of Bubblegum Ink ®. Paul has tattooed for around 30 years and has focused on cremation ashes tattoos for roughly the last 20, healing thousands of memorial pieces for people who travel to Cheshire from across the country and beyond. His work has appeared on the BBC and in national and international press. Read more about Paul.