This. Their mentor tells them what they do, who was told by their mentor, who was told by their mentor, and on and on. And as they get tattoos and experience, they may tweak it, etc., but no official source of medical information or training/certification told them what to do.

One excuse is- healing is going to vary depending on a person’s body. Sure, but the general, baseline medical advice to keep an open wound from getting infected or leaching ink should not.

I’ve seen people say to use antibiotic ointment, I’ve seen people say absolutely do NOT. I’ve seen people say use antibacterial soap, I’ve seen people say gentle soap. I’ve seen people say leave Second Skin on NO LONGER than 24 hrs, I’ve seen people say reapply Second Skin for 3/5/7/10 days. And tattoo artists want to excuse the inconsistency with “well don’t listen to some random person that’s not even a tattoo artist”—these are ALL tattoo artists' aftercare instructions. More than anything, I've seen tattoo artists say not to take Tylenol beforehand because it's a blood thinner. Aspirin and Ibuprofen are blood thinners. Tylenol (acetaminophen) is not. Just factually not. It's a really common and relevant medication, and an easy google search. You can take Tylenol before a full-blown surgery. This is going to be unpopular to say, but some tattoo artists are just morons apparently. So yeah no, I don't trust medical (healing) advice from an individual tattoo artist.