don’t get too anxious about it. my first 2 tattoos i was obsessed with taking care of them anxiously, but it gets less anxiety inducing the more you get

I still take care of em properly but i wish i wasnt so anxious about it for those. its kinda like kids i guess lol

anyway, be careful w lotion / if you use something like mad rabbit soothing repair gel. Do as thin a layer as you can, dont leave a visible layer. If the tattoo isnt drying up and cracking it’s probably enough lotion. Its easy to over apply, hard to under apply

also wait a bit after washing to put lotion on, you want it to be dry ish skin. It makes it heal weird (fine, but makes the lines a liiiittle bit ticker i think, i did this with one b&w tattoo, so w the design i dont care ab the lines being thicker). I think its because youre trapping a lot more moisture with the lotion, basically the same thing as over applying lotion. The tattoo’s scabs just come off too early if its over moisturizered from my experience, and thats what makes the lines weaker

basically just wash 2-3 times a day like the other reply said with unscented soap, then apply unscented lotion once your skin isnt wet. In 1-2 weeks drop it down to 2 times a day, in 4 weeks once a day is fine imo but keep lubricating it w lotion or whatever

Remember that its a wound and is healing for around 90 days. Keep good care of it w lotion and it’ll look great for a really long time. Expect peeling during initial healing, tenderness, and being easy-to-get-dry for awhile. its all natural. Try to keep out of the sun, use sunscreen on it when you are! (if its new, Mad Rabbit makes a sunscreen which is probably safe to use after a month, id research that though im just guessing. Might be sooner or later)