Fineline Atelier

Aftercare

What happens to it, week by week.

This is the sheet we print and hand you on the way out. If anything here contradicts what your artist told you on the day, do what your artist told you.

Print this page and it prints just the instructions

The timeline

  1. Day 0

    Wrap stays on for four hours, or three days if we use a second-skin film. We will tell you which one you have and write it down.

  2. Days 1–3

    It weeps plasma and the edges look red. Wash twice a day with unscented soap, pat dry, then a thin layer of unscented lotion. Thin — a thick layer traps moisture and blurs the line.

  3. Days 4–7

    Flaking starts. The lines look darker and heavier than they will end up. Do not pick, and do not help it along.

  4. Days 8–14

    Peeling finishes and the tattoo goes cloudy and pale — that is new skin sitting over the ink. Everyone panics at this point. It clears on its own.

  5. Days 15–30

    The cloudiness lifts. The lines now read thinner and lighter than they did on day one. This is the honest version of your tattoo.

  6. Weeks 6–8

    Settled. If it needs a touch-up, this is when to book it — and the first one is free.

  7. Month 12 onward

    On single-needle work expect the line to have widened slightly and gone a shade greyer. That is ink spreading in living skin, not a mistake. Flip the gallery above and you are looking at exactly this.

For the first fortnight

Do not.

  • No swimming, baths, saunas or steam rooms for 14 days. Showers are fine from day one.
  • No gym, running or anything that makes you sweat properly for 5 days.
  • No direct sun on it for 30 days — then SPF50 on it for the rest of its life. Sun is what actually destroys fine line work, not age.
  • No shaving over it for 21 days.
  • Ignore anyone who tells you to let it dry out and breathe. That is how you get scabs thick enough to take ink with them.

Before the appointment

Turn up like this.

  • Eat a proper meal within two hours of the appointment and bring something sugary.
  • No alcohol for 24 hours beforehand. It thins your blood and you can see it in the healed line.
  • Bring photo ID. We check it every time, for every client, however old you look.
  • Wear something that gets the placement uncovered without you having to undress.

The touch-up

The first one is free, booked between six and twelve weeks. On single-needle work we expect roughly one piece in five to want one — that is not a failure, it is how thin lines settle into living skin. Email us a daylight photograph and we will tell you honestly whether it needs anything.

Email a healing photo