For those with tattoos, how long does it take for them to heal?

I’m not really looking for advice on how better to heal a tattoo. I have ten tattoos, eleven if you count the one that is covered up. I already have a tattoo aftercare routine that works well, plus there are so many different ways to care for a healing tattoo.

I’m just curious if healing varies much from person to person.

For me, if it’s just simple line work or lettering it takes a week. If it’s anything that needs to be filled, like nearly all of my tattoos are, then I’m looking at about two weeks of healing time.

I got tattooed last Tuesday, so I’m five days in, and the tats are starting to look a bit rough, like they’re about to start peeling. The sooner they start to peel, the sooner they’ll be done peeling and will be healed and I can go back to treating that area like it’s just normal skin.

1 Like

Yes, it varies. More than 15 days to heal. I put a cream on it. I have 6 in my arms

1 Like

Yeah, I used lubriderm lotion on my tattoos.
I use the stuff to this very day.

1 Like

I want a bouquet of blue roses tattoo on my left calf someday combination of pain and motivation is holding me back

1 Like

Mine took about two weeks to heal. I didn’t use the right lotion for it, I think.
The next time I get a tattoo, I’m going to save some extra cash to get the right lotion

1 Like

Tattoos are not really that painful, depending on where you get them. I have calf tattoos, and none of them came with any significant pain. Twitches are the worst thing I deal with when I get my legs worked on.

If you said you want it on your ribs, then I’d tell you to reconsider the location; I don’t have personal experience with being tattooed on the ribs, but I’ve heard it’s excruciating.

1 Like

I only have 2 tattoos, my first one took about 2 weeks to heal and the second one took 5 days. My first one was by an apprentice though so that could explain the difference in healing i think

My personal take on tattoos: My dream is for someone to invent a soap to wash mine off in the shower. Got mine when I was 18 and 19. Been kicking myself since I was 25 for doing it. One of my biggest regrets in life, from the bottom of my heart. Tattoos used to be a counter-culture thing for bikers and sailors and criminals. Now they’re mainstream, and the counter-culture these days is to actually NOT have a tattoo. Not that I’m in the market, but if I was and saw a woman with a tattoo, there’s a Nope! right there. Personal prejudices, but I’m entitled to that as a human being with my own brain.

I want to say my shoulder piece (watercolor) took ~2 to 3 weeks to properly finish up healing (including a little bit of the peeling stage).

Mine was lettering similar to yours. It took about two weeks to heal. I used vaseline. Not sure if you should use vaseline for yours. Depends on what your tattoo artist recommends I’d say.

Yep, we’re all entitled to our opinions. I waited until I was 34 before getting my first tattoo, a breast cancer ribbon for my mom, whose life was taken by breast cancer seven years prior to me getting the tattoo, and I have no regrets about it. I also find tattoos to be very sexy on women.

Condolences regarding the loss of your mother. My mother passed when she was 44 from breast cancer as well. Shiit disease. <3

This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.