4. CARE FOR YOUR TATTOO

Your new tattoo is an open wound. Let's make sure it doesn't turn into a festering open wound. Leave the bandage on for at least twelve hours, and when you take it off, be nice. If it won't come off right away, use warm water to help it off. Let it dry for about an hour, then wash the crud off (don't ask us to go into detail, but it'll be there) with a gentle soap. Then apply a thin coat of Polysporin or another antibiotic cream. For the next four or five days you'll want to wash it gently and reapply the cream twice per day. Do so in the shower, not the bath, as the new tattoo should not be submerged in water for any great length of time. That means no swimming, no hot tubs, no baths and no sex in the shower for about two weeks after you get tattooed. After four or five days you should switch to a water-based cream such as Moisturel until your tattoo is completely healed. As with any open wound, you must not allow it to get dirty and you should keep your damn hands off it. No picking, scratching, or other dorking around until it's healed. It will scab over a bit while it's healing, but that's natural and you should not feel compelled to try to remove the scab.

For those of you who are too hardcore to worry about your health, this is not just about health. You can think of it as primarily about making sure your tattoo looks its best, because if you mess with it while it's healing, the colors can run together, it can fade and if it gets infected the resulting wound could cause enough scar tissue to mar your work of art seriously.