This is why you absolutely cannot put petroleum jelly on your tattoo
If you had told me five years ago that I would have gotten a couple of tattoos by now, I would have looked at you sideways. And if you had also said that these would be on my hand, I would have sincerely declared you crazy. But well, sometimes opinions just change, and so did mine.
During my half year in Madrid, I added another sticker to my collection and I haven't regretted it for a second. What I do regret is how the respective tattoo turned out after the healing process. You have to diligently apply ointment to it for the first few weeks. The tattoo artist who did it for me told me that a jar of Vaseline would be fine for this. Well, not really. And after doing some research, I'm going to tell you why.
Call me crazy, but you would really think that a dry ‘damaged’ skin combined with a greasy ointment is a match made in heaven. In principle, it actually is. After getting a tattoo your skin is very dry and forms a kind of abrasion that needs to heal. Just like you apply Vaseline to dry cracked lips, it's not rocket science that it should work the same way on your skin.
The downside of Vaseline is that it can clog the skin. It's quite thick stuff, which means your skin doesn't have the space to breathe anymore. Bacteria get trapped, can't go anywhere, and result in infections. Only when your tattoo is fully healed can you apply Vaseline to it. But even then, you really don't need to use whole blobs. In general, it's better to avoid creams and ointments based on petroleum. This substance can cause the ink of your tattoo to fade, which has probably happened to me. Whether it was due to the poor English of the Spaniard who did my tattoo or I just didn't listen well.
Conclusion: you can use your jar of Vaseline for many things, but not for a freshly inked tattoo. For this, you can better just buy a tube of Bepanthen ointment at the drugstore for a tenner. Now you know that too.
Would you rather spare yourself the pain and effort? Temporary tattoos are also a thing again.
Image: @haileybieber
