4. Eat something immediately after you leave the shop. A cookie, a candy bar, anything. After oozing out all the plasma and sitting for hours your blood sugar levels are going to drop dramatically. When this happens your response to pain will be intensified! That’s assuming you don’t experience vertigo or simply pass out first. A small snack can go a long way to relive pain afterwards.

5. It can take at least six weeks for your new tattoo to heal, give it plenty of time. Many men want to rush the process but it doesn’t work like that. Remember, a tattoo is a lifelong piece of artwork that is going to be on your body forever! Treat it good for the first six weeks and it will look good for life.

6. Remove the bandage within 24 hours max. Ideally you should aim for 8 hours. In general, the longer the better with four to five hours being the absolute minimum.

7. Wash with hot water. There’s a saying, the hotter the better, and it’s absolutely true for tattoos. It feels awful and soothing at the same time, but it’s critically important. Remember, you’re trying to loosen up all that gunk covering your new tattoo. There’s a lot of dried lymph and coagulated blood on there!

8. Scrub with your fingertips, never a wash cloth, sponge or towel. You can be rough with your fingertips and yet still be gentle on the skin. However with the last three items, it’s way too easy to be overly aggressive on your sensitive skin. Remember, fingertips not fingernails, we’re not digging here!

9. Antibacterial soap isn’t magic! Many tattoo shops still recommend antibacterial soap like it’s worth its weight in gold. Truth is, it’s not. Studies have proven they are actually ineffective at cutting back on bacteria. The only reason why I still recommend them, is because most are free of fragrance, lotions and other gunk. Again, not because they kill bacteria.