15. No pools, no saunas, no extremely long showers for the first three weeks, minimum. Remember, a quick shower to freshen up is fine, however, a long shower is not. Anything more than 10 minutes in the shower and you’re going to have a bad time. Know that even if a pool is chlorinated, it’s still not okay to swim in!

16. Wash your hands first before washing your tattoo! It’s so easy to forget, yet it’s a super important step to take. Spend a day walking around in public and your hands will be covered in all sorts of nasty bacteria. The last thing you want to do is rub that into your skin wound. So scrub your hands, knuckles and palm clean! Remember, it’s easily to get distracted when showing family and friends your new ink, you must do so with clean hands. Not doing so is literally the number one way to cause infections!

17. Peeling is completely normal. It will feel like a bad sunburn of sorts. Lotion will become your best friend during this time. The worst thing you can do is peel it, the best thing you can do is keep it well moisturized.

18. For tight and tense skin towards the end of the healing process, use cocoa butter. When lotion won’t work, sometimes this can be quite the magical cure.

19. Don’t let your wound breath, it’s one of the biggest myths out there. When you do that all you’re doing is delaying your healing process and slowing down cellular activity. You’re inviting bacteria, increasing your chances of infection and letting scabs block the skin.

20. Do keep your new tattoo wound moist at all times. Ever wonder why doctors treat burn victims with dressing? It’s simple really, the moisturize allows healing cells to move across the wound and close it shut! Plus, it helps keep outside contamination where it belongs, out not in.

21. Lotion won’t clog your pores. Another myth that has been going around is that lotion will close your pores and cause you to break out in acne. That’s just not entirely true. In reality, the only time that will happen is if you over apply lotion. I’m talking about the people who slather lotion in super excessive amounts. Don’t do that, use a tiny layer of lotion.