Leave the bandage on for the amount of time your artist told you.
When you take it off:
Wash your hands first.
Gently wash the tattoo with lukewarm water + unscented antibacterial soap.
Pat dry with clean paper towels. No rubbing. No old towels.
Don't put any cream on it yet unless your artist told you otherwise.
Wash 2-3x a day with the same gentle soap.
Lightly moisturize with a thin layer of a fragrance-free healing ointment (Aquaphor, A&D, or your artist's recommended product).
If it's shiny, sticky, or thick with ointment, you're using too much.
Avoid:
Soaking
Touching it
Letting anyone else touch it
Sweat-heavy workouts directly on the tattoo
This is when people ruin tattoos. It'll flake, peel, and look ugly for a bit.
Rules:
DO NOT pick, peel, scratch, or "help" the skin come off.
Switch to a lighter, unscented lotion 1-2x daily.
Keep washing once per day.
If it scabs a little, fine. If you pick it, you'll create light spots. Don't do that.
The top layer closes quickly; deeper layers take weeks. During this time:
Keep moisturizing daily.
Still no long soaking: baths, pools, hot tubs, ocean.
No heavy sun exposure.
If you want your tattoo to stay crisp over the years:
SPF 30+ every time it sees the sun. Sun destroys tattoos faster than anything else.
Keep the skin moisturized. Dry skin = dull tattoos.
Stay healthy. Hydrated, good skin = better aging ink.
Sun protection is the difference between a tattoo that still looks good at 10 years and one that looks washed out at 2.
Get it checked if you see:
Thick yellow/green pus
Spreading redness
Heat, swelling that keeps increasing
Fever or chills
Sharp pain that gets worse, not better
Mild redness, light weeping, or a little swelling early on is normal. Anything beyond that-don't ignore it.