It is inevitable for people to obtain their first tattoo to wonder, “Should I wrap my tattoo at night?”. If so, continue reading this article and take note of the following care tips to get your tattoo the best protection. With the proper treatment, you won’t have to toss and turn every night with your artistic tattoo. Read on!
Should I Wrap My Tattoo At Night?
The answer is Yes. Regardless of the position of your tattoos, wrapping your tattoo right after finishing will preserve ink freshness, reduce pain, and prevent infection. Hence, tattooists always recommend that you cover your wound carefully once you get back home, go to bed or take a shower.
Wearing a breathable bandage as Saniderm instead of plastic material is required because this could prevent your new wound from being exposed to oxygen. Also, plasma and blood may spill around the tattoo area, even stick to your bedsheets and clothes.
Once your tattoo is in contact with a blanket, pillow, or bedsheet, you may feel agonized and even have an infection. Accordingly, taking extra precautions by wearing a towel is vital, at least in the first two nights.
How To Sleep On Your New Tattoo At Night?
Sleep With Film On My New Tattoo
For the first few nights, you must take care of your tattoo thoroughly. It is like an unhealed wound. It is extremely important to clean bed sheets and blankets in advance to protect the tattoo well from bacteria. Moreover, please avoid letting blankets rub against the tattoo.
What’s more, we suggest you choose a good, breathable film with waterproof and anti-bacterial functions for your new tattoo. When getting home, clean your tattoo yourself with water, tattoo foam soap, or mild soap. Once the tattooed area is entirely dry, wrap it and leave it overnight.
Be mindful of the artist’s advice for the tattoo’s quality and your health, especially the first few days. If you detect anything wrong, contact the artists right away.
Utilize Clean Bedsheets
An unwashed bed sheet is fraught with the potential for infection. And the new tattoo is a new target for the bacteria. Even if it’s an artistic opening – it’s still a wound in essence. Thus, wash bedsheets before bed!
During the first few nights, your wound is very prone to plasma and blood secretions. If it sticks to brightly colored sheets, pillows, or blankets, it will be quite troublesome. Ink stains will also leave a permanent stain on light-colored fabrics. Hence, using a dark-colored bedsheet is a smart choice.
Notice To Your Sleeping Position
Of course, avoiding sleeping directly on your tattoo as much as possible is required, especially in the first four days. This requirement aims to limit pressure on your tattoo or let it touch anything as little as possible.
Moreover, each tattoo needs a lot of oxygen and fresh, airy air to “breathe.” If possible, let the tattooed skin “breathe” to help with the healing process.
In addition, a sleeping pad or pillow also helps keep your ink in place while you snooze.
If My Skin Gets Stuck In The Bedsheets
In case you figure out that your bedsheets are sticking to your tattoo after waking up from the sweet dream, don’t get nervous! Calm down instead of making an effort to pull the cloth off your skin. Or else this action will cause you to remove the ink out of your skin.
Be quick to bring all your sheets with you to the bathroom or sink. Then drain warm water on the affected area. To be more specific, this helps to loosen the stuck status, and you can leave the cloth from your tattoo without damaging it easier.
Say No With Sleeping Next To Pets
Many of us adore cuddling our furry pets. Yet, be mindful that they can harm your unhealed tattoo. Stay away from them for the first few days after tattooing. The simple reason is that pets contain a lot of bacteria that can infect open wounds.
Pets have an instinct to heal and comfort by licking their own wounds, and they will possibly show their love by licking your wounds. Don’t let them see your painful tattoo. Otherwise, the risk of infection is very high if your pets lick your tattooed areas.
Get Lots Of Rest
Make sure your body gets enough rest to heal. Lack of sleep can prolong wound healing. Therefore, make sure to get enough sleep so that the healing process works more efficiently.
Avoid Alcohol Beverages
A few glasses of wine, beer, or any alcoholic beverage can be your enemy. They can make you clumsy. Once you’re drunk, hitting anything will easily injure you and damage your tattoo.
Even more, alcohol limits your alertness and judgment. You may accidentally scratch, pinch or scratch your tattoo unconsciously. Also, you may forget tattoo-caring steps before bedtime.
There is also an important reason, as a large amount of alcohol will reduce the time your body spends in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This is regarded as a golden time for every healing process. An asleep imbalance not only reduces the whole quality of your sleep but also limits you from getting rejuvenated and recovering.
While Traveling
If your tattoo session isn’t too far from travel or a hotel stay, be aware of the potential for infection to take place in a healing tattoo.
Better yet, always keep your hands and applications clean, and avoid touching or letting anything come into contact with the tattoo (unless these objects are hygienic).
When You Could Sleep On New Tattoo Again
We guess that you all have this one question: When can we go back to normal sleep after getting a new tattoo?
Once you have maintained and completed the care steps after tattooing for 4 to 7 days, you can start sleeping as usual. However, this time also depends on each person’s body conditions and ski-recovery ability. Most tattoos will heal within two to three weeks.
You need to take extra precautions during this time to protect your tattoos. Abide by sufficient and proper steps until your skin is wholly healed, then everything is back to normal.
The Bottom Line
Should I Wrap My Tattoo At Night? Yes, of course. Wrapping a tattoo is an excellent way to prevent your new tattoo from risks while healing.
Sleeping on a new tattoo can be inconvenient, tricky, and can even ruin a bedsheet. Nevertheless, knowing how to take care of it enables you to last your ink color longer and prevent your open-healed wound from infection.
Following these seven recommendations above of sleeping with a new tattoo enables you to protect your tattoos at ease. Last but not least, please follow the tattooist’s instructions to keep the ink color intact!
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