New guy here with a few questions.

[PotBellyWill]

Hey all,
First off I wanted to say that this site is incredible. I've been reading it steadily for the past few weeks and everyone is very cool and helpful. I have alwas loved the idea of tattoos and have a few myself. My friend and I decided to buy a machine and everything that we would need to get started. I have done quite a few on him and they have all turned out real good. However, within a few days all of the color has started to fade and flake off in scabs. I know scabbing is normal and they look normal but nothing is holding. He told me that he has forgotten quite a few times to keep lotion on it. Do you think that is our major problem? Even the outline has faded. For the first 3-4 days it was perfect. All of the color was thick and true and the outline was the same. Any thoughts?

Anyway, thanks NeedleJack for providing such a great site and thanks everyone else for providing your knowledge for those of us starting out with an apprenticeship not being an option.

-Will

[el tatuaje]

hey potbelly
what brand of inks did you use? some are not as good as others.
also depends what he used as a healing lotion?
and also has been out in the sun?
these are just some questions your missing, let us know so we can help you out with a possible answer.
el

[Duger]

After Care is a BIG thing, agree about the inks, and allmost sounds that you might not have gone deep enough in the dermis of the skin. And the skin wasn't "Hamburger" during the tattoo?

[PotBellyWill]

I was using ink from a company called dreamweavers I believe. I just purchased and used some Kuro Sumi (did I mess that up?) last night and i really liked the way it went down. He has been using Lubriderm and hasn't been out in the sun. The skin looked perfect. Definitely no hamburer. I'm sure he drank a beer or two before the tattoo as thats a regular occurance after work but he definitely wasn't drunk and they didn't bleed very bad at all. Do you think I'm not going deep enough? I am very cautious as I don't want to go too deep and possibly scar anyone but like I said the ink seemed to hold for at least 3 days. It's frustrating because when it first gets done it looks really good then all of a sudden it looks like shit.

[FORGIVEN]

welcome to the forum , some people swear by going straight to the lotion , i dont (only an opinion ) , i believe the body needs to heal a little (3 or 4 days for black & grey work and 5 to 7 days for color )before applying lotion , i use Tattoo Goo , its worked fine for 99% of the clients .

[sleepingmonkey]

I've always been told to use straight cocoa butter. a very gentle moisturizer and cheap.

[TickTatToe]

I lean towards agreeing with Duger. Sounds like you haven't gone deep enough. I didn't on the first 2 tats I ever did and lots of it faded.

[harly]

yeah it sounds like not very good quality ink ,allso shouldnt be scabbing,over here( uk) we have a nappy rash cream called bepanthen and its applied straight after the tattoo has been washed and cleaned ,get it cling filmed up for the first couple of days but keep cleaning and applying bep, you wont get any scabbing at all and a very quick healed tattoo