Caring For Your Tattoos

Leave bandage on for at least four hours, overnight if you received the tattoo late before your sleeptime. Make sure you can wash your tattoo when you remove the bandage. Handwash it, no cloths or sponges, using warm water & soap. Use water to soak off any of the bandage that sticks. Do not Rebandage. Wash tattoo at least twice a day while it is healing. Let tattoo dry out for one day, you may wash it to keep it clean during this time, After, start applying skin/hand conditioning lotion or lightly massage A&D ointment into tattoo.

Some people have been known to develop an allergy to Bacitracin, Triple antibiotic and other ointments may contain it. We do not recommend it. Nor do we recommend plain Vaseline. Lotions are safest in warm weather. Keeping it moist will speed the healing process, but your tattoo needs to breathe. Heavy application of petroleum based ointments can suffocate the tattoo and cause a rash. You can wet your tattoo, but don’t soak in the tub or shower for a long time while it is healing.

If you work under very dirty conditions or have to wear tight clothes, you can tape dry papertowel over your tattoo. Try to wear loose clothing around your tattoo. It is normal for your tattoo to flake off tiny pieces of colored skin while it is healing, but you don’t want to force it. So…Do not ever rub or scratch or pick your tattoo! you can smack it if it itches too much.

Wash your tattoo more often if you work near grease, chemicals, dirt, or if you got your tattoo in or near a high-bacteria area such as the armpit, buttocks, or genitals. Do not expose tattoo to chlorine, salt,alcohol or sun for 10 days. Careful with lotions containing excessive alcohol.

Only expose tattoo to long periods of sun after it is fully healed and then with a strong sunscreen applied, so as to protect it from the fading effects of radiation. Tattoos normally take 7-10 days to heal.

Dragonfly Tattoos And Women

In the early days, the Romans and Greeks employed body marks such as tattoos on gladiators, slaves and prisoners as a means to identify them from the rest of the villagers. Even in recent years, tattooing was generally common among males. The more tattoos on the body, the tougher the image. 

But that has changed as soon as awareness and freedom of expression took on a new level. Women now have their say on just about anything and everything. They now have control. And if they want to say something, they can do so in any way they think appropriate. And more and more women find tattooing a cool way of showing the world their feelings and interests, even their sensuality. 

Women and tattoos 

We see a lot of women sporting dainty fairy or flower tattoos and butterfly or dragonfly tattoos done in various designs. Some sport tougher-looking tattoos for more impact. They are practically everywhere especially on beaches where women show a lot of skin, baring those sexy tattoos that speaks volumes about the wearer. 

One of the most common tattoo designs that women go for, as mentioned above, are dragonfly tattoos. At the risk of stating the obvious, dragonfly tattoos are quite cute and sexy and feminine. They are usually done in colorful, delicate designs making it a lot more appealing for most women. 

Why dragonflies? 

Dragonflies are not that popular in the early western culture. They associated these insects with the devil and in such practices as black magic. But in eastern culture, dragonflies are regarded positively. They represent happiness, peace, and harmony. For the Native Americans, they represent energy, activity and success. 

However, in our generation, we do not always look at the traditional significance of things but by how we personally perceive things. Ask any woman today what comes to her mind when talking of dragonflies. Most of them would have an image of green fields or a garden of flowers, or of happy thoughts. For some, the wings of the dragonfly means ability to fulfill her dreams or to go to places she dreams of going to. It also conjures up images of passion, lightheartedness and being carefree. And dragonfly tattoos can do that and more. 

If you really get down to it, it isn’t a wonder why dragonfly tattoos are a sell-out for women. The reasons I have mentioned are just the reasons that I know of. Every person has their own opinion of things. Every woman who gets herself inked has her own reason why she did so and why chose such a design. Maybe her reason is quite different from mine. 

Maybe the next time you see women sporting dragonfly tattoos, you can ask them why she chose them. Sometimes, the reason for having such tattoos is to make good conversation pieces out of them.

Tattoos From Mummies to Today

In the past, residents of the South Pacific used tattoos as a way to mark their skills. Tattoos were also used commonly to keep away evil spirits and illness. Tattoos were seen on fingers and on the wrist, as well as featured prominently on the face and neck. Tattoos have also been used to designate membership in a society as well. 

Along the way, Japan also began to use of tattoos as well. The Japanese people used tattoos for religious and ceremonial rites. Tattoos were seen in the western regions as well, although they certainly weren’t well accepted at first. 

Beginning in the late 1960s, tattoos really began to become popular again. What we are seeing today is a tattoo renaissance which has taken its inspiration from places such as the South Pacific, Thailand and Japan and raised the practice in the Western hemisphere to advanced artistic heights. 

No longer are people content with walking into a studio and choosing some stock 'flash' design off the wall, with little regard to its placement of their bodies. Gone are the days of reckless abandon in choosing a tattoo. 

Modern tattoo artists no longer see the human body as a blank sheet of paper that they can draw on and toss away. Tattoo artists are not willing today to place dull lifeless designs in a seemingly haphazard way, but they tend to treat the body as a three-dimensional canvas onto which each tattoo is placed, to live in balance with the body and existing tattoos. 

There are millions of stock flash designs out there for tattoos " including different color combinations that have helped to make tattoos the phenomenon they are today. Tattoo artists today commonly use the stock flash as a base from which to add their own artist's spin. 

Today tattoos are more common than ever, particularly small tattoos. Men and women alike have tattoos, some small tattoos, some large tattoos encompassing their entire body. There are many positive things about tattoos, but there can also be some negative things as well. 

Most people who decide to get tattoos today choose them for their symbolic meaning, as well as the beauty. Although there are still a few people who get tattoos strictly based on what they look like, some of those people tend to regret their choice of tattoo later on in their life.