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So now you have a lovely tattoo, how do you keep it looking as good as possible, for as long as possible? Your artist SHOULD have gone over this with you, but just as a refresher course, here you go:

Wrapping it:
When you leave the tattoo studio, your tattoo is wrapped in plastic wrap to protect it and your clothes (tattoo ink can stain gonk ). After 2-4 hours and no more than 24 hours, remove the wrap, throw it away, and gently rinse the tattoo with cool running water. Don't let the water beat directly on the tattoo, like in the shower. Take a palm-full of water and VERY gently run it over your tattoo. Rinse away all the left over ink, blood, plasma, and ickyness with your hand and maybe a light foaming soap, then pat dry with paper towels and allow to air dry fully for about 15-20 minutes.

You don't want to keep the tattoo wrapped all the time. Sometimes, work uniforms get in the way, though, and in my experience, they're terribly rough fabric and that sucks on new tattoos. In this case, you can wrap your tattoo in plastic to protect your work clothes and your tattoo, but remove it as soon as you get home.

Lotion:
You want to keep your tattoo moisturized and hydrated. Lotion is the best way to do this. You don't want to use Vaseline or Neosporin because these are too thick and don't allow the skin to "breathe", which it actually needs to do, and don't get absorbed into the skin. They can also trap any bacteria against the tattoo and allow it to get inside.

Apply a thin layer of lotion 2-3 times a day, and after you shower, for the first 1-2 weeks of the tattoo, or until it has completely healed.

The best lotions are Aquaphor, Eucerine, Aveeno, A&D ointment, and some Lubriderm lotions. Any lotion you choose, you want NO colors, NO scents, NO flavors, NO NOTHING. Aquaphor is my personal favorite lotion, it's a Vaseline-like texture with no colors, scents, flavors, nothing in it. And a little goes a LONG way, so a small tube or pot will last you a lifetime.

Aveeno and Lubriderm are nice lotions as well. You want them as plain as possible, but oats, Shea butter, etc are okay. Those are skin-soothing properties, rather than potentially irritating properties like scents and colors are.

You don't want to use Aloe lotion, like you'd use on sunburns, even though it feels like one. It might possibly calm the heat and irritation, but it won't heal your tattoo.

Cleaning it, and keeping it clean:
Keeping your tattoo clean and dry is very important in the healing process. When showering, you may use a foaming anti-bacterial soap if you wish, though not all artists recommend this. Use foaming rather than smooth/liquid kinds, since it's lighter and washes away easier and cleaner. Do not let the water directly beat on the tattoo, not only does this HURT new tattoos, it can discourage scabbing, which is needed to heal.

Avoid baths, swimming pools, hot tubs, oceans and rivers and lakes during the first 3-4 weeks of healing. These are cesspools of bacteria, and can encourage infection in your tattoo. I read a tattoo book once that said "Hot tubs are like d**k, p***y and a** cappuccinos. Ever wonder what that foam was? Now you know." EWWW!!!! >.<

The Scabbing Phase:
Most tattoos will scab and peel, about 5-14 days after receiving it. This is 100% normal, and a good sign. DO NOT PICK THE SCABS. This can pull ink out of your skin, leaving holes in the tattoo that you'll have to get touched up later. This also reopens the skin and can let infection set in, same as any other break in your skin.

Sublock:
ALWAYS apply sunblock to your fully healed tattoo, every time you go outside and it will be exposed to sunlight. EVERY TIME. During healing, keep it covered with clothing when going outside, don't use sunblock on a tattoo younger than 3 weeks old. If it's not covered by clothing, slather that thing up with at least SPF 30 sublock, with UVA and UVB protection, reapplying as the bottle instructs. Your tattoos biggest and most dangerous enemy is sunlight, NOTHING will fade your tattoo faster than sunlight and other UV rays, like tanning beds. Sunblock will keep it as fresh, bright, and sharp-looking as possible.

Any questions, comments, concerns, other advice, wonderings, or contributions, post them here.

It's not so much a true/false, it's relative. Usually, the general consensus is that the closer to the bone/the thinner the skin, the more pain. Some say on the bone isn't bad, some say the opposite. For me the inside of the elbow was worse than the bone of the elbow.

For the first shower, keep the water as cool as you can manage, and keep the water from beating directly on the tattoo. That may be hard with an ankle tattoo, but do the best you can. If your balance is good enough, try lifting that foot onto the side of the tub, or a shelf or something, to keep the water from running down it constantly.

Tattoo healing should be about 4 weeks, ish. Depending on how well you take care of it will lengthen or shorten healing time as well.

I was thinking about getting a pair of eyes done on the palms of my hands but I've heard many negative things about getting a tattoo there, as well as speculating some of my own. The number of nerve endings on the human hand number around 2500 every square centimeter, that's little under half of the number of nerve endings on the male genitalia excluding the foreskin, so comparatively speaking it is definitely going to hurt but all tattoos do so I expected this much. I heard that tattoos on the palm wear away extremely fast, which isn't hard to believe due to how much use they see on a day to day basis. I was also thinking that due to the layer of skin being so thin and close to tendons and veins that a problem may arise there. If I were to get my palms done I know I'd do one at a time for practical reasons, wouldn't want to be hand-less for X amount of weeks now would I? To sum it up; tattoo on each of my palms, good or bad? Why?