How long EXACTLY are you supposed to wait before you can submerge your tattoo in water?

Question

Just curious, I've heard two weeks and one month so far...

Blair, Rider, Somebody help me out they don't know what they are talking about, I want to know how long you have to wait before you can go swimming in a pool.

Thanks guys I knew 1 week didn't sound right!

Answer 1

Officially, Blair, Rider, and Somebody have it nailed on the head.....

But here is the thing, I am an avid swimmer, doing laps pretty much every day, and when I don't, I get cranky. So I have gone swimming with a new(er) tattoo, but never before it scabs. I actually have a little problem with my scabs sticking on the tattoo longer then they should, and soaking it in a pool helps them loosen up a bit. I do not recommend this, however, and I always put a thin layer of bacatracin over it before I even THINK about going swimming, and of course wash it off as soon as I get out. But here it the thing that I always wondered about, aside from the whole "the ocean is largest toilet on the planet), I think it is really kinda funny that I tell people all of the time to do sea salt soaks on their piercings. I guess that is just my dumb sense of humor.....lol

Answer 2

Zombie and Somebody pretty much have it right. I have always heard 4 weeks. HOWEVER....and this is just out of my head.....It seems to me that if you put a THIN coating of Neosporin or Bactine on your tattoo before you went into the water this would form a waterproof, germ resistant barrier....as long at you didn't spend hours in the water it should hold up. When you are done swimming wash off the coating in the shower and re-moisterize......

Rider (making it up as I go along)

Answer 3

Do not submerge, take a bath, or swim for 30 days. Take no more than a 10 minute shower with the water NOT hitting your tat directly. Not too hot water either just to be on the safe side. Also of course avoid sun exposure.

Answer 4

I'd say it would vary a bit from person to person; but you'd want any scabs to have dropped off and the new skin underneath to be properly healed before soaking it. (Once it is properly healed, it's just skin that happens to be particularly pretty, and swimming won't do it any harm.) How long that takes will obviously depend on the size of the tattoo and how fast you heal, but I'd say a good three weeks would be average-ish.

Answer 5

my tattoo artist says wait a month before submerging your tattoo in water like a pool, lake or ocean. you can take a bath after the scabs are off but not for any length of time more than just a normal bath. there are gross bacteria that grow in all kinds of water and you just never know what kind of yucko stuff could affect your tattoo!!

Answer 6

I was told to wait at least 3-4 weeks to make sure its completely healed but two weeks is the very minimum.

Answer 7

You should wait atleast 1 week. If you are not completely healed wait two. The clorine in the water can draw the color from a fresh tattoo worst comes to worst try putting a liquid bandage over it before going in.

Answer 8

My own personal preference is to stay out at least 2 weeks to the day I got it; then I do an evaluation of it to see if anymore healing needs to be done. If I no longer need to lotion it up, then I consider it healed.

Answer 9

Until the scabbing is gone. So depending on the way you heal, roughly about a week or 2 give or take.

Answer 10

I would say to wait at least until all of the peeling and or scabbing has gone away.