Binding and Tattoos

[dylpickles]

Hi, So I'm about to get my first tattoo today, and it'll be on my shoulder blade. But I bind (I'm a transguy). How long should I go without binding to let it heal?

[Hell_Girl]

If you cover it with clingfilm you should be okay...it means you might sweat a bit. The main thing you don't want is it rubbing against your binder.

[Jeneva]

Clingflim??   Sure use something like tegaderm (medical grade breathable clingflim).  Let it breathe.

I've got 2 medium sized tattoos and a full calf sleeve.  My wife has 2 medium tattoos, a calf band, and a large shoulder/upper arm tattoo.

[Hell_Girl]

Cling film works, obviously you have to wash the tattoo and treat it with aftercare product and let it breathe. But for the first two or three days it'll stop damage occuring to the tattoo while binding...which is what this query was about. And this is from personal experience not just hearsay, number 10 is healing up right now and I'll be going back in 14 days to get it finished.

[Felix]

What kind of binder you use is probably relevant.

[Jeneva]

Cling film works, obviously you have to wash the tattoo and treat it with aftercare product and let it breathe. But for the first two or three days it'll stop damage occuring to the tattoo while binding...which is what this query was about. And this is from personal experience not just hearsay, number 10 is healing up right now and I'll be going back in 14 days to get it finished.

But tegaderm will do everything that cling film does with less issues.  If you dig about you can find it at under a $1 per piece and some people say that it actually helps heal faster.


***EDIT***
I should also mention that it was used for both my butterfly and for parts of my calf sleeve.  The rest of the sleeve we didn't use it because it was impractical, but when we did it healed SO much faster.

[dylpickles]

What kind of binder you use is probably relevant.

I use a model 801 T kingdom binder, and I got the tattoo on my shoulder blade/back, so I think the strap would be rubbing against it, at least

[MagicKitty]

Tattoos are an open wound and need air to heal properly. Keep that in mind. It's also very likely that it will scab, so it could be painful. Ask the tattoo artist about it, and if you don't want to ask about it specifically, just say "tight clothing"

[dylpickles]

It is an open wound, I think my artist was right, and to give it like four weeks of air breathing. I tried the clingform and just binding without it, and it wasn't a great idea for me, personally. thanks for all the help, everyone!