Meet Your Tattoo’s Best Friend for the Summer

It’s finally summer and its time for the tattooed and pierced vampires of the Pacific Northwest to greet the sun for the first time in nine months, hooray! But what are you doing to protect that gorgeous ink and the pale as moonlight skin it rests within? Let me introduce you to my good friend, sunblock, maybe you’ve met before?

Here Comes the Sun

It’s the season we’ve all been waiting for, the reason why we put up with “the longest winter ever recorded” and 30 different types of rain, sleet, and snow. It’s no secret that Summer in the Pacific Northwest is one of the most glorious times of year, which is why hipsters and bikers alike are getting scantily clad and taking to the streets and hiking trails in mass to strut their stuff right under the blazing sun. But regardless of whether you got your ink from the best tattoo shop in Portland, or the worst shop in Seattle, your artwork needs protection from that bright ball of gas in the sky that can ruin the quality of your tat. Say hello to my little friend, Sunscreen!

You don’t want to get burned on your first day out after months in hibernation, do you? Tattoos or not, your skin is vulnerable to the rays from the sun and it can very easily transform your life from fun and carefree to worried sick as you sit at the dermatologist’s office waiting to find out if the cross section of that weird bump on your back is cancerous or not. That got dark real quick. Seriously, just wear sunscreen.

Pass the Sunscreen Please

While you might only use 20 or 30 SPF sunscreen for a regular afternoon outing in the sun, it’s a good idea to use something stronger like 50 SPF on your chest piece, leg tattoo, or anywhere else you’re sporting your fleshy artwork. You paid good money (or maybe you didn’t, but still) for your tattoos and your artist put their heart into the work, so it deserves to be kept safe from the sun so it can shine on for decades to come. This is not to say that sunblock will prevent your tattoos from naturally fading over time as they do, but it certainly will keep you from speeding up the process.

Add This to Your Daily Routine

The best way to manage this is to just add putting on sunscreen into your daily skincare routine. Now guys, we can hear your groan from here, “A skincare routine? Pfft!” But seriously, this is important. No one appreciates immaculate, colorful, and intricate tattoos more than you do, so you owe it to yourself. When you get up in the morning to start your day, take your morning shower, put on a pot of coffee, brush your teeth -what ever your routine may be, take a few extra minutes to slather on some sunscreen during that time. Your skin and your tattoo artist will thank you later, trust us.  Just make sure you don’t lather up when you’re tattoo is still in the healing process and all will be well.