Knuckle tattoos are no longer just for pop stars and convicts. Many people, even professionals have their knuckles tattooed. Most people get some form of lettering on their knuckles and it can be anything that fits (just check your spelling first!). But you might be surprised with how much real estate there is to work with when it comes to knuckle tattoos. Want to know more? Just keep reading!
On Healing Hand and Knuckle Tattoos
Thanks to social media the lion/lioness tattoos have also been a trend recently. The only problem is that they don’t age well. If you’ve seen the updated pictures they’re greyed out and have lost a lot of the detail from the original pictures. The reason for this is that hand skin is quite tough to heal. The skin itself is thicker which means the needle has to go a little deeper to get to a layer that won’t shed. Hand skin sheds much more than anywhere else except your feet.
On top of this, your hands are constantly in motion which means they get into contact with more dirt and germs and are more likely to get wet or submerged. All of which can affect your healing. It’s not great if you want to have good looking tattoos. Even if your design is good you may still have trouble healing it because it’s just where the tattoo is.
How to “Wet Heal” Knuckle Tattoos
Healing a knuckle tattoo is best done when you have 3-4 days off. On a day where you aren’t moving your hands too much or getting into anything dirty. A good way of keeping them protected for these first few days is to do a “wet heal”. Do this by covering the fresh tattoos with a thin layer of Aquapor or other ointment and then wearing non-powdered nitrile gloves over them to keep the tattoos covered. Change, wash and reapply the Aquaphor every couple of hours. This creates a barrier which stops germs and water. It allows the skin to heal without interference for a few days. Knuckles do swell up when tattooed. This may also affect your ability to bend your hands for those initial days.
Knuckle Tattoos Will Need Touchups!
There’s a good chance that even if you choose a good design and heal it properly it will still need touching up. Your hands are constantly exposed to sun and they will fade quicker than other places because of this. The high chance of there being a healing issue and thicker skin can also mean your tattoo isn’t as crisp or solid as it should be so there’s a higher likelihood of it needing a touch up than most other tattoo places.
Here’s the caveat, hand tattoos really aren’t easy to hide. Many jobs aren’t comfortable hiring people with knuckle and hand tattoos. Make sure your job and field are accommodating before making the decision to tattoo your knuckles!
