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FAT FUGU COLLECTIVE
NORTHAMPTON, UK · PRECISION & CARE
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Aftercare · Tattoo · Piercing · Laser

Healing is
half the work.

The needle is the other half, and healing happens at your house. This is the day by day walkthrough we give every client at the chair, with a straight answer on when to call us.

Book the chair

Check in at week 6Free touch up under 3 months

Day 0 · Wrap Day 3 · Wash Day 14 · Matte

Three stages. Every tattoo, every time.

TIMELINE · DAY 1 — WEEK 4

DAY 1

It's an open wound wearing a masterpiece.

Keep the wrap on as long as your artist told you — usually to the next morning. Then wash with clean hands and a fragrance-free soap, pat dry with kitchen roll, and apply a thin layer of the balm we sent you home with. Thin means thin.

Expect weeping, redness and a sunburn feeling. All three are the tattoo doing its job.

WASH · 2–3× DAILY
WEEK 1–2

The flake, the peel, and the itch.

The surface dries, flakes and peels like sunburn, and it will itch like it's daring you. Don't scratch and don't pick — slap gently or moisturise instead. Keep washing morning and night; keep the balm layers thin.

Colours look dull and cloudy under the flake. That's a film, not a fault — it lifts.

NO SCRATCHING · NO PICKING
WEEKS 3–4

Settled on top, still working underneath.

The surface turns matte and stops feeling tender — the deeper layers keep settling for up to six weeks. Moisturise daily, and start the habit you'll keep for life: SPF 50 on healed ink, every sunny day, forever.

Week six: send us the healed photo. If anything needs a touch-up, it's free inside three months.

SPF 50 · FROM NOW ON

WRAP · DAY 0FIRST WASH · DAY 1MATTE · ~DAY 14CHECK-IN · WEEK 6TOUCH-UP · FREE < 3 MONTHS

Do and don't, by service.

TATTOO · PIERCING · LASER

01 · TATTOO

Fresh ink is a wound. Keep it clean, keep it calm.

DO

  • Wash with fragrance-free soap, clean hands only, morning and night.
  • Apply balm in thin layers — the skin needs to breathe.
  • Wear loose, clean clothing over the piece while it heals.
  • Once healed, SPF 50 whenever it sees the sun. Forever.

DON'T

  • No swimming, baths, saunas or hot tubs for two weeks. Showers are fine.
  • No direct sun on fresh ink — not even "just an hour."
  • No scratching, no picking, no peeling "helpfully."
  • No gym on the tattooed area for 48 hours; no friction on it after.
02 · PIERCING

Leave it in, leave it alone.

DO

  • Rinse with sterile saline twice daily — spray, don't soak-and-scrub.
  • Keep the titanium in for the full heal; we downsize when it's ready.
  • Clean hands before any contact. Every time.
  • Come back for the free downsize check — swelling down means bar down.

DON'T

  • Don't twist, turn or "break it in" — movement is the enemy of healing.
  • No pools or hot tubs for four weeks.
  • Don't sleep on it — a travel pillow works for ears.
  • No ointments, alcohol or peroxide. Saline only.
03 · LASER

The laser starts it. Your skin finishes it.

DO

  • Cool compress on the area for the first 24 hours as needed.
  • Keep it clean and dry for 48 hours, then wash gently.
  • Let blisters resolve on their own — they're part of the process.
  • SPF 50 on the area between every session, sun or cloud.

DON'T

  • Don't pop blisters or pick crusts — that's how scars happen.
  • No sun on the area for four weeks either side of a session.
  • No hot showers, saunas or hard exercise for 48 hours.
  • Don't book a holiday tan between sessions and hope for the best.

If it doesn't look right, we want to see it.

TRIAGE · NORMAL VS SAME-DAY

NORMAL · NO ACTION NEEDED

  • Redness, warmth and weeping in the first 48 hours.
  • Itching, flaking and peeling in weeks one and two.
  • Cloudy, dull colour under the flake.
  • A little clear or white fluid from a healing piercing.
  • Frosting, redness and blistering on lasered skin, first few days.

SAME DAY · CONTACT US

  • Redness or heat that spreads after day three.
  • Thick yellow or green discharge, or a bad smell.
  • Fever, chills, or red streaks leading away from the area.
  • Jewellery sinking or embedding in a piercing.
  • Blistering beyond the lasered area, or any reaction that alarms you.

REACH US · PHOTOS WELCOME

Send a photo with your name and when the work was done — a human answers, Tue–Sun. If it's after hours and you're worried, call NHS 111 first, then tell us in the morning.

SEND A HEALING PHOTO CALL 07464 816 061 BOOK A TOUCH-UP URGENT · NHS 111 FIRST