Getting Tattooed in Summer: Sun, Sea and Pools
You're in Calella, it's thirty degrees and the beach is five minutes away. Summer tattoos work fine — you just have to plan the week.
Choose first: beach or tattoo
A fresh tattoo stays out of the sea and the pool for three weeks. That part isn't negotiable, so decide what you want from your holiday before you sit down. If you're here for a week and you want to swim, save the last two days for the tattoo.
Come in the morning
We open at 10:30 and it stays quiet until half past one. Your tattoo also gets the whole day to settle before you sleep, and you avoid walking out into 34 degrees with fresh wrap on. From six in the evening the shop fills up with walk-ins.
Sun is what fades ink
No direct sun on a healing tattoo — it burns damaged skin, lifts the scab and pulls the ink out with it. For the first three weeks, cover it with a thin sleeve or trousers. After that, SPF 50 every time you go out, especially on colour: reds, yellows and blues give up long before black does.
Sweat, sand and chlorine
Sweat itself is harmless, but rinse with fresh water and pat dry when you get home. Sand is not: it works into the scab and scratches. Chlorine dries the skin and opens it up — swim too early and you will see it later as pale patches. Loose cotton clothing, and keep backpack straps off a healing shoulder.