Frequently asked questions

WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT

For all tattoos, but especially larger works that will take more than an hour or two:

DO NOT get drunk or take drugs 24-48 hours before your appointment.
Your body will be going under a lot of stress so you need to be well rested. Alcohol will thin your blood making the tattoo and healing process more difficult.

Eat a good breakfast the morning of, avoid caffeine and energy drink as this can decrease your pain tolerance.

Bring snacks and a water bottle. We provide sugary snacks and drinks as well, keeping your sugars up helps provide energy for your body to get through the stress.

Leading up to the appointment day, it is very helpful to drink lots of water, regularly exfoliate the area you’re getting tattooed, and keeping it well moisturised. Preparing your skin this way makes tattooing the skin easier and can help to cause less trauma while also increasing your chances of a better heal as well.
Please shower the morning of your appointment.

Wear comfortable clothing with appropriate access to the tattoo area, tattooing can stain your clothes so be sure to not wear light colours or special items.

Tattoos hurt, but being well prepared and staying calm is your best bet for getting through it.
Enjoy!

NUMBING CREAM INFO

We do NOT provide numbing cream.

Over the counter numbing creams such as Emla, Tattoo Numbing Cream, TKTX, Dr.Numb etc, are mostly safe to use as they only have a concentration of 5% or less of active numbing ingredients - but there are many other ingredients specific to those brands that you should consider and read labels thoroughly to make sure they are safe for you.

Use of numbing cream is entirely up to you however if you’d like to use it, you must provide it and discuss this with your tattoo artist first. Usually you leave it on for at least 30 mins to a maximum of 1 hour prior to tattooing. It must not be kept on for longer as that could cause severe issues to the skin. We do not recommend use over a large area of the body (such as full legs, arms, chest, etc.) as this can become a health issue if the product is overused.

When it comes to stencilling, the numbing cream needs to be completely removed and the skin dried and free of any residue in order to apply a stencil, which means that the effectiveness of the numbing cream will be reduced from the moment the area is cleaned.

Numbing creams usually have a working time frame of about 2 hours, more or less, depending on the type that you use and your body’s specific metabolism of the product. You would get about 1.5 hours after stencil application which is only going to be effective for a small portion of the tattoo session. For larger projects it’s sometimes not worth it.

Professionally, we do not entirely recommend their use as they change the skin consistency, vascular constriction and texture which can hugely affect linework and healing. In addition, there are other more serious complications that need to be considered including reactions to the product such as chemical burns which is when the product applied has been left on for too long, has too much concentration of the active ingredient, or the consumer has a sensitivity. This can result in what looks like an infection during the healing process and will require antibiotics and or/topical treatments to heal. The healing process from this side-effect will often leave larger imperfections in the tattoo and scarring that will later need to be corrected and touched up when fully healed at the expense of the customer.

The biggest danger however, is for those with heart conditions who may be affected by the ingredients entering the bloodstream. So please be aware of these potential issues and if you have any doubts, we recommend you do not use them, or seek medical advice from your GP first.

DOES MY DEPOSIT EXPIRE?

Yes. You will require a new deposit if you leave it pending for over 3 months, or cancel/postpone with less than ONE WEEK’s notice.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I CAN’T MAKE IT?

You can postpone with more than ONE WEEK’s notice. Unless there are special, or urgent circumstances, we only allow you to postpone your appointment ONCE. Otherwise risk losing your deposit, and requiring a new one to book again.

CAN I BRING FRIENDS OR FAMILY TO MY APPOINTMENT?

Please, don’t. Each artist has their own preference, our studio is quite small so it can impact our work.

CAN I PAY FOR MY TATTOO IN INSTALMENTS?

No. A tattoo is a luxury item, and it should be a well earned treat for yourself. We would not want any of our clients, or ourselves to experience any financial trouble because of a tattoo.

DO YOU ACCEPT EFTPOS PAYMENTS?

For aftercare, gift vouchers and studio merchandise yes, we accept all Eftpos payments. Preferably only for smaller payments as there is a 2.5% surcharge.

The artists cannot take eftpos payments as you will need to pay them directly. They accept bank transfer and cash.

DO YOU SELL GIFT VOUCHERS?

Yes! Email us for details, or come in store to purchase.

HOW OLD DO I HAVE TO BE?

We can tattoo you at the age of 16, ONLY with your parent(s) or legal guardians permission and presence to sign a consent form. We require photo I.D from all parties, and may require a birth certificate or proof of guardianship.

You can come in by yourself from the age of 18 with I.D.

AFTERCARE PRODUCTS

We recommend our aftercare products: Revive (balm) and Liquid Gold (soap). Originally formulated by tattooers for tattooers. Because they are key to looking after your skin and ink. They are handmade from all natural and organic ingredients, with no unnecessary extras. They are effective AND gentle on your tattoo, so they will minimise the chance of infection, itching and flaking when used as directed.

CAN I STILL GET TATTOOED IF I’M PREGNANT OR IF I HAVE AN ILLNESS OR MEDICAL CONDITION?

We will not tattoo you if you are pregnant, currently nursing, have an illness, disability or medical condition which may affect the tattoo process such as blood diseases or heart conditions.

If you do have an illness, please discuss getting a tattoo with your doctor before coming to see us.

We reserve the right to refuse your tattoo if you are under the influence or behaving in a disrespectful or rude manner in the studio.

AFTERCARE

1. Remove the bandage/wrapping after 1 to 2 hours. (Ideally you should go straight home after your tattoo). The bandage is just to protect your tattoo for your trip home. 

2. With clean hands, wash your tattoo using a couple squirts of ‘Liquid Gold concentrate’ soap and warm water, after first removing the bandage. Showering is absolutely fine, just use the ‘Liquid Gold’ soap on the tattoo instead of your normal body wash. If it’s a large tattoo we recommend you wash it twice a day, once in the morning and one more time before going to sleep.

3. Pat it dry with a clean towel (preferably a paper towel), and allow it to air dry for 1 to 3 hours. 

4. Apply a thin layer of ‘Revive’ aftercare cream as needed to keep the tattoo moist. Minimum 3 to 4 times a day. Remember, a little goes a long way. Better to put it on more often than to put on a thick layer. The tattoo still needs to breathe. Alternatively, you may use bepanthen for the first 3 days and then switch to ‘Revive’. Bepanthen is just to prevent any infection from happening, it does not have any skin healing and moisturising properties therefore we suggest using ‘Revive’ as that promotes skin healing.

5. After the first few days of washing it twice a day, wash your tattoo daily and continue to apply a thin layer of ‘Revive’ after care cream as needed to keep the tattoo moist. Do this for 2 weeks.

6. While your tattoo is healing, DO NOT pick at it, DO NOT scratch it, DO NOT let anyone else touch it! Avoid direct sunlight, saunas, baths and swimming.  DO NOT soak your tattoo. 

7. Continue moisturising your tattoo after every shower as this will help keep your tattoo looking fresh for longer. We suggest using something organic and natural to feed your skin.

Essentially: KEEP IT CLEAN, KEEP IT CREAMED!
Remember it is an open wound therefore anything it touches needs to be clean. Avoid contact with animals and do not wrap it again. If you are worried about contact with anything then you can cover it with clean loose clothing. 

We recommend ‘Liquid Gold’ soap solution to wash with and ‘Revive’ cream to apply as your aftercare for your new tattoo. They can be purchased in store.

DO NOT share your aftercare cream with anyone and DO NOT use anyone else’s unless it hasn’t been opened. Better safe than sorry. 

If skin comes off while you’re washing it or putting the cream on that’s totally normal, there is no need to worry. If you think it looks dry or feels tight then just apply some more cream.
If it itches, do not scratch it but either apply some cream or slap it.

When it’s healed you can continue to moisturise your tattoo using coconut oil or your preferred moisturiser. The longer you keep your tattoo moisturised the fresher it’ll look for longer.
Any time you go out in the sun (once it’s healed of course) we recommend you protect it with sun screen which has zinc in it as that is the most effective protection against UV rays. We suggest you give it a good month before putting it in the sun. 

In case you think your tattoo may have become infected: 

First thing to do is let us know whats going on. If you need to contact us during our opening ours, you can call or text the shop. If it’s after hours you can either email, send a message on our instagram or Facebook page. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
If it has become infected what you’ll notice is after 2 days your tattoo is still red, is as painful as the day you got it, and is very oozy. In this case wash your tattoo with the Liquid Gold, pat it dry with a freshly cleaned towel, apply a thin layer of Bepanthen antiseptic cream and wrap it with cling wrap. If you are starting this process before bed then once you wake up take the wrap off, clean it, apply another layer of bepanthen and wrap it again. Change it 3 times a day: morning, afternoon and before bed. Repeat this for 2 days. On the 3rd day, depending on how its improved, there shouldn’t be a need to wrap the tattoo anymore, just keep applying the bepanthen antiseptic cream around 4 times a day. wash daily and continue to apply the cream until the tattoo is healed.
If you notice that it’s been fine for a few days and on for example, the 4th day one area has started oozing and become sore, then follow the above steps on the affected area.
For both scenarios, when applying the cream make sure your hands are clean but most importantly once you’ve applied it and notice you need more cream, wash your hands again. Don’t ‘double dip’. You do not want to be spreading bacteria from the tattoo to the opening of the container. Instead you can use a cotton swab or if you have one, a tongue depressor.
Before starting the process however, please contact us to let us know what’s happening in case we advise for a different approach. We may suggest booking in with your GP to get antibiotics depending on what it looks like. If you feel the need to seek medical attention, please do so.

Rashes, pimples and red spots:

If you notice that you have started to get a rash or little red spots have appeared on and around your tattoo usually it can be one of two things; 

  1. You could be allergic to the aftercare cream you are using, or your skin doesn't like it and so you need to switch. Here are some options: If you are using the ‘Revive’ aftercare cream switch to Bepanthen for 1 week, then use coconut oil. If you started out using a different type of after care, switch to either ‘Revive’, dr.pickle, Savlon, or Bepanthen antiseptic. If using one of the last two, use them for the first week, then switch to coconut oil.

  2. They may just be lots of little random ingrown hairs as the area was shaved prior to the tattoo. Do not pick at them, just let your skin do it’s thing as you keep up with the aftercare procedure.

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Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or are worried about anything at all. We do our best to let you know everything there is to know about healing your tattoo so that it looks as fresh as possible for as long as possible.

After 3 weeks we would love it if you could send us a photo of your healed tattoo.
If you feel like it needs a touch up, you can email us with a photo of the area that needs touching up and we will book in for it free of charge if you’ve followed our aftercare instructions. However if you have scratched your tattoo badly, or had picked scabs off, then we may charge you for the touch up.