{"id":36698,"date":"2026-10-14T21:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T13:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/tattoo-aftercare-ointment-vs-petroleum-jelly\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T21:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T13:43:11","slug":"tattoo-aftercare-ointment-vs-petroleum-jelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/tattoo-aftercare-ointment-vs-petroleum-jelly\/","title":{"rendered":"Tattoo Aftercare Ointment vs Petroleum Jelly: How and When to Use Each"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aftercare ointment and petroleum jelly are found in every tattoo studio, but they do different jobs. Here is how each one is normally used <em>during<\/em> and <em>after<\/em> a tattoo. We also share practical tips that studios often give their clients.<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: this is general information. Clients should always follow their tattoo artist&#8217;s aftercare instructions, and see a doctor if they notice signs of infection or an allergic reaction.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Petroleum jelly: mainly used during the tattoo<\/h2>\n<p>In the studio, artists use petroleum jelly to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lubricate the skin<\/strong> so the needle and hand glide smoothly<\/li>\n<li><strong>Protect the stencil<\/strong> and help it last through the session<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hold ink caps in place<\/strong> on the work tray<\/li>\n<li>Reduce excess ink and blood spreading across the skin while wiping<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Studios usually buy it in large tubs (350\u2013500 mL). Use a clean spatula or tongue depressor every time so you never touch the tub directly with gloves that have touched skin.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shop:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/en\/product\/premium-petroleum-jelly\/\">Premium Petroleum Jelly<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/white-petroleum-jelly\/\">White Petroleum Jelly<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/azure-dragon-petroleum-jelly\/\">Azure Dragon<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/white-tiger-petroleum-jelly\/\">White Tiger<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/vermilion-bird-petroleum-jelly\/\">Vermilion Bird<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/black-tortoise-petroleum-jelly\/\">Black Tortoise<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Aftercare ointment: used after the tattoo<\/h2>\n<p>Aftercare ointments, such as A&amp;D-style ointments with vitamins A and D, are designed to keep a healing tattoo moisturised and protected during the first days. Many studios give clients <strong>single-use sachets<\/strong>. They are hygienic, portable and easy to brand as part of your aftercare kit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shop:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/en\/product\/ad-aftercare-ointment\/\">A&amp;D Aftercare Ointment<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/white-ad-aftercare-ointment\/\">White A&amp;D Aftercare Ointment<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/white-sachet-aftercare-ointment\/\">White Sachet Aftercare Ointment<\/a>, <a href=\"\/en\/product\/tiger-aftercare-ointment\/\">Tiger Aftercare Ointment<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>A typical aftercare routine for clients<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Keep the first covering on<\/strong> for as long as your artist tells you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wash gently<\/strong> with clean hands, lukewarm water and a mild, fragrance-free soap. Pat dry with a clean paper towel.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Apply a very thin layer<\/strong> of aftercare ointment, just enough to make the tattoo look slightly shiny. Too much can block the skin from breathing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Repeat a few times a day<\/strong> for the first days, or as instructed. Many artists then switch to an unscented lotion.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t pick or scratch<\/strong> peeling skin or scabs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Avoid soaking and sun:<\/strong> no swimming pools, baths, saunas or direct sun until healed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Quick comparison<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><\/th>\n<th>Petroleum jelly<\/th>\n<th>Aftercare ointment<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Main use<\/td>\n<td>During tattooing<\/td>\n<td>Healing period<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Who uses it<\/td>\n<td>Artist<\/td>\n<td>Client at home<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Typical packaging<\/td>\n<td>350\u2013500 mL tub<\/td>\n<td>Sachets or small tubes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>How much<\/td>\n<td>Thin layer on the work area<\/td>\n<td>Very thin layer, a few times a day<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Tips for studios<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Give every client a written aftercare sheet plus a few ointment sachets. It reduces questions and touch-up requests.<\/li>\n<li>Keep petroleum jelly and aftercare stock with your other <a href=\"\/en\/product-category\/tattoo-supplies\/tattoo-disposables\/\">disposables<\/a> and <a href=\"\/en\/product-category\/tattoo-supplies\/tattoo-cleaning-supplies\/\">cleaning supplies<\/a>, so set-up is quick.<\/li>\n<li>Buying for a studio? <a href=\"https:\/\/wa.me\/8613248330583\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Message us on WhatsApp<\/a> for carton pricing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Browse all <a href=\"\/en\/product-category\/tattoo-supplies\/tattoo-aftercare\/\">Tattoo Aftercare<\/a> products.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Petroleum jelly is mainly used during tattooing, aftercare ointment after. Learn how each is used, a typical client aftercare routine, and tips for studios.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tattoo-guides","entry","has-media","owp-thumbs-layout-horizontal","owp-btn-normal","owp-tabs-layout-horizontal","has-no-thumbnails","has-product-nav"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jxper.com\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}