How Long After Getting A Tattoo Can You Go Swimming?

Much like Chlorine, salt will really dry the area out and irritate the skin, causing many different types of possible reactions such as itchiness, redness and rashing.

Can you Swim in a Lake or River After Getting a New Tattoo?

No. These places are as bad as the sea. Even though some lakes and rivers may look sparkling clear, they will still play host to rat urine/faeces, fish excrement and a whole load of other nasty surprises – so stay away during healing.

Can you go in a Hot Tub with a New Tattoo?

No. Many hot tubs contain extremely high levels of Chlorine which will wreak havoc with the super sensitive area around your healing tattoo.

Not only this but due to the extremely confined area of water and the large amount of people who bathe within single hot tubs, the whole enclosure will most-likely be full of nasty germs, Chlorine-or-not.

Can you Take a Bath with a New Tattoo?

No. What can possibly be worse for your new tattoo than bathing in your own germs and dirty bathwater? It doesn’t matter if the germs come from your body, they can still infect an open wound in the skin.

Not only this, but bathing in any body of water for long periods of time will flood the recovering tattoo with water, potentially allowing ink to drain and leak out, leading to possible fading and patchiness.

How Long After Getting a Tattoo can you Swim / Bathe in Water?

Proper tattoo aftercare should be performed for at least 3 weeks before bathing or swimming in any type of water in order for the skin to recover and close properly, guarding the tattoo/wound from bacteria and the chance of water saturation.

You should definitely wait until your tattoo has finished scabbing and peeling, so if your tattoo takes longer than 3 weeks for this process to finish, then wait a little while longer before you go for a swim.

Summary

Swimming too soon can quite easily ruin a tattoo and delay healing. The 2-3 weeks after getting a new tattoo is the most important times during the life of your ink, so treat it with care as best as you can during this period.

If you do accidentally/purposefully find yourself swimming or bathing in any of the areas mentioned above, make sure you wash your tattoo as best as possible immediately afterwards to minimize risk of infection.

I hope you now understand about how long after getting a new tattoo that you can swim safely, and realise the importance of initially staying away from water with a new tattoo. Look after your ink and it will continue to look amazing for many years to come.